Amsterdam

Amsterdam is one of the world’s best hangouts, a canny blend of old and new: radical squatter art installations hang off 17th-century eaves; BMWs give way to bicycles; and triple-strength monk-made beer is drunk in gleaming, minimalist cafes.

Amsterdam has many fascinating neighbourhoods to explore, from red light sleaze to bohemian chic to stately grandeur. The landscape is riddled with graceful bridges and eccentric churches, the air laden with carillon chimes. Most attractions are within the canal belt, so sightseeing is a breeze.

Hoge Veluwe

Hoge Veluwe is the country’s largest national park and home to the wonderful Kröller-Müller Museum. The park itself covers 5500 hectares (13,500 acres) and is a strange mix of forests and woods, shifting sands and heath moors that provide a sense of isolation (if not actual isolation) found nowhere else on the Dutch mainland. Red deer, wild boar and mouflon (a Mediterranean sheep) roam here. The Kröller-Müller Museum has 278 works by Van Gogh, as well as smaller collections of Picasso and Mondrian.

Hoge Veluwe is accessible by bus from Arnhem, which is an hour’s train ride east of Amsterdam. White bicycles are available free of charge once you’re inside the park.

Maastricht

One of the Netherland’s oldest towns, Maastricht has a lively international feel. Its history stretches back to 50 BC, when the Romans set up camp there. Fortification walls still partly surround the city, and you can explore a labyrinth of tunnels on the city’s western outskirts.

The Randstad

The Randstad literally translates as ‘Urban Agglomeration’. It’s the Netherlands’ most densely populated region, spreading in a circle from Amsterdam, incorporating the Hague, Rotterdam and Utrecht, and smaller towns like Haarlem, Leiden and Delft.

The area’s most spectacular sight is the bulb fields near Leiden which explode into colour between March and May. Even from the window of a train they’re intoxicating, but a back-roads bicycle trip is the best way to enjoy them. The Keukenhof, south of Haarlem, is the world’s largest garden.