Everyone knows the Netherlands famous capital city, but there are so many more Dutch cities worth visiting beyond just Amsterdam. Don't get me wrong, Amsterdam is great. But if you only visit Amsterdam, you're getting one very specific (and very tourist-heavy) version of the Netherlands. Step outside the capital and you'll find Dutch cities with fewer crowds, more local character, and honestly: better value for your money.
From the canal-side terraces of Utrecht to the medieval streets of Delft and the raw architectural energy of Rotterdam, each city has its own personality. And because the Netherlands is tiny and the train network is solid, you can reach any of them in under two and a half hours from Amsterdam. An OV-chipkaart (the Dutch public transport card) and a day ticket from NS is all you need.
Here's my handpicked list of 11 Dutch cities worth your time: I've lived in the Netherlands long enough to have opinions about all of them:
The 11 Best Dutch Cities (Other than Amsterdam)
1. Rotterdam
Distance from Amsterdam by train: 40 minutes
Best time to visit: Summer for outdoor events
Rotterdam doesn't look like the rest of the Netherlands, and that's the point. The city was largely destroyed in World War II, so instead of the typical Dutch canal houses, you get bold modern architecture: the Cube Houses, the Markthal, the Erasmus Bridge. It's the anti-Amsterdam, and it works.
If you're coming from the UK, Rotterdam is one of the closest Dutch cities to reach, a Eurostar to Rotterdam Centraal takes around three hours. In summer the city fills up with outdoor events, including the Rotterdam Summer Carnival (the biggest Caribbean festival in Europe outside the Caribbean itself). On quieter days, you can hang out at Kralingen Lake or wander through the Katendrecht neighbourhood, which has gone from rough docklands to one of the best food districts in the country.
One thing I'll say: Rotterdam has better food variety than Amsterdam at lower prices. The Fenix Food Factory in Katendrecht is proof of that.
Where to stay in Rotterdam:
PREMIER SUITES PLUS Rotterdam | ★★★★ | Weena 710, 3014 DA Rotterdam
A modern all-suite hotel with spacious rooms and good city views. Rooms start around €120/night.
2. Eindhoven
Distance from Amsterdam by train: 1 hour 20 minutes
Best time to visit: Autumn for Dutch Design Week and GLOW festival
I've visited Eindhoven a couple of times and it surprised me. It's not a "pretty" city in the traditional Dutch sense: no medieval centre, no picture-perfect canals. But it has something different: a genuine creative energy that comes from its tech and design roots. This is where Philips started, and that industrial DNA is everywhere.
The Strijp-S district is the highlight, a former Philips factory complex turned into studios, restaurants, and event spaces. If you're into design or technology, check out:
- The Philips Museum (yes, it's Philips with one 'l')
- The DAF Museum for Dutch truck and car history
- Genneper Park 200 acres of green space with kayaking and swimming
Come in October for Dutch Design Week or the GLOW light art festival and you'll see the city at its best. Fair warning though: outside of event season, Eindhoven can feel quiet. It's more of a targeted visit than an all-rounder.
Where to stay:
The Social Hub Eindhoven | ★★★★ | Stationsplein 3A, 5611 AB Eindhoven
Right next to the station, with a coworking space and rooftop bar. Popular with the design crowd during events.
3. Utrecht
Distance from Amsterdam by train: 30 minutes
Best time to visit: Spring for canal-side terraces opening up
Utrecht was my first option when I moved to the Netherlands, and I still think it's the most underrated city in the country. It has the dynamism and young atmosphere of Amsterdam: the live music bars, the buzz, the diversity; but combined with the architecture and quietness you'd find in a place like Leiden. You really have to visit to understand it.
The canals here are different from Amsterdam's. They're two-level: the lower level has wharf cellars that have been converted into bars and restaurants right at water level. In spring and summer, every terrace is full by 5pm. It's the best outdoor drinking spot in the Netherlands, no contest.
Two places I always recommend: the Dom Tower (fully renovated, and you can see across the entire province from the top) and Cafe Olivier: a beer bar inside a converted Lutheran church with 20+ beers on tap. It looks ridiculous and it's brilliant. The kind of place you end up staying three hours longer than planned.
Beyond that:
- Rent a kayak and explore the canals from the water, cheaper and more fun than a tour boat
- Try bitterballen and stamppot at one of the canal-side restaurants (Oudaen brews its own beer on-site)
- Walk through the Botanic Gardens or just sit on the canal banks with a beer from the Albert Heijn, the locals do...
Where to stay:
NH Centre Utrecht | ★★★★ | Jaarbeursplein 24, 3521 AL Utrecht
Straightforward, clean, right next to the station. Not glamorous, but you won't be spending much time in your room anyway.
4. Volendam
Distance from Amsterdam: 35 minutes by Bus 316 from Amsterdam Centraal
Best time to visit: Autumn to avoid the tour groups
Volendam is the most "postcard Dutch" place on this list. A small fishing village on the Markermeer lake, just 20km from Amsterdam, with painted wooden houses, a tiny harbour, and locals who still occasionally wear traditional costume. It has five centuries of history and a community that has stayed remarkably intact.
I'll be honest: it can feel very touristy on a summer weekend. But go on a weekday in autumn and it's a completely different experience — quiet, atmospheric, and genuinely charming.
While you're in the area, combine it with:
- Edam: yes, the cheese town. It's 10 minutes away and has a gorgeous little centre
- Marken: take the ferry across from Volendam harbour for a half-day combo
One tip: don't take the train. Bus 316 from Amsterdam Centraal is direct, runs every 15 minutes, and gets you there in about 35 minutes. Much faster than the train-plus-bus combination.
Where to stay:
Van der Valk Hotel Volendam | ★★★★ | Breekland 6, 1131 VP Volendam
Overlooking a lake, modern rooms. Good base if you want to explore the Waterland area for a couple of days.
5. The Hague
Distance from Amsterdam by train: 50 minutes
Best time to visit: Summer, it's the only major Dutch city with a beach
The Hague is where the Dutch government sits, where the Royal Family lives, and where the International Court of Justice operates. That sounds serious, and some parts of the city are: the area around the Binnenhof has that formal, diplomatic atmosphere. But that's only half the story.
The other half is Scheveningen: a full-on beach resort attached to the city, reachable by tram in 20 minutes. On a hot summer day, half of The Hague is on that beach. It's the only major Dutch city where you can do museums in the morning and swim in the North Sea in the afternoon.
For the museum side, the Mauritshuis is small but extraordinary, Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring is here. The Louwman Museum has one of the world's largest collections of historic cars. And if you've got kids, Madurodam (a miniature Netherlands theme park) will keep them busy for hours.
Where to stay:
Best Western Plus Grand Winston | ★★★★ | Stationsweg 8, 2273 AK Voorburg
Technically in Voorburg (one tram stop from the centre), but it has a surprisingly good restaurant and is quieter than staying in the city itself.
6. Maastricht
Distance from Amsterdam by train: 2 hours 30 minutes
Best time to visit: Winter for Christmas markets, or February for Carnival
Maastricht is the furthest city from Amsterdam on this list, and it feels like it. Tucked into the very bottom of the Netherlands between Belgium and Germany, it has a completely different character from the rest of the country. The food is richer (think Burgundian rather than Dutch), the accent is impenetrable, and the architecture looks more Belgian than anything you'd find in Amsterdam.
The Dominicanen bookshop, a bookshop inside a 13th-century Gothic church, is genuinely one of the most impressive spaces I've seen in the Netherlands. The Vrijthof square in winter with Christmas markets is properly atmospheric, not the manufactured kind.
If you can time your visit for Carnival (February), you'll see a side of the Netherlands that most tourists never encounter. Maastricht's Carnival is wild, local, and completely unlike anything in Amsterdam.
Where to stay:
Amrâth Grand Hotel de l'Empereur | ★★★★ | Stationsplein 1, 6221 BP Maastricht
Right at the station, classic building, good breakfast. The walk into the old town from here takes about 10 minutes.
7. Gouda
Distance from Amsterdam by train: 55 minutes
Best time to visit: April–August for the Thursday morning cheese market
Yes, Gouda is named after the cheese, or rather, the cheese is named after the city. And yes, the cheese market is a real thing, not just a tourist setup. Every Thursday morning from April to August, traders bring wheels of cheese to the Waag (the old weighing house) and sell them in the traditional way. It's worth timing your visit for this.
Beyond cheese, Gouda is one of the oldest cities in the Netherlands and it shows. The Gothic city hall on the market square is striking, and the Sint-Janskerk has some of the finest stained-glass windows in the country: 72 of them, dating from the 16th century.
Gouda is a good half-day trip. You can see the main sights in 3–4 hours and combine it with Rotterdam (20 minutes further by train) for a full day out. Also worth knowing: Gouda's stroopwafels are the original, and noticeably better than the ones you'll buy at Amsterdam Centraal.
Where to stay:
Mainport Design Hotel Rotterdam | ★★★★ | Leuvehaven 77, 3011 EA Rotterdam (20-minute train from Gouda)
There aren't many hotels in Gouda itself that we partner with, so this Rotterdam option is the best nearby. Worth it for the riverside location.
8. Leiden
Distance from Amsterdam by train: 40 minutes
Best time to visit: Spring for tulip season (Keukenhof is 15 minutes away)
This is where I live, so I'm biased, but I genuinely think Leiden is one of the most accessible and prettiest cities in the Netherlands. It has everything: canals, a 450-year-old university, cobblestone streets, good restaurants, and it's small enough that you can walk everywhere in 20 minutes. I won't change it for any of the bigger cities.
Leiden University is the oldest in the Netherlands (founded 1575), and you can feel that history in the Rapenburg area. The National Museum of Antiquities has an actual Egyptian temple inside it. The Hortus Botanicus is one of the oldest botanical gardens in Europe. And the street market on Wednesdays and Saturdays is genuinely good, not a tourist market, but where locals buy their cheese, fish, fruit, and flowers.
I especially recommend dinner at La Bota, in the middle of the historic centre. The dishes are generous and the space is truly unique, the founder was a Spanish man who emigrated to Leiden in the 1960s, and the restaurant still keeps that Spanish inspiration in its food. The perfect stop while wandering around the old town.
For canal cruises, the open-top boats are fun in spring. But honestly, just walking along the Rapenburg and the Nieuwe Rijn on a sunny day is enough.
Where to stay:
Golden Tulip Leiden Centre | ★★★★ | Schipholweg 3, 2316 XB Leiden
Solid hotel, good breakfast, 10-minute walk to the centre. Not exciting, but reliable.
9. Arnhem
Distance from Amsterdam by train: 1 hour 10 minutes
Best time to visit: Spring or early autumn for Hoge Veluwe National Park
Arnhem is the gateway to the east of the Netherlands, and it's a different landscape entirely forests, heathland, and the 5,400-hectare Hoge Veluwe National Park. If you've only seen the flat, urban west of the country, Arnhem will change your perspective.
The city itself has a strong WWII connection. The Airborne Museum Hartenstein covers the Battle of Arnhem (the "Bridge Too Far" story) and it's sobering and well done. But the main draw is nature:
- Hoge Veluwe National Park: free white bikes inside the park, plus the Kröller-Müller Museum which has the second-largest Van Gogh collection in the world (after the Amsterdam museum)
- Burgers' Zoo: one of the better zoos in the Netherlands, with a full indoor tropical rainforest
- The Eusebius Church tower: glass-floored viewing platform at 73 metres. Not for the faint-hearted
When you arrive, take a moment to look at Arnhem Centraal station itself. It's genuinely impressive, a flowing, futuristic design that won multiple architecture awards.
Where to stay:
Hotel Haarhuis | ★★★★ | Stationsplein 1, 6811 KG Arnhem
Directly opposite the station. Clean, modern, and well-located for catching the bus to Hoge Veluwe the next morning.
10. Venlo
Distance from Amsterdam by train: 2 hours
Best time to visit: Autumn for local markets
Venlo is the wildcard on this list. It's not a typical tourist destination and I won't pretend otherwise. But if you're interested in the less-polished, border-town side of the Netherlands, it's genuinely interesting.
Sitting right on the German border in the province of Limburg, Venlo has a whole district locals call the "German area": German shops, German markets, German language everywhere. It's a cultural mix you won't find anywhere else in the Netherlands, and it gives the city a character that's hard to describe until you've walked through it.
What's actually worth doing:
- The medieval city centre: cobblestone streets, the St. Martinuskerk, properly old buildings
- Try Limburgse vlaai: a regional fruit pie that people in Limburg are fiercely proud of. Every bakery claims theirs is the best
- The Limburgs Museum: surprisingly good regional history museum
- Cycle along the Maas River: flat, scenic, and very few other tourists
Venlo is in the heart of Limburg, which is the most un-Dutch feeling province in the Netherlands. The hills (yes, hills, the Netherlands isn't entirely flat), the food culture, and the dialect all set it apart.
Where to stay:
Hotel Wilhelmina | ★★★ | Wilhelminapark 3, 5911 HG Venlo
Simple, comfortable, fairly priced. Venlo doesn't have many upscale hotel options, but you don't need one.
11. Amersfoort
Distance from Amsterdam by train: 35 minutes
Best time to visit: Spring or early summer
Amersfoort keeps winning "best city to live in" awards in the Netherlands, and once you visit, you understand why. It's small, well-preserved, and has a medieval centre that feels lived-in rather than museum-like. The nickname Keistad (boulder city) comes from a 9-tonne boulder that residents dragged into town in the Middle Ages, there's a whole story behind it.
The highlights:
- The Koppelpoort: a 15th-century water gate that's one of the most photographed structures in the Netherlands. It still works
- The Mondriaanhuis: birthplace of Piet Mondriaan, now a modern art gallery
- The Flehite Museum: compact city history museum, well curated
- The Kattenbroek neighbourhood: 1990s experimental architecture that's either brilliant or bizarre depending on your taste
Amersfoort was named European City of the Year by the Academy of Urbanism. At 35 minutes from Amsterdam, it's an easy half-day trip; or a quieter base for exploring the region.
Where to stay:
NH Amersfoort | ★★★★ | Stationsstraat 75, 3811 MH Amersfoort
Modern, next to the station, does what it needs to do. Good option if you want a base that's cheaper than Amsterdam.
Choose easier, where to go with this comparison table of these Dutch cities:
| City | Train from Amsterdam | Best season | Best for | Half-day or full day? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rotterdam | 40 min | Summer | Modern architecture, food scene, nightlife | Full day+ |
| Eindhoven | 1h 20min | Autumn | Design, tech, festivals (DDW, GLOW) | Full day |
| Utrecht | 30 min | Spring | Canal terraces, student vibe, live music | Full day+ |
| Volendam | 35 min (bus) | Autumn | Traditional Dutch village, photography | Half day |
| The Hague | 50 min | Summer | Museums, beach, government quarter | Full day+ |
| Maastricht | 2h 30min | Winter | Burgundian food, Carnival, Christmas markets | Overnight |
| Gouda | 55 min | Summer | Cheese market (Apr–Aug), Gothic architecture | Half day |
| Leiden | 40 min | Spring | University town, history, near Keukenhof | Full day |
| Arnhem | 1h 10min | Spring | Nature (Hoge Veluwe), WWII history, Van Gogh | Full day+ |
| Venlo | 2h | Autumn | German border culture, Limburg food, markets | Full day |
| Amersfoort | 35 min | Spring | Medieval centre, Mondriaan, walkable | Half day |
FAQs about Visiting the Best Dutch Cities
What are the best things to do in the Netherlands?
Rent a bike (or buy a second-hand one for €50, everyone does). Eat frites with mayo from a street stand. Get a frikandel from Febo at 2am (it's a vending-machine fast-food chain and it's a Dutch institution). Sit on a terrace with a beer as soon as the sun appears, the Dutch treat sunshine like a special occasion because, well, it kind of is.
Is three days enough to visit the Netherlands?
Three days is tight but workable. Here's how I'd do it:
Day 1: Amsterdam. Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum, walk through Jordaan and De Pijp. Eat stroopwafels from Albert Cuyp market, not a tourist shop.
Day 2: Utrecht or Leiden. Both are 30–40 minutes by train. Utrecht for energy and terraces, Leiden for history and calm. You could even do both in a day if you start early — they're only 25 minutes apart by train.
Day 3: Rotterdam or The Hague. Rotterdam for architecture and food. The Hague for art and a beach to end the trip. Or combine: they're 25 minutes apart.
You won't see everything, but you'll get a real sense of how varied the Netherlands is beyond Amsterdam.
What is the prettiest place in the Netherlands?
That's subjective, but Giethoorn comes up the most. It's a village with no roads, only canals, footbridges, and thatched-roof houses. People call it the "Venice of the North" which is a stretch, but it is genuinely beautiful. Best visited by renting a small boat (about €15/hour) and going in the late afternoon when the tour groups have left.
What is the most walkable city in the Netherlands?
Utrecht. The entire city centre is compact, mostly pedestrianised, and you can reach every major sight on foot within 15 minutes. Leiden is a close second.
What town is 20 minutes from Amsterdam?
Haarlem. Twenty minutes by train, and it's like a miniature Amsterdam without the crowds. Medieval centre, great food scene (the Jopenkerk brewery is in a converted church, the Dutch really like putting things in churches), and easy access to the beach at Zandvoort. Honestly, it could have been number 12 on this list.
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