Netherlands

North Brabant is famous among the rest of the provinces in the Netherlands for its hospitality and Burgundian lifestyle. Indeed, when visiting North Brabant you can expect openhearted people, great food and drinks, laid-back atmosphere. I don’t fall for stereotypes but in this case the Burgundian lifestyle is a thing…

If you mention the name ‘Thorn’ to a Dutch person, you can be sure that in return you’ll get the exclamation: “Oh, the little white town!”. And indeed, Thorn is white, something unusual for the Netherlands, where most of the houses are in the typical Dutch brick style. This is…

Limburg is that weird piece of the Netherlands that is jutting out between Belgium and Germany. Most Dutch people consider Limburg to be far away and a kind of different, perhaps because of the dialect spoken in this Dutch province – the Limburgish. The main city in Limburg is Maastricht…

Efteling is the biggest theme park in the Netherlands and the third most visited one in Europe after Euro Disney (France) and Europapark (Germany). Without a doubt Efteling is huge and if you want to see everything and get on all rides, one day won’t be enough. That’s why my…

There’s a place in the Netherlands where fairy tales come to life. Literally. You can see the wolf knocking on the door of the house of the seven young goats or the red shoes of Karen that never stop dancing. The Efteling theme park (De Efteling in Dutch) is not just…

When the summer hits the Netherlands, one of the best places to head to to celebrate the sun and the beautiful weather is, no, not the seaside, although there are some lovely places there as well, but the Gardens of Appeltern. Never heard of them? I don’t blame you. They…

Rotterdam is not a city that can be easily digested by the tourist in search of windmills and the emblematic stepped gable houses characteristic of the Dutch Golden Age. Rotterdam is the odd one out in the Netherlands – the city that doesn’t fit into the stereotypes, the city that…

If you are living in Europe, you don’t need to travel all the seven seas to the earth’s end to find the ultimate island escape. Just head to the Netherlands. Yep! I know it’s hard to believe it, but Texel is simply amazing: large white-sand beaches, beautiful nature, quaint villages,…

Den Bosch (‘s-Hertogenbosch) is not only a destination for history geeks but also a place where art lovers can find some exciting and interesting exhibitions. Well, Den Bosch is not Amsterdam or Den Haag and it doesn’t boast museums like the Rijksmuseum or Mauritshuis, but nonetheless it has two museums…

A desert in Europe? You won’t believe it, but there ARE deserts in Europe. One of the biggest sand drift areas in Northern Europe is in the Netherlands – the Dunes of Loon and Drunen National Park (Loonse-en-Drunense Duinen). The 30 km2 of shifting sands won this place among the…