Every year, 20 million tourists visit the Netherlands, a country with a population of 17.8 million, one of the highest tourist-to-resident ratios in Europe, and most of them go to exactly the same places: the canal belt of Amsterdam, the tulip fields of Lisse, the windmills of Kinderdijk. These are famous for a reason, they are beautiful, they are iconic, and they deliver on their promises. But the Netherlands is a small country (41,543 km², roughly two-thirds the size of West Virginia), and the difference between the famous and the less-famous is the difference between standing in a queue of 400 people waiting to take the same photograph and standing alone in a landscape that is just as beautiful and twice as memorable. Here are five of the most famous Dutch attractions, and, where it matters, how to see them without the crowds.

Five Famous Dutch Attractions

• 1. The Keukenhof, the tulip garden, but better timed: The Keukenhof, in Lisse (30 km southwest of Amsterdam), is the largest flower garden in the world: 32 hectares, 7 million bulbs planted every year, tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, and crocuses in a blaze of colour that is one of the most beautiful sights in Europe. It is also one of the busiest: 1.5 million visitors over an eight-week season (late March–mid-May), the equivalent of a small city passing through a garden every day. The strategy: go on a weekday, arrive at 8am (the gardens open at 8; the coach tours arrive at 10), and you will have an hour of relative peace. The alternative: skip the Keukenhof and drive (or cycle) the Bollenstreek, the Bulb Region, the fields of tulips between Haarlem and Leiden in April. The fields are free, the colours, stripes of red, yellow, purple, and white stretching to the horizon, are as beautiful as the Keukenhof, and you will not be sharing the experience with a tour bus. Entry: ~€20. Book online
• 2. The Windmills of Kinderdijk, the most Dutch of Dutch sights: 19 windmills, built in the 18th century, standing along the canals of the Alblasserwaard polder, a UNESCO World heritage site and the most iconic windmill landscape in the Netherlands. The mills pumped water from the polder into the river, the original land-reclamation technology that created the Netherlands, and the experience of walking (or, better, cycling) the path between them, the sails turning in the wind, the water reflecting the sky, is the essential Dutch countryside experience. The strategy: arrive before 10am or after 4pm, the tour buses from Amsterdam and Rotterdam arrive mid-morning and depart mid-afternoon. Rent a bicycle from the Kinderdijk visitor centre (~€5/hour) and cycle the 7 km loop, the windmills, the canals, and the polder landscape of cows, green fields, and big skies. Entry: the path is free; entry to the two museum mills: ~€18. Getting there: the Waterbus from Rotterdam (Erasmusbrug) to Kinderdijk, the boat ride through the harbour and the river landscape is part of the experience. ~€7 one way. Allow a half-day
• 3. The Rijksmuseum, the glory of the Dutch Golden Age: The greatest collection of Dutch art in the world: Rembrandt’s “The Night Watch” (1642, the most famous painting in the Netherlands, the militia company of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq, the use of light and shadow, Rembrandt’s genius in a single, vast canvas that fills an entire wall), Vermeer’s “The Milkmaid” (1658, a servant pouring milk, a moment of ordinary life rendered with an extraordinary stillness and beauty that makes you understand why Vermeer is one of the most beloved painters in the history of art), the doll’s houses (three 17th-century miniature houses, the contents, from the tiny porcelain dishes to the miniature paintings on the walls, cost as much as a real canal house at the time), and the Delftware, the blue-and-white pottery that is as Dutch as the tulips and the windmills. The strategy: book the first time slot of the day (9am) online, go straight to “The Night Watch” (Gallery of Honour, second floor), and enjoy 15 minutes of relative solitude before the crowds arrive. The Rijksmuseum is open 365 days a year. Entry: €22.50
• 4. The canals of Amsterdam, on a bicycle, not on a tour boat: The canal-boat tours (the glass-topped boats, the recorded commentary, the 60-minute loop around the Prinsengracht, the Herengracht, and the Keizersgracht) are the most popular tourist activity in Amsterdam, and the least rewarding. The canals are beautiful, but the boat is crowded, the windows are smeared, and the commentary is, at best, forgettable. The alternative: hire a bicycle and cycle the canal belt at your own pace. The essential route: the Prinsengracht (the outermost canal) from the Amstel River to the Brouwersgracht, 3 km of canal houses, bridges, and the quietest of the three main canals. Stop at the Anne Frank House (the queues are brutal, book online 6 weeks ahead, the moment the tickets are released, or queue at 8.30am for the limited same-day tickets released at 9am. Entry: €16), Café de Tuin (a brown café on the Prinsengracht, the best coffee and the best apple pie in the Jordaan), and the Noordermarkt (Mondays, the flea market; Saturdays, the organic farmers’ market, the best in Amsterdam. The stroopwafel stand, fresh, hot, caramel-filled waffles, is the essential Amsterdam food experience)
• 5. The Delta Works, the greatest engineering project the Netherlands has ever built: After the North Sea flood of 1953 (which killed 1,836 people and flooded 1,365 km² of land), the Netherlands decided that it would never happen again. The Delta Works, a series of dams, barriers, and storm-surge gates in the provinces of Zeeland and South Holland, completed in 1997 after 44 years of construction, the largest flood-protection system in the world, is the result. The Oosterscheldekering (the Eastern Scheldt storm-surge barrier, 9 km long, the largest of the Delta Works) is a monument to Dutch engineering and the defining characteristic of the Dutch relationship with water: the battle to keep the sea at bay, fought with concrete and steel rather than with the windmills of the 18th century. The Deltapark Neeltje Jans (the visitor centre on the former construction island, the exhibition, the film, and the walk along the barrier, the sea on one side, the estuary on the other) is one of the most fascinating and least-visited attractions in the Netherlands. Entry: ~€25. Allow a half-day. Getting there: ~1.5 hours from Amsterdam by car; a beautiful drive through the Zeeland islands