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The Netherlands
Includes a Cycling chapter, a popular way to see the country; insightful commentary on the contemporary challenges of a famously tolerant society facing various challenges; coverage of cultural and environmental issues; and, selective and opinionated sleeping, eating and entertainment listings.
344 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
June 1, 2017
For my just completed week-long travel to the Benelux (Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg) I looked through all the available guides and I finally decided on this one and the analog for Belgium and Luxembourg as they fit best my needs - as usual Rick Steeves' guides are the most entertaining in writing style but they have a potentially major flaw as they talk at length about what the authors feel are the highlights and their choices may not coincide with yours - when they do like in Spain their guide is best but when they don't like in Switzerland or here I look for other options
While drier in style, the Lonely Planet was excellent as it suggested a few places I may not have considered otherwise - they have a top 10 attractions in the Netherlands and top 15 in the Belgium/Luxembourg - to start the guides, they have great geographical orientation, both with country maps, regional maps and city maps including an Amsterdam pullout and they talk about many, many places - yes shorter than the fewer places described in other guides, but enough to decide if you are interested further and today with the world on the cell phone, what is needed is awareness of a place as afterwards you can research it at leisure anywhere; the maps with numbered highlights proved extremely useful in the cities I visited (Rotterdam and Luxembourg especially as there just walking around the city and taking in the super modernistic buildings in Rotterdam and the two tiered old city of Luxembourg is an experience in itself, but also Brugge - here the whole old city is an experience so it doesn't really matter where you go, Hague - here the old city is smaller so easy to see, Utrecht and Amsterdam - this one didn't really work out for me, as big cities go being far away from Milan or Madrid, while from its museums, the Van Gogh is special but Rijksmuseum pales compared to Prado or Uffizi, though the maritime museum is cool as it has a real VOC ship one can visit - the collection itself is ok, the naval Museum of Madrid better, but the VOC ship and getting a feel for how the long voyages in the 1600-1700's went are worth the price)
The other highlight of the 2 guides discussed here was the smaller places - especially for Belgium and its Ardennes region and Luxembourg and the Moselle valley - due to lack of time I didn't visit all I planned but a castle (Bouillon), a scenic drive and a few picturesque villages were all found out from the guide - and then there was the Waterloo museum and battlefield with a good description in the Belgium book (this one I would have visited without any guide mentioning it of course)
Overall - excellent for my needs as they have shorter description of many places, good opening highlights and maps
While drier in style, the Lonely Planet was excellent as it suggested a few places I may not have considered otherwise - they have a top 10 attractions in the Netherlands and top 15 in the Belgium/Luxembourg - to start the guides, they have great geographical orientation, both with country maps, regional maps and city maps including an Amsterdam pullout and they talk about many, many places - yes shorter than the fewer places described in other guides, but enough to decide if you are interested further and today with the world on the cell phone, what is needed is awareness of a place as afterwards you can research it at leisure anywhere; the maps with numbered highlights proved extremely useful in the cities I visited (Rotterdam and Luxembourg especially as there just walking around the city and taking in the super modernistic buildings in Rotterdam and the two tiered old city of Luxembourg is an experience in itself, but also Brugge - here the whole old city is an experience so it doesn't really matter where you go, Hague - here the old city is smaller so easy to see, Utrecht and Amsterdam - this one didn't really work out for me, as big cities go being far away from Milan or Madrid, while from its museums, the Van Gogh is special but Rijksmuseum pales compared to Prado or Uffizi, though the maritime museum is cool as it has a real VOC ship one can visit - the collection itself is ok, the naval Museum of Madrid better, but the VOC ship and getting a feel for how the long voyages in the 1600-1700's went are worth the price)
The other highlight of the 2 guides discussed here was the smaller places - especially for Belgium and its Ardennes region and Luxembourg and the Moselle valley - due to lack of time I didn't visit all I planned but a castle (Bouillon), a scenic drive and a few picturesque villages were all found out from the guide - and then there was the Waterloo museum and battlefield with a good description in the Belgium book (this one I would have visited without any guide mentioning it of course)
Overall - excellent for my needs as they have shorter description of many places, good opening highlights and maps
April 10, 2019
Got it for free and really enjoyed it. The detail shown in the Zeeland and Eastern Netherlands sections was appreciated. Amsterdam was light on the part I will be visiting (Amsterdam-Oost), but that part of town is a little off the beaten path so it wasn't too surprising.
May 17, 2024
Good book with some good tips.
We had a wonderful trip
We had a wonderful trip
August 1, 2015
It's very focussed on Amsterdam and everything close to that city, which is okay but limited for people who want to venture into the rest of The Netherlands (where there are also awesome things). I enjoyed reading the way my country is described in the introduction about our history and the like. But for actual tourists I would recommend only using this lonely planet as a starting point and to try and get as many tips from actual Dutchies living in the area you're visiting. If you just have this book to rely on you'll miss out on cool stuff (like the toy museum in Deventer).
I haven't read all of the tips in this book yet, just the parts that I visited this week, so I'll keep pulling it out when I have a day off to go on a trip and see what it says.
I haven't read all of the tips in this book yet, just the parts that I visited this week, so I'll keep pulling it out when I have a day off to go on a trip and see what it says.
March 8, 2017
As ever with the Lonely Planet guides, this was splendid. It gave a wealth of things to do in Amsterdam, where we were based on our holiday, and also gave plenty of ideas for day trips in other districts. We plumped for a day in Rotterdam, and found the travel information in the book helpful. I'll always go for Lonely Planet guides; yes, they may be a little more expensive than the usual travel books, but there's a reason they're rated as the best in the world.
April 22, 2022
I read a few other guidebooks before our five day stay in Amsterdam at the beginning of April, and this was the most useful. It had the hotel we stayed in, The Hoxton, among its recommendations, which gave it an icon on the Amsterdam maps. The restaurant guide wasn't particularly helpful, as Lonely Planet travel guides seemed to be designed for students and other more budget-minded travelers. We relied more on our hotel staff's advice. Unfortunately, the paperback was too heavy to shlep around and the newer kindle edition we downloaded wasn't as good.
March 26, 2018
I used to read Lonely Planet guidebooks from the first page to the last. This time this wasn't the case. The suggestions seemed rather boring to me, there wasn't the same feeling about it that you just have to look up anything and know where to go...I felt a bit lost. And bought another tourist guide.
I liked the chapter on Dutch Lifestyle. And maybe next time in the Netherlands, in another part of the country, the guide might still come in handy.
I liked the chapter on Dutch Lifestyle. And maybe next time in the Netherlands, in another part of the country, the guide might still come in handy.
January 14, 2018
Отличный путеводитель для первоначального знакомства со страной. Содержит информацию только о тех городах и местах, которые будут наиболее интересны среднему путешественнику, прибывающему в Нидерланды лишь на пару недель. Множество карт и полезных советов. Хорошая теоретическая часть об истории и культуре страны.
January 26, 2019
Wonderfully informative
I learned a great deal from reading this book. I found out last year that Denmark was actually my Heritage Home. I'm looking forward to traveling there shortly.
I learned a great deal from reading this book. I found out last year that Denmark was actually my Heritage Home. I'm looking forward to traveling there shortly.
July 11, 2017
Useful but the ebook was a little clunky to use
September 23, 2017
A tourist guide just like any other. A perishable list of phones and addresses and not much more.
June 27, 2018
Very helpful in planning my trip - esp. easy excursions from Amsterdam
December 19, 2019
great food selections as always
May 9, 2020
Dutch highlights are included as comprehensive as possible. Great for Dutch tourism. Multiple day cycling routes are lacking, though. Includes a few spelling errors.
August 2, 2022
Relevant information for our heritage trip of the Netherlands next year-particularly the transportation information and the way the book is divided into provinces.
October 4, 2023
A must-read book that's highly informative and useful. Definitely a great resource to help plan my honeymoon trip.
July 1, 2024
Pretty good information for travel in the Netherlands.
April 28, 2015
affrontare un viaggio senza una Lonely?
Giammai!
Indispensabili come sempre, compagne fedeli di ogni vacanza, dalla piu' semplice (come questa) alla piu' assurda.
Carenti forse solo dal punto di vista strettamente artistico, ma, onestamente, per un viaggio "zaino in spalla" (anche se oramai lo zaino e' stato sostituito da un simpatico trolley), rimangono uniche.
Giammai!
Indispensabili come sempre, compagne fedeli di ogni vacanza, dalla piu' semplice (come questa) alla piu' assurda.
Carenti forse solo dal punto di vista strettamente artistico, ma, onestamente, per un viaggio "zaino in spalla" (anche se oramai lo zaino e' stato sostituito da un simpatico trolley), rimangono uniche.
July 5, 2021
This book made me question the quality of Lonely Planet in general. I am dutch and live in the Netherlands, we bought this book this for fun. Turns out it's actually quite bad, the descriptions are regularly incorrect, and also they seem to forget there's more to the country than just Amsterdam, so it's very incomplete.
May 4, 2023
Part of my armchair travel series to accompany “The House of Fortune.”
Great overview of what sounds like a fascinating country with a unique people. I learned a lot in the history section that only adds to their charming character.
Great overview of what sounds like a fascinating country with a unique people. I learned a lot in the history section that only adds to their charming character.
January 9, 2008
I love Lonely Planet for travel books.
February 26, 2008
Accurate!
July 4, 2010
Used this book when I went to the Netherlands and it came it pretty handy.
February 19, 2013
Ottima guida, consigliatissima!
Read
February 26, 2013Unfortunately I didn't stay long enough to fully enjoy all the useful informations gathered in this guide. After reading it though, I decided that another trip to the Netherlands was due.
January 21, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews