The Netherlands, a country won from the water.

Which part of the Netherlands should you choose?

A quarter of the country lies below sea level, and you see it everywhere: canals, dykes, windmills, polders and a network of cycle paths that reaches every village. It is flat and small, and easy to get around without a car. Almost every trip starts in Amsterdam, but what surprises most is outside the city, where water is still the street.

• If it is your first time, start with Amsterdam: 17th-century canals, the Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh and the Anne Frank House, whose tickets go on sale every Tuesday for six weeks later.
• If you want to see windmills, head to the Zaanse Schans, 17 minutes by train from Amsterdam: paint, oil and spice mills that are still at work.
• If you are drawn to the inland sea, spend a day in Volendam and Marken, two fishing villages linked by a half-hour boat ride.
• If you prefer a quiet city, try Haarlem, a quarter of an hour by train, with Frans Hals, the Teylers Museum and, in spring, Keukenhof nearby. And Delft, the city of Vermeer and blue pottery, an hour away.
• If you are interested in modern architecture, go to Rotterdam, 40 minutes away on the Intercity Direct: the Markthal, the cube houses and Europe's biggest port seen from a boat. From there, the WaterShuttle takes you in half an hour to the windmills of Kinderdijk, a World Heritage Site.
• If you want to see Vermeer and the sea on the same day, go to The Hague and Scheveningen: Girl with a Pearl Earring at the Mauritshuis, Madurodam and the beach a tram ride away.
• If you like university cities, Utrecht, with the Dom Tower and its two-level canal, and Leiden, with an Egyptian temple and the oldest botanical garden in the country, are half an hour away by train.
• If you are travelling from March to September, set aside a Friday for the cheese market in Alkmaar, 35 minutes from Amsterdam. There are two others: the one in Gouda, on Thursdays from April to August, with the stroopwafel factory and the 72 stained-glass windows of the Sint-Jan, and the one in Edam, on Wednesdays in July and August, half an hour away by bus.
• If you like castles and fortresses, combine Muiderslot and the star-shaped town of Naarden in a single day in Muiden and Naarden, half an hour from Amsterdam by train and bus.
• If you want to reach the windmills by river, stay overnight or spend the day in Dordrecht, the oldest city in Holland, and take the Waterbus to Kinderdijk.
• If you are travelling with children from spring to autumn, do the Historic Triangle of Enkhuizen and Hoorn: steam tram, a boat across the IJsselmeer and the open-air village of the Zuiderzeemuseum.
• If you are looking for a village on the water, go to Giethoorn, in the province of Overijssel. Reed-thatched houses, each on its own island, linked by wooden bridges, and an old centre that cars cannot enter: you get around on foot, by bike or by boat.
• If you want peaceful nature, stay there for a second day: Giethoorn lies inside the Weerribben-Wieden National Park, the largest peatland area in north-western Europe, with narrow canals for canoeing and paths for cycling.
• If you are travelling with children, Giethoorn works well: the electric boat needs no licence, the paths are flat and there are no cars in the centre.

The easiest combination: three nights in Amsterdam with two day trips by train, and one night in Giethoorn. The village is about two hours away by public transport and can be done in a day, but sleeping there changes the visit: at dusk and first thing in the morning the canal is almost empty.

How do you get there from Spain?

By air. The main airport is Amsterdam Schiphol, with direct flights from almost all the big Spanish cities, taking about two and a half hours from Madrid or Barcelona. From Schiphol there are direct trains to central Amsterdam and many other cities: the station is beneath the terminal.

Documents. The Netherlands is in the European Union and the Schengen area: your Spanish national ID card (DNI) is enough. The currency is the euro, and the European Health Insurance Card covers urgent care.

How do you get around?

It is one of the easiest countries in Europe to travel without a car. You do not need to buy tickets: on trains, buses, trams and metros you pay by tapping your contactless Visa or Mastercard, or your phone, on the reader when you get on and when you get off. Always use the same card or the same phone on entry and exit; otherwise the system cannot calculate the journey properly.

The train does not go to Giethoorn. From Amsterdam you take a train to Steenwijk, in about 90 minutes, sometimes changing at Zwolle, and from there you take bus 70 to the village. If you drive, you park at the entrance: you cannot go into the old centre.

The bicycle is everyone's transport. You can hire bikes at stations and in villages, there are separate lanes everywhere and hardly any hills. Treat cycle lanes as if they were roads: cyclists go fast and have priority.

When to go and how much it costs

From April to June and in September: long days, mild temperatures and fewer people than in summer. The bulb fields bloom in April and May; the Keukenhof park, next to Haarlem, opens in 2027 from 18 March to 9 May. In July, August and at weekends, the main canal in Giethoorn fills up with boats at midday. In winter the days are short, the cold is damp and some boat businesses close.

The budget is high, especially accommodation in Amsterdam. Outside the capital prices drop, and public transport is expensive but very efficient. Almost everything is paid for by card.