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Castles in the Netherlands

Posted by (Illinois, United States) on

Hello. My husband and I are taking our first international trip from the US in April. We are going to Belgium and the Netherlands. We are interested in visiting 1 castle. Possibly 2. We have never been to a castle before. I've done a lot of research on all of the castles in the Netherlands big and small. We ended up narrowing it down to 3 of the bigger ones to tour. I would be grateful for some insight into which of these castles is the most worthwhile to tour. I am uncertain as to why Netherlands castles are not listed in the Rick Steve's Amsterdam guide book. The 3 we are considering are Muiderslot, De Haar, and Loevestein. We have a car so getting to these castles is not a factor on whether or not we go to them. We may look at a couple of the smaller ones on a different day when we are near them. Like Huys Dever and Duivenvoorde. My husband is very interested in historical architecture.

(We will also be seeing Gravensteen in Ghent. But not touring it.)

Thank you!

Posted by
18 posts

Hi Nikpak, I can definitely recommend Muiderslot and De Haar. The two castles are very different: Muiderslot is from the Middle Ages, and De Haar is only from the 19th century and built in a neogothic style. If you want to visit only one castle, I'd recommend going to De Haar, also because of the gardens and in my opinon it's more interesting to tour.

Posted by
2084 posts

As a kid I was fond of everything that had to do with Medieval times and visited once the Muiderslot. But this is well over 45 years ago and can still remember that I liked it, but not so much the details. As Thomas notes De Haar is a late 19th century rebuild based on the ruins of an original castle, a bit like Neuschwanstein in Germany but without mountains. Not unusual at that time as during the Romantic period (we talk about) there are more projects like this realised like Haut-Koenigsbourg, Pierrefonds and Carcassonne in France. I have visited this castle about 15 years ago and liked it too. So it’s more if you prefer a really Medieval castle or actually a luxury home with a medieval appearance, but nevertheless interesting and beautiful to my opinion.

As your husband is interested in historical architecture it’s worth driving along the Vecht river south-east of Amsterdam between Vreeland and Maarsen. Famous for it’s 17th and 18th century mansions and very quintessential Dutch, very beautiful and highly to recommend and easy to combine with one of the two castles. Adjacent to De Haar lies Haarzuilens, a little village from the same period, there are a few restaurants. De Haar is designed by the same architect as Amsterdam Centraal railway station btw.

Never visited Loevestein but think well comparable with Muiderslot. It’s famous in Dutch history for the spectacular escape of political prisoner Hugo de Groot in a huge book case early 17th century. You can take the train to Gorinchem and from there the pedestrian ferry with a stop in tiny but lovely Woudrichem, certainly worth a visit too as well as Gorinchem.

Actually to my opinion you can’t go wrong with one of the three.

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