Off the beaten track in the Netherlands

[Mandarinaduck]

What are your favourite spots for a day trip or a weekend in the Netherlands which aren't on the usual tourist routes? We will be spending quite a bit of time travelling to or through the Netherlands in the near future.

The flood museum. I went because I was with people who wanted to go and I thought it was going to be really dull. Twelve years on and I still remember things from it. Really good story telling and a fascinating visit.

Giethoorn is quite touristy but not much known by uk tourists. It’s the Venice of the Netherlands. The Hoge Veluwe National Park is great and bikes come with the admission fee. Gouda is lovely. Also Doesburg.

Zeirksee is a lovely miniature Dutch town in the Zeeland region and also in the same region is Veere. Both are exquisite - Veere is a village really but Zeirksee is a decent size town with some fancy shops and decent restaurants.

Hoge Veluwe National Park. Has free bikes you can schlepp around the park at your own speed. Amazing countryside. Highland cows, deer, Neanderthal burial grounds and one of the best art galleries I have ever been to.
www.hogeveluwe.nl/en

I love Zeeland. Goes, Middelburg, Zierikzee etc and Neeltje Jans delta park.
The drielandenpunt near Vaals / Maastricht is quite fun - stand in 3 countries at once. It's the highest point in NL and there is a look out tower and maze too. Steam railway and some nice castles near Valkenburg. For towns, Leiden, Delft and Utrecht.

I'd recommend visiting the northern half of the country.
I really liked Leeuwarden, the capital of Friesland, plus the coastal town of Harlingen. In nearby Franeker you could visit the world's oldest working planetarium.
I'll admit I didn't warm to Groningen (the city, not the province), but there is a lot to see and do there. I also liked Assen, the capital of Drenthe: small and picturesque.
More in the middle of the country, Deventer is lovely.
Further south, I loved the Waterbus journey from Rotterdam down to Dordrecht, which is another very pleasant town.

Forgot to add, I'd echo PP's recommendation of the Drielandenpunt at Vaals.

Really enjoyed nijmegen, some great museums around operation market garden.

Thanks for these fantastic suggestions. Some I had never heard of. Look forward to exploring.

Deventer is a really cool old city centre with a lovely waterfront as well! A weekend is long enough. Utrecht is my favourite busy city centre. Middleburg is quite pretty and zeeland generally quite chill beaches outside school holidays. Maastricht also old and pretty and Limburg is generally a bit different from the rest of the country. Groningen is a great city centre but extremely studenty.

City break in Rotterdam is hard to beat: pinball museum, boat trip on the Maas, lunch in Fenix Food Factory, Maritime museum, dinner at Hotel Rotterdam, sleep on the SS Rotterdam, BiteMe food tour, Boijmans Museum and Archive...

Haarlem is lovely too!

Hoorn's nice. Check out the steam trams. Plus a lot of (maybe questionable) history.

Agree about Haarlem and Nijmegen.
Before visiting Nijmegen I think my idea of the place was dominated by its WWII history, which is of course very interesting, but I hadn't expected it to be so beautiful and with a very lovely waterfront.

I think the Netherlands is much neglected as a tourist destination. It has some amazing beaches and lovely towns to visit. As mentioned by PP Rotterdam is surprisingly interesting to visit, the Hague also. Amsterdam has cleaned its act up a bit too in recent years. I was very depressed by its seediness 10 years ago but visited this summer and had a fab time. Did a really good walking tour based on its social history which explained a lot of the background to why it has such relaxed attitudes.