After 15 years here, one of the things I love most about living in the Netherlands is how easy it is to travel around the country, and how day-trip (dagje weg) culture is ingrained in Dutch life.
Have half a day free? Just jump on the train and go somewhere.
I love exploring Amsterdam, but I also like taking myself somewhere new.
For a weekend trip, I prefer heading to a cozier town, where the streets are quiet, I can chat with locals in the shops, and an older Dutch gentleman is likely to explain the town’s entire history to me while munching on a traditional cookie in a restaurant.
Here are four of my favorite small towns, villages, and lesser-known cities to visit.
Warmond is surrounded by lakes and history.
South Holland — in particular, the Bollenstreek — is known as the tulip region of the Netherlands. There’s more than tulips to see here, though, and Warmond, an idyllic village on the Bollenstreek border, is proof.
Warmond has a centuries-old history, evident in the few country estates that still stand. The grandest is Huys te Warmont, with a moat and an elegant forest park, where I love to walk around and pretend I’m in a different era.
In the city center, you’ll find the old school, now a modern restaurant appropriately named Old School Café, where everyone stops by for lunch right next to the old water pump.
On the eastern edge of the village is the start of the Kagerplassen, a system of interconnected lakes. A wooden drawbridge brings you across the way to Koudenhoorn, an island park with everything from a petting zoo to a little beach.
A vintage steam tram takes you to Medemblik’s medieval castle.
For an exciting day trip chock-full of activities, I take the historic steam train from the city of Hoorn to Medemblik, the oldest town in the region of West Friesland.
It’s a magnificent ride, especially during tulip season when you rattle past the colorful fields.
Medemblik is a town after my own heart, with multiple harbors, a long waterfront promenade along the IJsselmeer, and a medieval castle, Radboud, that you can visit.
You can’t go to Medemblik without stopping at De Oude Bakkerij, a bakery museum that’s more than a place to buy traditional regional cookies: You can watch bakers at work, or even join a class yourself.
Zeeland’s Veere was Scotland’s port in the Netherlands for centuries.
I was surprised when I first visited Veere, in the beautiful Zeeland region, and stumbled upon the Scottish Houses and Cistern, an old water reservoir built so that Scottish wool merchants could wash their wool.
That’s when I learned more about the town’s history. In the 15th century, a Scottish princess married a Lord of Veere, Scottish merchants settled in the town, and the wool trade became Veere’s main business for centuries.
The Scottish Houses are now the town museum, and they’re well worth an hour of your time.
Beyond that, Veere is a peaceful little town with a skyline that remains one of the prettiest I’ve seen in the Netherlands.
It has quaint streets where locals say hello, and I never miss a chance to check out Oma’s Snoepwinkel (or Grandma’s Candy Store), a cute shop packed with more than 100 kinds of old-fashioned candy.
If you’re not into candy, try a Zeeuwse bolus, a sticky, cinnamon-soaked spiral of dough, with your coffee. And if you’re here during mussel season from late summer through winter, there’s nothing better than enjoying a pot of Zeeland mussels on a terrace by the harbor.
Monnickendam has a port, a carillon, and a yearly boat race.
Monnickendam was an unexpected discovery on my first trip to the Netherlands as a tourist: I’d gone to nearby Volendam, and on the way back, I hopped off the bus here on a whim.
From the bus stop, you can walk straight into meandering streets along romantic canals, cross old drawbridges, and soon reach the center, where the town opens onto the port.
One weekend every summer, the town transforms for the Jan Haring Race, when traditional flat-bottomed boats race while locals compete in an eel-smoking contest and party.
I’ve been back many times since my first visit, and I always end up in the same spot: on a bench by the water with a passionfruit sorbet from Dolci & Gelati, watching the boats and listening to the bells of the Speeltoren carillon.
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