The Rough Guide to the Netherlands (Travel Guide eBook)

Rough Guides

Description

Discover the Netherlands with this comprehensive, entertaining, 'tell it like it is' Rough Guide, packed with exhaustive practical information and our experts' honest independent recommendations.

Whether you plan to immerse yourself in Amsterdam's art galleries, explore Delft's pretty canals and historic streets or admire the sculptures in Hoge Veluwe National Park, The Rough Guide to The Netherlands will show you the perfect places to explore, sleep, eat, drink and shop along the way.

-Detailed regional coverage: provides in-depth practical information for every step of every kind of trip, from intrepid off-the-beaten-track adventures, to chilled-out breaks in popular tourist areas. Regions covered include: Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Zuid-Hollandand Utrecht, the north and the Frisian Islands, the eastern Netherlands, and the south and Zeeland. 

-Honest independent reviews: written with Rough Guides' trademark blend of humour, honesty and expertise, and recommendations you can truly trust, our writers will help you get the most from your trip to the Netherlands.

-Meticulous mapping: always full colour, with clear numbered, colour-coded keys. Navigate Zuid-Holland, the eastern Netherlands and many more locations without needing to get online.

-Fabulous full-colour photography: features a richness of inspirational colour photography, including picturesque Overijssel and the striking urban landscape of Amsterdam Noord.

Things not to miss: Rough Guides' rundown of Amsterdam, the Hague, Haarlem and the Frisian Islands' best sights and top experiences.

-Itineraries: carefully planned routes will help you organise your trip, and inspire and inform your on-the-road experiences.

Basics section: packed with essential pre-departure information including getting there, getting around, accommodation, food and drink, health, the media, festivals, sports and outdoor activities, culture and etiquette, shopping and more.

Background information: comprehensive Contexts chapter provides fascinating insights into the Netherlands, with coverage of history, religion, ethnic groups, environment, wildlife and books, plus a handy language section and glossary.

About Rough Guides: Rough Guides have been inspiring travellers for over 35 years, with over 30 million copies sold. Synonymous with practical travel tips, quality writing and a trustworthy 'tell it like it is' ethos, the Rough Guides' list includes more than 260 travel guides to 120+ destinations, gift-books and phrasebooks.

Sujets

• Benelux Countries
• Países Bajos
• Travel
• Netherlands
• Europe

Informations

• Publié par: Apa Publications
• Date de parution: 01 mars 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 9
• EAN13: 9781789195279
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 20 Mo

Extrait

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REFUGE HUT ON THE ISLAND OF TERSCHELLING
Contents
INTRODUCTION
The Netherlands
Where to go
When to go
Author picks
Things not to miss
Itineraries
BASICS
Getting there
Getting around
Accommodation
Food and drink
The media
Festivals and events
Sports and outdoor activities
Culture and etiquette
Travel essentials
THE GUIDE
1 Amsterdam
2 Noord-Holland
3 Zuid-Holland and Utrecht
4 The north and the Frisian Islands
5 The eastern Netherlands
6 The south and Zeeland
CONTEXTS
History
Dutch art
Books
Dutch
SMALL PRINT
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Introduction to
The Netherlands
There’s nowhere quite like the Netherlands, a country always threatened by the turbulent waters of the North Sea, whose people beat back the ocean to reclaim wide, grassy-green polders from the blue-black depths. That extra space was needed: the Netherlands is one of the most urbanized and densely populated nations on earth, but these crowded flatlands still pack in a wide range of sights and attractions, beginning in the countryside where the fertile, pancake-flat landscape is gridded with drainage ditches and canals set beneath huge open skies, its rural towns and villages often pristine and unchanged places of gabled townhouses and church spires. Despite the country’s diminutive size, each town and city is often a profoundly separate place with its own distinct identity – there’s perhaps nowhere else in the world where you can hear so many different accents, even dialects, in such a small area. In spring and summer the bulbfields provide bold splashes of colour, and in the west and north the long coastline is marked by mile upon mile of protective dune, backing onto wide stretches of perfect sandy beach.
A major colonial power, the Dutch mercantile fleet once challenged the English for world naval supremacy, and throughout the country’s seventeenth-century Golden Age, the standard of living was second to none. There have been a few economic ups and downs since then, but today the Netherlands is one of the most developed countries in the world – and it’s an international, well-integrated place too: most people speak English, at least in the heavily populated west of the country; and most of the country is easy to reach on a public transport system of trains and buses, whose efficiency may make British and American visitors weep with envy.
Successive Dutch governments have steered towards political consensus – or at least bearable compromise – and indeed this has been the drift since the Reformation, when the competing pillars of Dutch society learnt to live with – or ignore – each other, at least partly because their minds were focused on trade, which was making most people richer. Almost by accident, Dutch society became tolerant, and, in its enthusiasm to blunt conflict, progressive. These days, many insiders opine that the motive behind liberal Dutch attitudes towards drug use and prostitution isn’t freewheeling permissiveness so much as apathy – though this is perhaps a harsh judgement: visit on King’s Day, for example, and you’ll see the Dutch kitted out in orange to celebrate their country and culture with vim and gusto – unorthodox and incredibly joyous.
Where to go
Mention you’re going to the Netherlands and most people assume you’re going to Amsterdam – and, for that matter, many Amsterdammers can’t believe you would want to go anywhere else. Indeed, perhaps surprisingly, given its size and accessibility, the Netherlands outside of the capital is relatively unknown. Some people may confess to a brief visit to Rotterdam or Den Haag (The Hague), but for most visitors Amsterdam is the Netherlands. To accept this is to miss much, but there’s no doubt that the capital has more cosmopolitan dash than any other Dutch city, both in its restaurant and bar scene and in the pre-eminence of its three great attractions. These are the Anne Frank Huis, where the young Jewish diarist hid during the World War II Nazi occupation; the Rijksmuseum, with its wonderful collection of Dutch paintings, including several of Rembrandt’s finest works; and the peerless Van Gogh Museum, with the world’s largest collection of the artist’s work.

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SKATING ON THE IJSSELMEER

Fact file The Netherlands has a population of just over 17 million people. Of these, some 851,000 live in the capital, Amsterdam, 635,000 in Rotterdam and 527,000 in Den Haag (The Hague). “ Holland ” comprises just two of the twelve Dutch provinces: Noord-Holland around Amsterdam, and Zuid-Holland around Rotterdam and Den Haag. One-fifth of the Netherlands is made up of water. Without protection, two-thirds of the country would be regularly flooded. The lowest point in the Netherlands – at seven metres below sea level – is also Europe’s lowest point. With 22.5 million bikes in the country – 1.3 for every inhabitant – the Netherlands has the highest level of bicycle usage in the world. However, one bike is stolen every minute of every day – making bike theft much more than a cottage industry. The Netherlands is a constitutional monarchy presided over by King Willem-Alexander, who was inaugurated as monarch in 2013. The country’s bicameral parliament sits in Den Haag and comprises Lower House or Second Chamber of 150 directly elected deputies and an Upper House or Senate of 75 senators. Every year each Dutch person eats four kilos of Dutch liquorice, or drop , which comes in a never-ending supply of sweet, salty and flavoured varieties. Often sold in pharmacies, it was once believed to have medicinal properties, and is as Dutch as tulips and clogs.
In the west of the country, beyond Amsterdam, the provinces of Noord- and Zuid-Holland are for the most part unrelentingly flat, reflecting centuries of careful reclamation work as the Dutch have slowly pushed back the sea. These provinces are predominantly urban, especially Zuid-Holland, which is home to a grouping of towns known collectively as the Randstad (literally “rim town”), an urban sprawl that holds all the country’s largest cities and the majority of its population. Travelling in this part of the country is easy, with trains and buses that are fast, inexpensive and efficient; highlights include easy-going Haarlem ; the old university town of Leiden ; Delft , with its attractive medieval buildings and diminutive, canal-girded centre; and the gritty port city of Rotterdam , festooned with prestigious modern architecture. Den Haag ( The Hague ), is well worth a visit, too, a laidback and relaxing city, seat of the Dutch government and home to several excellent museums. Nor should you miss the Keukenhof gardens , with the finest and most extensive bulbfields in the country. To the north of Amsterdam, the old Zuider Zee ports of Enkhuizen and Hoorn are very enticing, as are the small villages and unspoilt dunescapes of the coast .
Beyond lies a quieter, more rural country, especially in the far north where a chain of low-lying islands – the Frisian Islands – separates the North Sea from the coast-hugging Waddenzee. Prime resort territory, the islands possess a blustery, bucolic charm, and thousands of Dutch families come here every summer for their holidays. Apart from Texel , the islands lie offshore from the coast of the province of Friesland . Friesland’s capital, Leeuwarden , is a likeable, eminently visitable city, while neighbouring Groningen is one of the country’s busiest cultural centres.
To the south, the provinces of Overijssel and Gelderland are dotted with charming old towns, notably Deventer and Zutphen , while their eastern portions herald the Netherlands’ first few geophysical bumps as the landscape rolls up towards the German frontier. Here also are two diverting towns: Arnhem , much rebuilt after its notorious World War II battle, but a hop and a skip from the open heaths of the Hoge Veluwe National Park , and the lively college town of Nijmegen .

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CAFÉ CULTURE
Further south still are the predominantly Catholic provinces of Limburg, Noord-Brabant and Zeeland. The last of these is well named (literally “Sealand”), made up of a series of low-lying islands and protected from the encroaching waters of the North Sea by one of the country’s most ambitious engineering plans, the Delta Project . Heading east from here, you reach Noord-Brabant, gently rolling scrub- and farmland which centres on the historic cities of Breda and ’s-Hertogenbosch , and the more modern manufacturing hub of Eindhoven , home to electronics giant Philips. The hilly province of Limburg occupies the slim scythe of land that reaches down between the Belgian and German borders, with its cosmopolitan capital, Maastricht , being one of the Netherlands’ most convivial cities.
< Back to Introduction to The Netherlands
When to go
The Netherlands enjoys a temperate climate , with relatively mild summers and moderately cold winters. Generally speaking, temperatures rise the further south you go. This is offset by the prevailing westerlies that sweep in from the North Sea, making the wetter coastal provinces both warmer in winter and colder in summer than the eastern provinces, where the more severe climate of continental Europe has an influence. As far as rain is concerned, be prepared for it at any time of year.

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Author picks
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