10 Most Breathtaking Towns In Netherlands

Windmills turning along a quiet waterfront, wooden clogs painted in cheerful colors, and huge wheels of finely aged cheese. Few countries conjure up such strong and specific images of country life as the Netherlands. Giethoorn captures that feeling with its canal-laced setting, where boats replace cars, and the whole village seems to drift at an older pace. Franeker adds a different kind of wonder, pairing a historic townscape with a planetarium that has been astonishing visitors for centuries. Together, places like these show that the old-world charm of Dutch legend still endures in pockets of the past across a thoroughly modern country.

Durgerdam

You need not go far from Amsterdam to experience all the allure of the Dutch countryside: the tiny town of Durgerdam is located on the coast of a lake just over 4 miles outside of the city, and it ticks just about every Dutch small-town box. Traditional fishermen’s houses laid out along the water mimic Amsterdam’s canal-side homes in a much more serene setting, and its offerings include birdwatching along the nearby IJmeer and surrounding wetlands (as well as in Nieuw Land National Park about 25 miles/40 kilometers away), the historic De Durgerdam, and water activities on the lake in warmer months. But mostly, come for the picture of it all — a pastoral snapshot of the Netherlands of the Dutch Golden Age writ large.

Franeker

Not many people make it all the way north to the province of Friesland, but those who do have the chance to visit one of the Netherlands’ most unexpectedly interesting towns. A working planetarium so old it’s been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, impressive Renaissance architecture, a museum dedicated to ice skating: Franeker is a town with plenty to surprise. And while most visitors come for the Eise Eisinga Planetarium, the world’s oldest working planetarium, its impressive Town Hall, the small but worthwhile exploration of Frisian handball at the Kaatsmuseum, and its attractive historic townscape make it more than worth the trip even setting the UNESCO-listed planetarium aside.

Giethoorn

Popular for its fairytale look and largely car-free center, Giethoorn is one of the most popular picks among travelers choosing a small town in the Netherlands to visit. Rather than relying on roads in its historic center, Giethoorn is connected by a network of canals, and travelers typically get around by foot, bicycle, or boat — an attraction in and of itself — to enjoy its historic bridges, traditional thatch-roofed architecture, and bucolic scenery. In the town center, you can enjoy various offbeat museums and a meal at a waterside café like Grand Café Fanfare. Serene and bucolic as it gets, the “Venice of the Netherlands” resembles its hectic namesake in canals only.

Hindeloopen

The province of Friesland has an embarrassment of riches for lovers of a picturesque small town: Hindeloopen joins the delightful town of Franeker as another of Friesland’s most historic small cities, with just as much to entice. It’s renowned for its artistic traditions in the Hindeloopen style of floral painting on furniture and the Hindeloopen traditional costume, characterized by its use of floral-patterned cotton fabrics, and both are displayed at the Hindeloopen Museum and Roosje Hindeloopen workshop. Visitors can also enjoy the modern-art Flora and Fauna Fountain and the town’s 17th-century boat locks, through which small vessels continually pass even now.

Leerdam

Near the city of Utrecht, Leerdam is a scenic town best known for its centuries-old glassmaking tradition and its role in the Dutch glass industry, and it also gives its name to the famous Leerdammer cheese. Leerdam has been renowned for its glass production since 1765, and today is home to the National Glasmuseum, a must-visit for travelers to the area. Those particularly interested in the glass industry in Leerdam can even watch artists work in an operational glassworks, De Glasblazerij Zuidwal, over a meal at the adjacent restaurant. Strolling the town means beautifully-preserved historic architecture, and if you haven’t had enough in just one day, why not stay the night at the town’s old post office? At Hotel Posthuys, you can do exactly that.

Sneek

Yet another Frisian representative, Sneek is a formerly bustling shipping port that’s now most notable for some of the Netherlands’ most beautiful historic architecture. The 400-year-old water gate (Waterpoort) has come to be a symbol of the town but is only one of many examples to be found there of preserved architecture; wander the town center and you’ll quickly find others. The Frisian Shipping Museum pays tribute to the industry that put Sneek on the map, and the town’s historic railway station building houses a well-curated model railway museum. Mostly, though, this waterside city is about admiring the townscape as it was, because much of it has stayed exactly the same.

Spakenburg

Spakenburg is the kind of place where a vibrant past is recognized and treated as the asset that it is, and a good thing, too: Spakenburg’s heyday as a fishing village might be long over, but the restored traditional fishing boats bobbing in its harbor, waiting to give rides to visiting tourists, have spawned an industry of their own. The annual Spakenburg Fishery Day provides another opportunity to peek into the town’s past, with villagers dressing in historical costumes and demonstrating traditional trades and crafts for visitors. In Spakenburg, modernity feels disarmingly far away, and that’s exactly what recommends it to tourists looking for a Dutch village to visit for a taste of the Dutch culture of the past.

Volendam

Other than being a town of roughly 20,000 with its own professional soccer team, the former fishing town and artist’s colony of Volendam is best-known for its photogenic traditional houses. And though it gets its fair share of visitors, it’s easy to get lost in quiet corners of the city — anyone who wanders the Doolhof, the oldest part of the city and a network of mazelike alleys connected by bridges, will learn that quickly. Also of quirky note, and not so frequented by tourists as the town’s postcard-worthy waterfront, is the Palingsound Museum, which chronicles Volendam’s long history as a hub for music-making. But it’s the colorful waterfront that charms in photos of the city, so don’t miss it: you may have to wait a while to get that perfect photo without any passing tourists, but it’ll be worth it.

Winsum

It’s not surprising that Winsum was once voted the prettiest village in the Netherlands, given the whopping 59 national monuments found within its boundaries. From its historic windmills to its canals, it looks exactly like you’d expect - and hope - that a historic Dutch village would. That alone is reason enough to visit, and both walking and cruising via canoe or on a boat tour will give you a solid introduction to its stately look and serene ambience. Another fun way to immerse yourself in the history and character of this beautiful village: a meal or a pint at The Golden Carp, one of the oldest pubs operating in the Netherlands.

Zaanse Schans

Rounding out this list is perhaps the most prototypically Dutch village of them all: Zaanse Schans, an ever-popular day trip from Amsterdam where windmills and green-painted wooden houses dominate the landscape. There’s hardly a Dutch activity you can’t do here: cycling past windmills? Check. Watching a master wooden clog-maker at work? Check. Visiting a cheese farm? Okay, you get the point. If you’re looking for a place to experience the Netherlands as you imagined them, it’s Zaanse Schans. It may not have the unspoiled atmosphere of some of the more remote towns on this list, but it more than earns its popularity.

Peeks Into the Past

There’s no doubt that the Netherlands is as orderly, tech-savvy, and modern as any country you’ll find, but what stands out when you start to explore its finest small towns is just how much of the country’s past has been lovingly preserved as it modernized. These 10 towns stand out for their traditional costumes, architecture, crafts and trades, and even modes of transportation, offering visitors a brush with the beauty of a bygone era. Thus, those seeking beautiful places in the Netherlands will find it easy to skip the curated and the influencer-famous sites and instead encounter something real.