Hidden places in Netherlands

A medieval Hanseatic town on the river IJssel, full of bookshops.

A quiet harbour town at the end of the line, with an open-air museum village.

A skyline of towers and city gates along the river IJssel.

A star-shaped fortress town ringed by double moats.

The 'white village', where every house was painted white.

A tiny Zeeland harbour town with a huge unfinished church.

The oldest city in Holland, with harbours and leaning merchant houses.

A sleepy cheese town next to a colourful fishing harbour.

A Gothic town hall on a big market square, famous for its cheese.

A Golden Age harbour town with a round defence tower on the water.

A hill town with a castle ruin, caves and the country's only cable car.

A car-free village of thatched farmhouses linked by canals and footbridges.

Working windmills and green wooden houses along the river Zaan.

A maze of creeks and willow forests, home to beavers.

A small desert of drifting sand in the middle of the Netherlands.

A car-free Wadden island with one of Europe's widest beaches.

A car-free Wadden island of dunes, forest and empty beaches.

Heathland, forest and drifting sand dunes, with free white bikes to ride.

Nineteen historic windmills along the canals of a polder.

The largest Wadden island, with dunes, wide beaches and seals.

Dunes, forest and beach just west of Haarlem, with a herd of European bison.

Canals, a market square and the blue-and-white pottery that made it famous.

A lively student city in the north, full of bikes and cafés.

A compact old town around a grand market square, 15 minutes from Amsterdam.

A university town of canals, windmills and almshouses.

Medieval squares, a bookshop inside a church and caves under a hill.

Canals with cafés on the old wharves below street level, around the tall Dom Tower.

Canals, gabled houses and some of Europe's best museums.