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If there's an activity involving water - frozen or flowing - you'll find plenty of practitioners of it in the Netherlands - they love windsurfing, sailing, kayaking and ice skating. Biking and in-line skating also have their fervent devotees. The Dutch are avid walkers and hikers, and are prepared to do it in almost any weather and surroundings.
With a collection worth billions, the Rijksmuseum is the cream of Dutch classical art, but until renovations finish in 2008 only 400 masterpieces are on display. If all goes well, the building will be returned to its original 1885 glory. But never mind the building dust, the much-loved Dutch and Flemish paintings from the Golden Age remain on display.
The museum's crowning glory is here too: Rembrandt's mesmerising Nightwatch (1650), the artist's breathtaking group portrait of an Amsterdam civil militia led by Frans Banningh Cocq, a future mayor and apparently not the brightest of lights.
Other must-sees are in Sculpture & Applied Art and Asiatic Art (including the famous 12th-century Dancing Shiva), as well as highlights from the museum's store of 800,000 prints and drawings.
The exterior remains a feast for the eye, with tiled murals, faux-Gothic towers and glints of gold harking back to Golden Age fortune. The magnificent underpass with its dreamy acoustics will be closed for the face-lift, to the chagrin of local buskers.
Stadhouderskade 42
Oud Zuid
www.rijksmuseum.nl tel info 20 674 70 00
| full | Euro 9.00 |
| concession | free |
The Keukenhof is the world's largest garden. It is seen by 800,000 people each year, but its beauty is something of an enigma, unfurling for just two months each year. Nature's talents are combined with Dutch precision to create a garden where millions of tulips, daffodils and hyacinths bloom every year, perfectly in place.
The gardens stretch on and on and there are greenhouses full of more delicate varieties of flowers besides the ephemeral tulips. You'll forgive the presence of thousands of other tourists - little can detract from the rainbow of natural beauty. Wandering about can easily take half a day. From the edges of the gardens, you can see the stark beauty of the commercial bulb fields stretching in all directions.
Stationsweg 166a
www.keukenhof.nl
car N208
bus express from Leiden CS
| full | Euro 11.50 |
| child | Euro 5.50 |
The Netherlands' largest national park, Hoge Veluwe would be a fantastic place to visit for its marshlands, forests and sand dunes alone, but its brilliant museum makes it unmissable. The park was purchased by Anton and Helene Kröller-Müller, a wealthy German-Dutch couple, in 1914. He wanted hunting grounds, she wanted a museum site. They got both.
It was given to the state in 1930 and in 1938 a museum opened for Helene's remarkable art collection. A visit to the park can fill an entire day and, if you don't have a bike, you can borrow one of the park's hundreds of famous, free 'white bicycles'.
In the heart of the park, the main visitors centre is an attraction itself. It has displays on the flora and fauna, including one showing the gruesome results when a deer has a bad day and a crow has a good day.
Roads through the park are limited. There are many bike paths or hiking trails, with three signposted routes. The most interesting area is the Wildbaan, south of the Kröller-Müller Museum. At the north edge, Jachthuis St Hubert is the baronial hunting lodge that Anton had built. Named after the patron saint of hunting (but not the hunted), you can tour its woodsy interior.
(N of Arnhem)
www.hogeveluwe.nl tel info 0318 59 10 41
bus No 2 from Arnhem
| full | Euro 6.00 |
| child | Euro 3.00 |
The Zuiderzeemuseum consists of two parts: the Buitenmuseum with 130-odd rebuilt dwellings and workshops, and the Binnenmuseum devoted to farming, fishing and shipping. The capitivating Buitenmuseum (open-air), opened in 1983, was assembled from houses, farms and sheds trucked in from around the region to show Zuiderzee life as it was from 1880 to 1932.
Every conceivable detail has been thought of, from the fencetop decorations and choice of shrubbery to the entire layout of villages, and the look and feel is certainly authentic. Inhabitants wear traditional dress, and there are real shops such as a bakery, chemist and sweet shop. For a special postmark drop your letters at the old post office from Den Oever.
Walk 300m (984ft) to the Binnenmuseum, which occupies a museum complex adjoining the Peperhuis, the former home and warehouse of a Dutch shipping merchant. Here too are cultural artefacts such as regional costumes, porcelain, silver, and jewellery that indicate the extent of Holland's riches at the time.
Wierdijk 12-22
www.zuiderzeemuseum.nl tel info 0228 35 11 11
| full | Euro 11.50 |
| child | Euro 9.00 |
One of the best Impressionist galleries in the world, the Van Gogh Museum houses about 200 paintings, predominantly by the world's favourite tortured artist, including famous works like The Potato Eaters and The Yellow House in Arles. There are also works by some of his friends and peers, such as Gauguin and Monet.
The museum houses the collection of Vincent's art dealer brother Theo. Japanese prints, which influenced the old ear-slicer, are also on display.
Paulus Potterstraat 7
Oud Zuid
www.vangoghmuseum.nl tel info 20 5705200
| full | Euro 9.00 |
| child | Euro 2.50 |
Amsterdam is one of the world's best hangouts, a canny blend of old and new: radical squatter art installations hang off 17th-century eaves; BMWs give way to bicycles; and triple-strength monk-made beer is drunk in gleaming, minimalist cafes.
The city seems to thrive on its mix and, despite hordes of tourists, still manages to feel quintessentially Dutch. The old crooked houses, the cobbled streets, the tree-lined canals and the generous parks all contribute to the atmosphere.
Amsterdam combines a huge case of big city exuberance with small-town manageability; it doesn't take much more than chaining your bike to a bridge to feel like you've got a handle on the place. It's a thriving city, and one of the hardest for travellers to leave, going on the number of expats trying to bike around like locals.
Amsterdam flourishes on its funky mix, and there's very little of the tourist-fatigue that can take the happy edge off other backpacker-swamped cities. Perhaps this is because its quintessential Dutchness shines through: the 17th- and 18th-century architecture, the fleets of bicycles, the tree-lined canals and scattered parks all contribute to the mood of the city.
Hoge Veluwe is the country's largest national park and home to the wonderful Kröller-Müller Museum. The park itself covers 5500 hectares (13,500 acres) and is a strange mix of forests and woods, shifting sands and heath moors that provide a sense of isolation (if not actual isolation) found nowhere else on the Dutch mainland.
Red deer, wild boar and mouflon (a Mediterranean sheep) roam here. The Kröller-Müller Museum has 278 works by Van Gogh, as well as smaller collections of Picasso and Mondrian. Hoge Veluwe is accessible by bus from Arnhem, which is an hour's train ride east of Amsterdam. White bicycles are available free of charge once you're inside the park.
Swish Maastricht is renowned for world-class dining, top-notch events and an elegant atmosphere. This crown jewel of the south ditches the Dutch stereotypes in favour of a sophisticated pan-European flavour. And wait a minute, what country are we in? There are actually hills here!
Today this lively city has a reputation even in its own country of being a little foreign. You can sample the distinct tastes of neighbouring cuisines and in February you can party with the rest of the revellers in the Netherlands' largest carnival festival.
A cold January invites endless speculation about the nation-stopping Elfstedentocht (Eleven Cities Race; www.elfstedentocht.nl), a gruelling 200km (124mi) ice skating marathon. The last one was held in 1997, and it could be decades before it freezes over again. Carnaval in February is an excuse for silly costumes and revelling celebrated mostly in the Catholic south. Koninginnedag (Queen's Day), on April 30, is a huge party day countrywide, but particularly in Amsterdam. The whole central city becomes a massive street market/party where anyone can sell whatever they like - it's a madhouse. On the second Saturday in May nearly every working windmill in the country (more than 600 in total) throws open its doors to visitors. The event, known as Nationale Molendag (National Mill Day), is a popular day for all and sundry. The Holland Festival (www.hollandfestival.nl) in June is celebrated mostly in Amsterdam and The Hague. It's often highbrow but there are many fringe events. The Hague's North Sea Jazz Festival (www.northseajazz.nl) each July is the world's biggest jazz junket.
Nijmegen attracts revellers from all over for the country's hugest walking festival. The Vierdaagse (Four Day March; www.4daagse.nl) is a major event for serious walkers and partygoers alike, starting on the third Tuesday in July. The event is ushered in and drawn to a close by the Zomerfeesten (Summer Festival), which begins on the Saturday before Vierdaagse.
Sinterklaas (Saint Nicholas) is the white-bearded patron saint of children who arrives 'from Spain' in mid-November. He is accompanied by a host of mischievous servants called Zwarte Pieten (Black Peters). On the evening of 5 December, people give one another anonymous gifts accompanied by poems about the recipient, written by Sinterklaas. The Dutch sensibly have two Christmas Days (on 25 and 26 December). Fireworks are only allowed to be sold in the days preceding New Year's Eve - there are hundreds of injuries each drunken, crackin', bangin' 31 December.
