Six cities, each worth a full day, and none of them more than about an hour from the middle of the country. If you are after small towns and villages instead, see the historic towns, which is a different kind of day out entirely. Each city below has a full guide behind it.
The obvious two
Amsterdam
The canal ring is a UNESCO World Heritage site and the museum quarter holds the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum within ten minutes of each other. Amsterdam rewards two days more than one, and it is the only city on this list where you should book the main sights before you arrive.
Utrecht
The one most visitors skip and then wish they had not. Utrecht has canals with wharf cellars at water level, now full of terraces, and the Dom Tower standing separately from its church since a storm took out the nave. It is smaller, cheaper and less crowded than Amsterdam, and it is the country’s rail hub, so everything connects through it.
Modern and official
Rotterdam
Flattened in 1940 and rebuilt as the one genuinely modern Dutch city. The Markthal, the Cube Houses and the Erasmus Bridge are the shorthand, but the real pleasure is that Rotterdam does not look like anywhere else in the country.
The Hague
The seat of government and the royal family, with the Binnenhof at its centre and the Mauritshuis, home of Girl with a Pearl Earring, a few steps away. It also has a beach, which no other city on this list can claim.
Small enough for half a day
Haarlem
Fifteen minutes by train from Amsterdam and a fraction of the crowd. A huge market square with the Grote Kerk on it, the Frans Hals Museum, and a set of hidden almshouse courtyards that most visitors walk straight past. The easiest escape from Amsterdam there is.
Gouda
Yes, the cheese, and yes, there is a cheese market on the square in summer. But the reason to stay longer is the Sint Janskerk, which has the longest run of sixteenth century stained glass in the country, and a town hall that looks like it was drawn for a fairy tale.
Not a city, but often asked about
Scheveningen is a seaside resort attached to The Hague rather than a city in its own right, so it sits on its own page: Scheveningen beach.
How to fit them together
Amsterdam, Utrecht, Rotterdam and The Hague are all on the main rail line, so you can string them together without a car. Haarlem and Gouda are short hops off it. If you would rather not change hotels between them, see staying in the center of the Netherlands and the guide to day trips by train, or browse the full list of Netherlands tourist attractions.
