Hi and welcome back to another Top Ten Tuesday post! This week is a non-bookish freebie, and I really had to think hard of a prompt to cover this topic. But as tourist season is in full swing (I know I know, kids will be back in school next week), I thought that I would just list Ten places in my country, that might be worth a visit. I’m not a travel blogger by any means and I’m not the best tourist out there. But maybe some of those places pique your interest!

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

1. Amsterdam – How could I not start with the most obvious place of all, Amsterdam? It’s our capital and although I honestly dislike it – as it’s so packed and very touristy – it’s undeniable that there are some tourist attractions there. What about the canals, the Rijksmuseum, Anne Frank Museum, Van Gogh Museum, Madame Toussauds and if you really want to, the Red Light District. They are taking measures to decrease the tourist crowd a bit, so keep this in mind whenever you want to pay a visit. Oh, and there are bookstores, such as Waterstones, American Book Center and Scheltema (that also has a great English selection).
2. Utrecht – I thought this city would be much lesser known than Amsterdam, but when I went to Utrecht for a day trip, it surprised me how busy it was. Fair enough, it was in July, so the middle of summer. However, this city also has much interesting to offer. The big church (de Dom) where you can climb the tower, more canals, boat tours and several museums. I have never been to a museum there, so I don’t know if they are nice ones. I can’t deny the bookstores here either, so you could pay Broese a visit. Nearby there’s a new English bookstore, but it’s quite small. And I can’t remember its name.
3. The Prison Gate Museum and The prison Museum – Yes, these are two totally different Museums, and they are also located on the total opposite sides of the country. The Prison Gate museum is located in The Hague, in the western part of the country, the Prison museum is located in Veenhuizen which is in the eastern part of the country. Both obviously cover the topic of imprisonment over the centuries. I haven’t been to the Prison Gate museum in years though.
4. Westerbork – If you want to stay in the eastern part of the country, the concentration camp of Westerbork is also worth a visit. Personally, I found the actual museum a bit underwhelming, but most of the camp grounds are still in tact. Westerbork is in the same province as the aforementioned Prison Museum.
5. The Canadian Cemetery – Another interesting monument and museum is The Canadian Cemetery in Holten, also in the east of the country. This cemetery is in honour of the Canadian soldiers who liberated the Netherlands at the end of WOII. Besides the cemetery itself, there’s also a museum where you can spend a few hours, just by listening to the stories and watching footage.
6. The next three museums are best visited with warmer weather and definitely no rain as they are all open air museums. They are located quite close to one another, so that’s why I paired them in one list item. In Arnhemm, a bit farther down south but still in the eastern part of the country, there is the Dutch Open Air Museum which shows more about Dutch history. I’m not sure if there is any information on it in English. A bit more down south, we have two museums next to eachother: the Africa Museum and the Biblical Open Air Museum. It’s obvious what they are about, and they are located in a small town called Berg en Dal.
7. If you want to travel even further down south, quite close to both the Belgian and German borders, you have the caves in Valkenburg. They are really touristy, but I haven’t been there. Quite close to the city of Valkenburg is Maastricht, another quite famous city. They have a very beautiful and popular bookstore situated in an old church, Dominicanen.
8. De Efteling – If you want to have some fun and downtime after all the exploring, this amusement park is a good and popular option. It’s located in Kaatsheuvel and its theme is fairytales.
9. The cheese markets – These are only happening during the summer months, in both Gouda and Alkmaar. Both are quite famous, but I believe the one in Alkmaar is a bit more touristy. It’s a bit further up north, somewhere above Amsterdam.
10. The beach – Last but not least, you can relax at the beach. There is one close to Alkmaar, but the most popular ones are the one in Zandvoort (yes, the Formula 1 town), Scheveningen (in The Hague), Hoek van Holland (further down south) and literally every beach in the province of Zeeland which is even further down south and close to the Belgian border. But on the other side of the country than the Valkenburg caves.

To be fair, this was harder than I’d anticipated as I haven’t visited all these places and I couldn’t find the right English information on them. I’m the worst in creating picture heavy posts, so I decided to go easy on myself and not bother LOL. But I’ve made it this far and hopefully you did too!

Have you ever visited one or more of these places, or has one spiked your curiosity?