We recently experienced the extraordinary beauty and culture overload in Netherlands and Belgium. One blog could not do justice to the vastness and exclusivity of these places. We are therefore sharing our experience and travel tips in a series of blogs. Our previous blog described general tips for traveling in this region and things to do in Amsterdam city. In this blog, we will continue with a few places to visit around Amsterdam, namely Geithoorn, Kinderdijk, Rotterdam, Naarden, and Zaanse Shans. Our next blog describes things to do in Belgium and Bruges. You can see our complete itinerary at the end of this blog.

A. Giethoorn:

If you have to choose on just one place to visit from Amsterdam (although we hope that doesn’t happen!), it has to be Geithoorn. After visiting this place, you will agree that this is the birthplace of fairy tale villages. This car-free village is just a 1.5 hour drive from Amsterdam, with less than 3000 inhabitants living in exquisite thatched roof houses along one of the most picturesque canal areas. Cute bridges leading to these cottages all decorated with flowers and the lake behind these cottages just completes the already perfect setup.

The Geithoorn landscape felt straight out of a fairy tale

How to get there:

1. Drive there in a rental car- gives you the most flexibility and that way you will be able to easily do the other places we will talk about below
2. Public transport: It takes 2-2.5 hours each way. If you are travelling from Amsterdam Central, you need to take a train to Zwolle, and then change to the bus No. 70 (one bus every hour). Your final destination is Bushalte Dominee Hylkemaweg. Alternatively you can travel by train to Steenwijk station and then take bus No. 70 to Dominee Hylkemaweg.
3. Guided day tours from Amsterdam: This is a good alternative if the above two options are not feasible. But we highly do recommend staying here overnight to experience the true beauty of the place and get some people-less photos before the day-tourists arrive.

Where to stay:

Definitely choose to be in one of the hotels close to the main canal area called Binnenpad. Many of the cottages here are also rented out as BnBs. Not all the hotels/cottages have a direct access to the roads. One may have to walk a short distance with the luggage; so travel light. You may park overnight for free (at various spots like De Grachthof Restaurant and Boat rental) or for a small parking fee of 4-5 Euros in parking spots that your host may help you find.

Getting around (try all three, if possible):

1. Walk around; the entire length of Binnenpad is not more than a kilometer or so.
2. Rent an electric boat (or kayak) for an hour or two to explore the canals and the lake by yourself (it was 15 Euros/hour in November; may be more in peak season), or alternatively do a canal cruise.
3. Cycling is another option; it allows you to make more stops to take in the beauty and also allows you to get outside the canal area and bike through the beautiful Dutch countryside and the endless fields.

The Dutch countryside on a misty morning in Geithoorn

Giethoorn was relatively empty in early November, so we had the entire village for ourselves for almost 4 hours in the morning before other tourists arrived. But we were told that this tiny place receives as many as 200,000 Chinese tourists every year, and it can get so crowded in summers that there is over an hour-long queue for the boats, and cycling may not be feasible with tourists thronging every pavement.

For most, the best thing to do in Giethoorn is to admire the canals and enjoy cheese and cozy cafes. But for those interested in spending some time indoors, the “Het Olde Maat Uus” Farmhouse Museum and “Museum de Oude Aarde” Gems museum may be good options.

B. Kinderdijk:

Three things define Holland photographs: canals, tulips, and windmills. Kinderdijk is the classic windmill spot; it has 19 old windmills along the canals, making it an idyllic spot for a picnic and photography. Although not in regular use, the ingenious system of windmills and pumping stations in this UNESCO heritage site has been keeping the soil dry here for nearly a thousand years now and the windmills are still kept in working condition.

We timed our visit during sunset, and got lucky with a fiery red sky to provide a beautiful backdrop to this picturesque spot. Entry is free, but you can purchase a ticket for the main windmill museum along with a short film.

The idyllic Dutch landscape!

Getting to Kinderdijk from Amsterdam is not the most convenient thing unless you have rented a car. You could take the NS train to Rotterdam CS; from there, take the metro to Rotterdam Zuidplein, and then an hourly bus 154 to Kinderdijk.

The other option is to take the Waterbus from Rotterdam and you’ll find yourself standing between the mills in just about half an hour. You could club the visit with a day in Rotterdam.

C. Rotterdam:

Rotterdam is Amsterdam’s little sister city, with extremely unique architecture. Its city center was the only one bombed and destroyed during WWII (Netherland surrendered immediately after the bombing), and was then reconstructed in several phases particularly over the last few decades, with inimitable styles and modernist architecture. Most of these are clustered together in the city center and within a 1.5 km radius, and can therefore be easily explored by foot.

Things to do in Rotterdam:

1. Markthal: The Market Hall is a matchless glass structure with a ginormous colorful mural as its ceiling. It has a large central atrium and houses both commercial and residential establishments on both sides as well as in the ceiling. In fact, the apartments on the top actually have a window on their floors, from which they can get a view of the gigantic hall beneath them!

Markthal at day and at night; the massive mural is an eye-catcher!

There are abundant restaurants and food stalls in the atrium that serve interesting varieties of different cuisines, chocolates, cheese, confectionaries, spices etc. We tried Gozlem, a warm Turkish flatbread, and loved it. Spoilt for choice for desserts, we tried some canolis in a store next to it, which were delicious.

Some of the treats on offer!

If you wish to ‘dig deeper’, you can go down the stairs of Markthal; they have created a sort of historical journey down to the earliest known times of Rotterdam, with important dates and artifacts of each era placed along the floors as you go down.

2. The Cube Houses: Bang opposite Markthal is the Pencil House and the more famous Cube Houses. Impossible to do justice with their description, we leave you with the picture!

The cube houses with the Pencil Tower in the background

Another view of the cube houses

The entire cube houses complex is built to give you a feel of walking through a jungle, which it does. Staying inside one of them is probably rather claustrophobic, but you can get to see the inside of a cube house for 3 Euros. The good part of their small size and unique structure is that they are not very expensive. There are both hostels and affordable Airbnbs available if you wish to stay a night inside them; it would certainly be an interesting experience!

And while you are there, also drop by to see the nearby Whit Huis (White House), Europe’s first ‘skyscraper’, which was for decades its tallest building; its worth a 2-minute stop for its historic value.

3. Walking tour: We did the Rotterdam free walking tour and found it really helpful to appreciate the architecture and history of the place. A beautiful spot we particularly loved is the inner garden of the Town Hall; do take a peek!

The Town Hall garden was beautiful

4. Street art and sculptures: Rotterdam is littered with very interesting street art, which gives the city a great vibe. Keep an eye out for it as you walk and explore the city. One of our favorite ones was the one below; it implied that ‘Rotterdam can make it happen’ it only if you, the individual, plays his or her part!

We recommend that you walk from Markthal area towards Rotterdam Centraal station along the Westersingel canal sculpture route; this has 17 sculptures along the canal, including one by Rodin. Keep a lookout for the Paulus Church which is along this canal; it has a very interesting architecture and history. The pastor of this church supposedly gave marijuana to addicts for free, decreasing the amount every time in a bid to help them with deaddiction, and it worked well! This church is still known as a place where drug addicts can take refuge. Rotterdam Centraal, the main station, itself has a very modern façade and is worth a visit.

Yes; that’s a church! The Paulus Church (Pauluskerk in the photo) is amongst the many interesting things you will notice along the Westersingel canal sculpture route

If you want to explore street art further, you can find a map for this online as also an inexpensive app with text and audio, and you can even do a street art tour.

One of the many interesting street arts, a sculpture called Cascade

5. Witte de Withstraat: This is the arts and cultural street of Rotterdam and the place to be in the evening if you are looking for art galleries, chic cafes, pubs, and restaurants.

6. Museumpark: It has the famous Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen as also the Kunsthal, an interesting museum which has only moving collections and no permanent exhibits. We gave the former a miss, but did see a very interesting kinetic (moving) art exhibit called Action-Reaction which was very different from the usual classics and completely worth the time and money.

7. Erasmus bridge: This is not a must do, but the bridge is certainly worth a look; you can also enjoy a run or walk along the bridge and set foot on the other side of Rotterdam.

Other places to visit include Delfshaven, a picturesque yacht marina which was amongst the few parts of the city which survived the bombing. It is nice for a walk along the canals and old buildings, although missable if you do not have the time. The Euromast is an observation tower where you can go up to a 100m height to see nice views of the city; again just another option but not a must-see in our opinion. What we really enjoyed instead is walking along the Het park and spend some quiet moments to take the beauty in and also get some post-card pictures of the Euromast tower.

Het Park and the view of the Euromast Tower

The windmill at Delfshaven (it still mills grain!)

Food: Eat at Koekela for desserts; we loved the lemon meringue and the cherry cheese cake. The pizzas at Suga are also really good; we would recommend them.

D. Naarden:

Just a 20 min drive from Amsterdam, Naarden Vesting was one of the few star-shaped forts in Europe. It still has the star shaped walls and moats, and you can climb the central church tower to get that exceptional view. There is also an excellent Netherlands Fortress Museum there giving interesting details about Naarden and the fort, as also about fortifications in general. One other place that we particularly enjoyed here was the Het Arsenaal which is an extremely elegant and futuristic interior design and lifestyle concept store, where you will easily spend over an hour after the museum shuts at 5 pm.

Aerial view of the star shaped fort. (Photo credit: iamsterdam.com)

Parking is free in Naarden Vesting. We stayed at the Vesting Hotel, one of the only hotels that is located inside the star and gives you enough time to explore the Vesting. We drove back to Amsterdam in the morning and returned the car then- this way we saved on paying a bomb for parking in Amsterdam (you can see our itinerary at the end of the blog).

E. Zaanse Shans:

For those who cannot go to Kinderdijk, Zaanse Schans is a 20-min train ride from Amsterdam and is an open air conservation area and museum which has traditional green wooden houses and a few functioning windmills. It is amongst the most visited spots given its proximity to Amsterdam, and is especially beautiful during the tulip season. Although extremely pretty, do remember that it is not completely authentic, as it is a re-creation of a planned Dutch village, and not a true one.

There is no dearth of things-to-do around Amsterdam, including lovely cities like Maastricht, Utrecht, Hague, and Einthoven which we haven’t explored yet. If you do have more time to spend, nothing would be better than a few more days in this scenic land and its countryside, enjoying nature at its best and understanding the rich history and culture of this beautiful country. And we would love to hear your experiences and stories and what we should look forward to whenever these places welcome us again.

Our itinerary:

Day 1: Land in Amsterdam in the morning; go to Rotterdam and start the Dutch experience right away!

Day 2: Explore Rotterdam; catch evening bus to Brussels (we stayed there for 2 days as we had personal work there as well)

Day 3 (and perhaps 4): Explore Brussels

Day 5: Rent a car in the morning and reach Gent in time for the morning 10 am walking tour; drive to Bruges after a leisurely lunch and reach there before dark. Explore Bruges in the evening.

Day 6: Walking tour/Canal cruise in Bruges; drive to Kinderdijk (2 hours drive) to enjoy the sunset there. Reach Geithoorn by night (another 2 hours drive).

Day 7: Enjoy Geithoorn; depart for Naarden after lunch (1.25 hours drive) and visit the Fortress museum (advantage of staying in Naarden at night is the free parking and relatively cheaper lodging)

Day 8: Reach Amsterdam in the morning and return the car (3 day rental); start exploring Amsterdam

Day 9-10: Amsterdam. Depart on day 10.

We found renting a car very convenient to be able to visit places like Ghent, Bruges, Kinderdijk (at sunset time), Geithoorn (reaching at night and be able to explore it early next morning before the day trip batches from Amsterdam crowd the place) and Naarden, and would recommend doing that if feasible. However, all these places are easily reachable with buses and public transport as well.