Things to do in Netherlands

About a quarter of the Netherlands lies below sea level, held dry by dikes, pumps and polders built over eight centuries. Twelve provinces share about 41,500 square kilometres. Nearly all of it is flat.

How the country breaks down

• Amsterdam. Capital and canal ring, the main draw for most visitors.
• Rotterdam. Rebuilt after 1940 into a modern skyline; Europe's largest port sits alongside it.
• The Hague. Seat of government and the International Court of Justice, thirty minutes from Rotterdam.
• Utrecht. A smaller canal town in the middle of the country, under half an hour from Amsterdam.

Getting between them

Everything above sits inside the Randstad, the ring of cities that holds most of the population. Trains link any two in under an hour. A car adds little; parking is scarce and the trains run every few minutes.

What the country sells

Cycling comes first: flat roads, dedicated lanes, and reportedly more bicycles in the country than people. Museums carry the Golden Age: Rembrandt, Vermeer, Van Gogh. Windmills and polder villages fill the rest, best reached as day trips from an Amsterdam or Rotterdam base.

Group or private

A shared cruise costs about what dinner does. A private guide for a full day, or a driver into the countryside, runs several times that.

Practical

• Bikes. Rental is everywhere and cheap; a bike does the flat cities faster than a tram.
• Weather. Around 22C in July, 6C in January, with wind and rain year-round; a warm day in April can still turn cold by evening.
• Money. Euros; cards are accepted almost everywhere, cash less so than in most of Europe.
• Airports. Schiphol is the main gateway, with direct trains reaching Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague within the hour.
• Flood defences. The Delta Works, built after the catastrophic North Sea flood of 1953, has sections open to visit.
• Cheese and herring. Market-stall food worth trying once, sold by weight or by the piece rather than as a meal.
• Tipping. Rounding up is normal; a large tip is not expected even for good service.