r/travel • u/AutoModerator • Jun 21 '18
Advice r/travel Topic of the Week: The Netherlands off the tourist trail
In this new series of weekly country threads we want to focus on lesser known travel destinations: the towns, nature, and other interesting places outside the known tourist hotspots.
Please contribute all and any questions / thoughts / suggestions / ideas / stories about this travel destination.
This post will be archived on our wiki destinations page and linked in the sidebar for future reference, so please direct any of the more repetitive questions there.
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Example: We really enjoyed the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California. It was $35 each, but there's enough to keep you entertained for whole day. Bear in mind that parking on site is quite pricey, but if you go up the hill about 200m there are three $15/all day car parks. Monterey Aquarium
Unhelpful: Read my blog here!!!
Helpful: My favourite part of driving down the PCH was the wayside parks. I wrote a blog post about some of the best places to stop, including Battle Rock, Newport and the Tillamook Valley Cheese Factory (try the fudge and ice cream!).
Unhelpful: Eat all the curry! [picture of a curry].
Helpful: The best food we tried in Myanmar was at the Karawek Cafe in Mandalay, a street-side restaurant outside the City Hotel. The surprisingly young kids that run the place stew the pork curry[curry pic] for 8 hours before serving [menu pic]. They'll also do your laundry in 3 hours, and much cheaper than the hotel.
Undescriptive I went to Mandalay. Here's my photos/video.
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15
u/SFWaleckz Jun 21 '18 edited Jun 25 '18
I am an expat living in Utrecht and it is a super nice place and worth a visit. Much smaller than Amsterdam but also has a lot going on! Amsterdam is known by the locals as being 'tourist town'.
You can easily get to Utrecht using a direct train from Amsterdam Airport/Central station or a bus from Eindhoven airport. If you can get an OV Chipkaart from the airport it makes transport around the netherlands much easier. Its a payment system similar to the Oyster card in the UK apart from you can use it throughout the whole of the Netherlands.
On kings day (27th of April) everyone from the surrounding area comes to Utrecht for a huge party. This is one of the most amazing events I have ever seen, if you can arrange to come here for that date then you will have an unforgettable time. Everyone is so happy and partying goes on from the night before (Kings Night) and into the day until about 6pm. Theres lots of free markets around the City on this day, everyone is able to put whatever they don't want onto the street to sell so you can get some bargains!
Utrecht has endless places to eat and drink. You can take a stroll down the Oudegracht (old canal) south and take a left and head around the edges of Central Utrecht for a nice walk. You can climb the Dom Tower which gives some pretty amazing views or chill out with a beer at one of the cafes on De Neude square Don't forget to get some chips from Frietwinkel they are my favourite in this City.
If you're feeling adventurous you can either rent a canoe from here and canoe up the oudegracht and around the city to get a pretty good workout or you can rent a bike from here. Ive tried both these places out and had a good experience!
If you fancy a cycle Castle de Haar is worth seeing or there is an old fortress which has some nice canals/wooded areas which is nice to cycle around! There is also a pancake house around the fortress in a really quaint area which is super nice on a summers day
Other ideas include an outdoor swimming lake or cylcing around the area of Loosdrecht.
Also a shout out to The Culture Boat if you want to 'Chill' in a classier setting. This is definitely my favourite coffee shop in the Netherlands followed by a visit to the best snackshop around for a Kaas Soufle at Hans Snackshop.
This place is top!
1
u/send__halp__pls Jun 23 '18
Thanks for posting this! Im going to the netherlands next month, and I am definitely going to cycle o castle de Haar. Out of curiousity, I did google street view on the first link to Oudegracht. I noticed a lot of english. Like in the window of the north face store, the store next to it says suits 99, and next that is a "cafe and restaurant". Is that pretty typical? Are most people/signs there bilingual, or is that just because it was in a touristy area? Thanks!
2
Jun 24 '18
In general English has a big influence on the Netherlands, many shop names and marketing things are in English because apparently that's considered cool. Dutch also uses a huge amount of English loan words.
1
u/SFWaleckz Jun 23 '18
No problem! Yes there is a pretty huge expat / student population here. Lots of Irish bars and things like that but it definitely does still retain most of its Dutch vibes. All the natives speak English and Dutch fluently so there is no problem there.
1
u/LuisBitMe Canada Jun 24 '18
Near Utrecht there is a lovely town called Amersfoort that is definitely worth a visit too.
1
u/Ju_Bach Jun 26 '18
Utrecht has an excellent concert venue. Five concert halls for everything from classical chamber music to popular music and avant garde. https://www.tivolivredenburg.nl/english/general-information/
The cafe/restaurant is nice, and there is an open stage almost daily.
5
Jun 24 '18
Rent a bicycle and go into the countryside.
Recreational routes are sign posted everywhere, forming a thing we call the "node network". Each node is numbered, and has a map of the surrounding region. There are routes from this node to others, a few km away, so you can pick your own route, say you want to go 16 - 17 - 36 - 35 - 23 and back to 16. Then you just follow the signs to find the next node on your list. The routes are designed to be as enjoyable as possible, away from the cars whenever possible.
1
u/Cactapus Jun 24 '18
This is such a great idea. The only time I have been in the Netherlands we did a lot by bike and it was amazing. One of the most fun things is we went to a cheese shop/ farm in Gouda. The farmer ended up showing us around and explain how they make cheese. I definitely looked up the limits for flying back with cheese and was at exactly the limit.
1
Jun 27 '18
I did this from Amsterdam along the Holland Coast, up to Den Haag. Probably the highlight of any trip in Europe I've ever done
3
u/Ju_Bach Jun 26 '18
Amsterdam has some precious off-the-beaten-track/hidden gems places too, surprisingly close to the traditional places!
In Amsterdam my favorite museum is Our Lady in the Attic. It's an old hidden Catholic chruch which is now a museum about religious freedom / oppression in the Netherlands. It's right in the middle of the Red Light District, so you can actually claim you went there for the intellectual/cultural experience!
The Amsterdamse Bos (Amsterdam Forest) is only part actual forest and mostly a park. It's three times bigger than Central Park in NYC. It is a little further away from the city centre than the Vondel park, but youre well away from the tourist crowd. It has everything from sports facilities (there's a full Half Marathon route in the park - and a 5k and a 10k), restauarants, open air theatre, a goat farm (Shakira liked this one too) and much more.
2
u/rocketscientess Jun 26 '18
Vaals is the town on the border with Belgium and Germany and contains the highest point in the Netherlands (not very high but some people collect those things). It’s a very leisurely hike to get up to the high point and there are several cafes nearby where you can get a coffee or a drink while enjoying the view. Also it’s right by the three-country corner, so you can stand in three countries at once.
2
u/SunnySaigon Jun 26 '18
If you like Vincent Van Gogh, be sure to check out the Kruller-Muller museum, located in a forest preserve. It’s worth the effort to reach it as it has 90+ van Gogh paintings.
2
u/ShakyaMoney Jun 26 '18
Visit national park de Veluwe in the east for some nice hiking trails and wild deer, foxes and boars. Also just generally really nice scenery: http://imgur.com/hab4lF1
3
u/rirez Jun 22 '18 edited Jun 22 '18
So, I'd say Giethoorn is just on the verge of being on the tourist trail. It's still not really that crowded and can be a nice place to visit, best if as part of a larger multi-city trip. I visited in early spring and it was quite pleasant to stroll through.
If you're going, I did want to drop this here: DiscoverHolland's package is a really good deal. AFAIK that's an official site and I successfully used that ticket. We were the only people who had such a package, everyone else (let's face it, mostly Asian tourists) bought one-off passes. Even the bus driver looked puzzled but said it checks out, so I'm guessing it's still rarely used.
If you're visiting from Amsterdam, it's less than half of buying your train and bus tickets the regular way. It also gets you an hour boat ride.
Also, try to get off the train early and rush for the bus stop. If your experience is anything like mine, a huge line of asian tourists quickly accumulates (half of them having trouble passing through the checkout gates).
2
u/Krosis_Ikorin Jun 24 '18
Giethoorn not really that crowded?
Man, I worked in Giethoorn for 4 years (I live close to it). During the summer holiday the streets and waters are crowded with people, you cant walk properly..
1
u/rirez Jun 24 '18
I could see it being jam packed in summer, yea. I was there in spring and it was pleasant. Those waterside paths could get pretty clogged up with people stopping every 5 meters to attempt to behead everyone in arm's reach with a selfie stick. Also managed to watch several boat collisions even with it being quiet.
Was so sparse and walkable in March-April, so I guess the moral of the story is to come around then. And wear a suit of selfie-proof armor.
2
u/Krosis_Ikorin Jun 24 '18
Yeah during the spring its really pleasant. I have seen my fair share of boat accidents, really funny. Most of the time it are Asians that run into other peoples boats, who get angry at the Asians. Really funny to watch.
Have you come across Smits Paviljoen, by any chance? Its a restaurant thats almost in the middle of the lake
1
Jun 24 '18
I visited Leiden last year, and I absolutely loved it. It's small enough to walk around and really beautiful. There is also a very nice antiquities museum.
1
u/FrenchBowler Jun 27 '18
I will be in Amsterdam for four days in early Octcober. I enjoy biking, so I was thinking I would try a long bike ride from Amsterdam to Utrecht. It seems like there is a bike path that I can take essentially the whole way.
Does anyone have any recommendations for some stops I could make along the way? Whether it be a small town, or some nice scenery I am open to any suggestions. Google maps says its about a two hour bike ride, so I'd like to break it up with a stop or two each way. Thanks!
1
Jun 27 '18 edited Jun 27 '18
If you follow the shortest route, you're going to follow large roads, alongside a lot of car traffic. That's really not worth it (you won't be on the same road, but on the bicycle road next to it -- still too much noise, and too straight).
Go to https://www.fietsen123.nl/pagina/knooppunten-fietsrouteplanner . Set your starting point ("Van") and destination ("Naar") address (or just "Amsterdam" and "Utrecht"), and select "Plan Route". Left of the map where it says "Routetype", select "Combinatie fietsnetwerken" (combined bicycle networks). Now you have a nice scenic route that's fourty minutes or so longer but much nicer to ride.
In the map, select "LF en knooppunten". Now it shows node numbers along your route. Write a list of them down, they are signposted, you can follow your list of numbers.
Then, in "locaties / POIs", select "Horeca - Fietsers welkom" (horeca means hotel/restaurant/cafe; fietsers welkom is bicycles welcome). And everything under "Recreatief" for windmills et cetera.
2
u/FrenchBowler Jun 27 '18
Thank you so much! That was really helpful insight. I really appreciate the translation help as well (:
Do you have any recomendations for other bike trips outside of Amsterdam that pass through particularly scenic areas?
1
Jun 27 '18
I usually stay strictly in the east side of the country, so I don't really know first hand. I've read that the route to the north to Volendam is pretty nice.
1
u/Iro2907 Aug 28 '24
Please comment on my itinerary.
We plan a week close to Christmas time as follows:
-Day 1: arrival Brussels (noon) stay for the night. Leave next day at noon.
-Day 2: arrival at Ghent (noon) stay the night - leave next morning/noon
-Day 3: arrival at Bruges (noon) stay the night - leave next morning
-Day 4 morning: arrival at Antwerp (noon) leave after a few hours (not sure if it worths it)
Day 4 night: Rotterdam - stay the night leave next evening
-Day 5: arrival at Amsterdam: stay for 2-3 days (day trips to de Hagen & Gouda).
We plan to move around by train or bus. (If necessary to rent a car, it is ok).
Do you think that all we will do is moving around and miss the point of a trip?
Is it a better solution to travel to Amsterdam and then take day trips to Bruge/Ghent (probably will spend the night there) and the rest of the destinations?
17
u/[deleted] Jun 21 '18
Currently backpacking through Western Europe. If you’re in the Amsterdam area, checkout Leiden. Very pretty area that’s similar to Amsterdam but much quieter.
Very good area to walk around the canals and possibly grab a drink.
30 minutes outside of Amsterdam by train.