View of a canal in Leiden
The Netherlands is a country located in Western Europe. Amsterdam, the capital, is the 5th top destination in Europe. Other tourist destinations: Rotterdam, Utrecht, Eindhoven.
Ten days is a perfect amount of time to explore the Netherlands.
There isn’t a very bad time to visit the Neatherlands and each period has its own beauties. However, the best time to visit is mid-April, when there is less rain, more daylight, and the country’s tulip are in full bloom.
How to best experience Netherlands?
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The country of Netherlands/ Holland
| Capital | Amsterdam |
| Time in the Netherlands |
UTC+1 (CET) UTC-4 (AST) Summer (DST) UTC+2 (CEST) UTC-4 (AST) |
| Language spoken | Dutch |
| Religion (2019) |
54,1% No religion 38,3% Christianity (20,1% Catholicism, 14,8% Protestantism, 3,4% Other Christian) 5,0% Islam 2,6% Others |
| Population | 17.709.300 (2022 estimate) |
| Unesco World Heritage Sites | 10 |
The Netherlands is one of the most important tourist destinations in the world. It has 10 UNESCO World Heritage Sites and hosts some of the most visited cities in the world: Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht, Eindhoven .
Holland is a country made up of flower fields, dams and windmills, rich in traditions and landscapes suspended between land and water. The Netherlands is perfect for a cycling holiday.Millions of bikes, 10.000 kilometers of cycle paths: two wheels dominate the Dutch road landscape. Renting one (or a tandem) is easy, just go to the appropriate shops that are everywhere and that have very low prices. Only the deposit (for the theft risk) is high: it is therefore advisable, in order not to lose it, to equip yourself with chains and padlocks.
Where is Netherlands?
The Netherlands is a country located in Western Europe. The Netherlands consists of twelve provinces, and borders Germany to the east, Belgium to the south, with a North Sea coast-line to the north and west. It also shares maritime borders with both countries and with the United Kingdom in the North Sea.
The Netherlands: the tulip country
Holland is the undisputed leader in tulip cultivation, supplying most of the bulbs that are planted in North America and Europe. The tulip was originally a wild flower that grew in Central Asia and was first cultivated by the Turks from the year 1000.The word tulip comes from the Turkish word for turban. The flower arrived in Europe and the Netherlands in the 17th century thanks to Carolus Clusius, a famous biologist from Vienna who in 1590 became director of the Botanical Garden of Leiden, the oldest botanical garden in Europe, founded in 1587.
Clusius was studying medicinal plants for the University of Leiden and a friends of his, Ogier Ghiselain de Busbecq, ambassador of Constantinople, fascinated by the splendor of tulips he saw growing in the gardens of the royal palaces, sent him bulbs for his garden in Leiden. Thus began the bizarre story of this flower, which came to be so much appreciated and disputed that it filled fields in half of Holland.
To admire the spectacle of the blooming tulip fields up close, you have to go to Lisse, between Leiden (17 km) and Amsterdam (37 km), which can of course be reached by car but also by public transport. In these parts there is also Kaukenhof, the largest flower garden (not just tulips) in the world (32 hectares) which, for eight weeks, from March to May, attracts almost 100.000 visitators who make this splendid place one of the most photographed in Holland.