If all goes as planned, in May my husband and I will end a three week trip with 6 nights in the Netherlands. The last 2 nights will be spent in Leiden, so we have 4 nights to work with. On previous trips we have visited many places closer to Amsterdam but have ventured as far north as Harlingen. We would like to explore the regions of Friesland, Groningen or Drenthe. We will have a car for these days as we enjoy small towns, historical sites , the interesting architecture of houses and farm buildings and views of the sea. We are looking for suggestions of places to explore with our limited time. Also, can anyone recommend a good travel guide book for these areas? Thank you.
Ellen
Posted by
IJzendijke, The Netherlands
2084 posts
Hi Ellen,
Leiden is a good choice for staying a few nights, it's a beautiful lively city and has a few top-notch museums.
Drenthe is known for it’s idyllic villages with their characteristic greens, named “brinkdorpen” in Dutch and date back from medieval times. The countryside is with the small farms and these villages way more intimate compared to that of the more coastal areas of Friesland and Groningen. Many houses and farms have still thatched roofs and are really charming. I have visited a few of these villages last summer and Orvelte is the one I really can recommend. The others were Dwingeloo and Diever.
This province is also famous for it’s UNESCO listed Hunebeds (Hunebedden in Dutch), prehistoric tombstones and being the oldest monuments in the Netherlands. Borger has a museum about prehistoric life, didn’t visit it but think worth considering.
In Friesland most cities of the so called “Elfstedentocht” (Netherlands most legendary open air ice-skating event) are worth to visit. I am not familiar enough with all these places to give you enough details about them, but anyway not to miss are Sloten and Hindeloopen. Franeker is lovely too and famous for it’s historic Eise Eisinga Planetarium. Further many so called “terpdorpen” (historic villages on top of man made hills) closer to the coast are charming.
Friesland has a distinctive character, it’s own official language, traditional sports like “Fierljeppen” (long pole jumping) and “Skûtsjesilen” (sailing with traditional cargo boats) and so on. Ofcourse numerous cows and the Friesian horses, many acting in movies like Tornado in the (2005) Legend of Zorro.
In Groningen last summer I liked my visit to Bourtange, a small historic fortified village close to the German border. Alas my knowledge of Groningen is limited so can’t tell you not so much about this province.
On the way back to Amsterdam or Leiden you can visit Giethoorn, Hattem near Zwolle and Elburg. A drive from Hattem to Deventer and Zutphen along the river Yssel is scenic.
Posted by
Duluth 🛶
7975 posts
Ellen, I really like the Rough Guides - their book covers the above areas and I think has a lot of good information. I like their books in general - I'm heading to Germany in May and using that one as a resource more than the other two (Lonely Planet and Rick Steves). I usually check them out from the library first and see which one I like the best, then go with that one for the trip.
I do not recommend the DK guides - they have pretty pictures but not much substance imo.