I’m taking you on a tour of the Netherlands, spending three weeks traveling all around,
primarily by train, and staying in some of the main cities, especially in the western
part of the country, You really want to get beyond Amsterdam if
you want to get a true taste of the country, so I’ll be taking you to many other cities,
Starting with a visit to Haarlem, and up to Alkmaar to the cheese market, which
is a lot of fun.
It happens once a week.
Spending three nights in Leiden, doing a few day trips out from there,
such as to The Hague, which is the political capital of the nation.
Then I’ll take you to Delft for three more nights and excursions out from Delft.
And then on to Rotterdam the great modern city of the Netherlands.
Continuing to Utrecht, a university town with a very large historic center.
From there we take a day-trip to the city of Gouda, most famous for its namesake cheese,
that you might call “gouda.”
And then down to Maastricht in the southern part of the country.
This video will present short summaries, a quick look at each of these great cities.
So many travelers come to Amsterdam and that's all they see, and that's the impression they
get of Holland.
It's the big city, kind of crowded and moving, very much hustle-bustle.
Of course Amsterdam is a wonderful city to visit, certainly among Europe's top 10 places
to go, so rewarding.
But there are at least a dozen other excellent cities to visit in the Netherlands and we
are going to show you some of the best in this video which presents highlights of Netherlands
beyond Amsterdam.
So it’s really a refreshing change to come and visit smaller cities.
The trip that we’re presenting here took three weeks and visited nine cities.
It was a leisurely pace with two or three nights in each destination.
You could see it all in two weeks, spending less time in each city, or take just a week
and select fewer destinations.
Our travel series will help you make those decisions.
This video is a summary of the trip through the Netherlands.
We will be presenting short segments about each city here, but we have 22 movies providing
a lot more details about these places so be sure to look for them in our collection.
Traveling between cities was so easy because the Netherlands has got perhaps the best train
system in Europe.
It's phenomenal.
The trains are clean, fast, frequent and not expensive.
This is a small country, so the cities are relatively close together, you can get from
one to the next and 15 or 30 minutes usually.
This superb rail service in itself makes a good reason to visit this country, shift for
it really does eliminate some of those logistical problems of travel, just getting around.
It is so easy with these trains.
Our series of travel movies is not only entertaining also works as a guide to inspire and help
you plan your own trip to the Netherlands.
The city of Harlem is a good place to begin our journey.
It's just 15 minutes by train from Amsterdam.
You’ll find that Haarlem is one of the country’s most attractive destinations.
Get started with a walk into the heart of town, which is a network of half a dozen pedestrian
lanes all of which lead to the center, the Market Square with the big church towering
over it all.
It's one of the largest market squares in the Netherlands and most days it's wide open
with sidewalk restaurants but on Saturday morning there's a big open market with all
sorts of cheese, vegetables, clothing, knickknacks, antiques for sale.
This neighborhood behind and just south of the church is really one of the most attractive
parts of town – the way they've got those tables set up and the outdoor café ambience,
and the pedestrian lane going right through the middle of it.
And all along you will find a nice variety of shops every place you turn when you're
in Haarlem.
Next we travel north 30 kilometers to Alkmaar for a day trip.
Alkmaar has the world’s biggest, most-visited and best cheese market.
There is no prettier or more characteristic Dutch sight than this cheese market, with
these guys in white running around carrying these big loads of cheese back and forth.
(Music plays) For centuries the cheese market has been important
for the city of Alkmaar and in recent years it has developed into one of the leading visitor
attractions in the country.
Alkmaar is much more than just cheese.
It's a typical small Dutch city which means it has many historic, well-preserved buildings
and beautiful canals, lots of shops, restaurants, cafés and pedestrian lanes to stroll on.
The historic center of the old city is relatively small, just about a kilometer across with
several main shopping streets for pedestrians, so you can easily walk around in a couple
of hours and maybe take an hour for a meal and spend at least half a day here, or maybe
the full day.
Our next destination is Leiden.
I'm in Leiden, Holland enjoying the pleasures of this beautiful town.
It's another one of the great historic cities of the Netherlands.
And here it's really quite special, the canals come right through the middle of the old town.
In our series of complete movies about Leiden you will get a good look at most parts of
the city.
I'll take you on a thorough walking tour, we will go down some of the main lanes, the
little back lanes, side lanes.
We will see the University and its botanical gardens.
We will walk along canals and we'll just show you this town inside and out.
Starting in this central part of the city, probably the most attractive and popular place
to spend time, where the Old Rhine canal and New Rhine canal come together.
From Leiden we’ll take a day-trip to The Hague, just 15 minutes away.
The Hague is the second most-visited city in the Netherlands after Amsterdam because
it's a city with many attractions and a large pedestrian zone where you can wander about
in old historic lanes.
We are suggesting a meandering zigzag route that will take you through most of the pedestrian
lanes, through the historic Centrum district with many shops and restaurants, the royal
palace, back down through other pedestrian lanes.
This is really the heart of the shopping and pedestrian center of town.
Then walking back north a few blocks to the royal gardens and a lovely canal.
Have a look at the beautiful Hofvijver pond, the famous Binnenhof inner court with some
gothic structures and the parliament, some more shopping streets, the modern City Hall
and Tourist Information Office, passing ultramodern skyscrapers and then back to the train station
to depart.
Next destination in our tour, the charming city of Delft, just 10 minutes away by train.
You will love the Dutch city of Delft.
It is one of the most famous, historical and beautiful towns in the Netherlands, preserved
in picture book perfection.
It's also a modern city that functions very well for its hundred thousand residents.
It's a town of bicycles, canals, cheese and beer, typical of the Netherlands, with friendly,
well-educated people, excellent preservation of its historic buildings, many of them 400,
500 years old, clustered in the historic center of the old town in a compact size, about one-half
square kilometer.
Very easy to cover walking around on foot.
While you could get a feeling for Delft with a one-day visit walking around in the market
square and checking out some of the nearby blocks, you'll see it's much more worthwhile
to spend a couple of nights so that you can really relax and enjoy the special charms
of this place.
From Delft our itinerary moves us along to the ultramodern city of Rotterdam
One of the great things about visiting Rotterdam in the Netherlands is the vast pedestrian
zone in the center.
There are several major streets that function like a big outdoor shopping mall that you
would love to explore, along with some quaint side lanes that will entice you to have a
look.
Visited midstride is one of those perfect urban streets.
It's got everything.
You can see why it's one of the most popular places for the locals to hang out.
There is one especially strange building, looking like something out of a futuristic
science fiction movie, but it's a food market, also with many restaurants and bars, set in
a building like you have never seen before.
It's one of the world's most unusual food markets.
Across the street you'll find two other famous attractions of the city, the strange yellow
Cube Houses, an amazing cluster of homes built on a bridge over the road, and also the Old
Harbor, a wonderful waterfront activity area with a lot of restaurants lining the shore.
Moving along we’ve got three more cities to show you.
Next up is Utrecht.
This unique city has a special atmosphere created by terrace restaurants and promenades
right at water level along the canals, producing a delightful ambience in a historic setting,
And just above is this lively, pedestrian shopping street with modern stores and more
restaurants and lots of people out walking.
It has created a very unusual split-level city.
You just don't see this in very many other places in the world.
It is the defining characteristic of the city of Utrecht.
You will find it worthwhile to wander around some other parts of the central historic area,
certainly the little side lanes and into the church and some of the museums, but you'll
always be coming back to this one spot along the canals.
It is just so magical,.
It's a different world when you're at this lower level of the canal, so close to the
modern city and yet centuries apart.
It's quiet, no cars, not even any bicycles, just a few boats going, by some pedestrians
and mostly people sitting at the tables enjoying drink or a meal.
From Utrecht, it's just a 20 minute train ride to Gouda.
It's another one of the very pretty small cities of the Netherlands.
It has some fine examples of that special Dutch feature of the reflecting canals lined
by flowers and pedestrian lanes, and the important building where the cheese was weighed on the
main town square.
We'll take a little walk in the heart of town and then stroll along that long canal down
towards the harbor from the town center, only 600 meters distance - it'll take you about
five minutes - down to the historic harbor where you will find clippers, barges and sailing
vessels lying majestically alongside each other in the Museum Harbor.
For our final city of this itinerary we’re heading to Maastricht in the southern tip
of the country, as we take you on a walking tour through the historical center.
It has a large pedestrian zone and some pretty green parklands.
It's a city with old historic buildings and modern shops and cafés.
No surprise when you get into the center of Maastricht you’ll find a pedestrian zone.
It’s especially beautiful here with the elegant pedestrian lanes.
They are cobblestones and are lined with lovely shops.
The Markt is one of the largest market squares in the country, and typically it's got the
old and the new with a cluster of modern shops at one corner and so many outdoor restaurants
all the way around it.
It's the kind of place that you'll come back to several times during your visit.
It's a fascinating neighborhood to explore, especially for the first time when you're
walking through and you come around the bend and you might discover a little plaza with
some café tables out in the middle.
It's that serendipity of the aimless wander, which can't go wrong in this neighborhood
because it's just one charming lane after another with many of these little plazas and
dozens of outdoor restaurants.
That completes our brief look at Masstricht and the other great cities of the Netherlands
beyond Amsterdam.
They are waiting for your arrival.
Traveling for three weeks in this wonderful country was a great experience,
The Netherlands presents the visitor with a wide variety of sights to see.
There are the old historic buildings and the modern parts of town as well.
I stayed for two nights or three nights in each place in order to get a good look and
provide you with thorough coverage which you can find and 22 movies about this country
in our collection, showing the shopping streets, restaurants and museums, admiring old brick
buildings in historic neighborhoods, and going on some canal boat rides as well – another
one of the fun things to do when you’re in the Netherlands.
In each of the towns I did a lot of walking, the best way to explore, because these towns
are compact and historic and have so many things to see while walking around.
Occasionally you can hop on a tram or a bus and that helps you get along.
And maybe you want to rent a bicycle.
Everybody here is on bicycles.
The Netherlands is quite simply an excellent country, offering the visitor a welcoming
population and great variety of sights to see.
There are well-preserved buildings in beautiful towns, steeped in tradition with history that
goes back over 1000 years, and thriving contemporary life as well.
They’ve got canals, pedestrian zones, museums, parks, shops galore, restaurants serving great
food, famous cheese and beer, cutting-edge design, modern skyscrapers, lush countryside,
and all those bicycles.
You've really got everything in this one small country.
The Netherlands is an enlightened progressive society, famous for cooperation and toleration.
They are among the world’s most affluent countries, with a more even distribution of
income than most places, resulting in a harmonious society with friendly people.
The population is well-educated and productive, nearly all Dutch speak very good English,
and they are sociable, quite outgoing, making it easy to strike up a conversation if you
wish.
And it’s so easy to get around the country with those short distances and excellent trains.
Your visit would be a big success, one of the great experiences of your life.