If you hear 'Netherlands' and think immediately only of Amsterdam, we feel we must heave a sigh.
For these Netherlands may be rather teeny tiny – around the size of the USA's Maryland, in fact – but this densely populated country has quite the heap packed in among the dikes, polders, woods and rivers of its low lands. (And, as we once eavesdropped on a London train, they are of course where Peter Pan and his crew hang out too. We think the term here is 'headdesk'.)
Go north in the Netherlands for the best of its beaches, like those at Texel, Bloemendaal-aan-Zee and the Frisian Islands, and for the islands and towns of Friesland, a top spot on the tourist trail. To the west, have at it at Noord-Holland, Haarlem and The Hague; east at the Flevoland polders, Zwolle and the forest and heathland of the Hoge Veluwe National Park; and south at the Netherlands's most populated parts around Zuid-Holland, the Utrecht and rather excellent Rotterdam.
And Amsterdam is of course most excellent too. Take time out from coffee for a trip on its canals, an arty look at the Van Gogh Museum and the Rijksmuseum, and visits to the Anne Frank House and the changing exhibitions of the Amsterdam EXPO among quite a bit more.
