Beyond the Randstad Travel Guide

Outside the Randstad towns, the Netherlands is relatively unknown territory to visitors. In the north, the island of Texel has the country's most complete beach experience, with plenty of birdlife and the world's biggest catamaran races. In the northeast, the main draw is Groningen , a lively, cosmopolitan town with a buzzing streetlife - especially after dark - and a stunning museum and art gallery. To the south, the countryside grows steadily more rolling as you head towards Germany. The town of Arnhem is famous for its bridge, a key objective in the failed Allied attack of 1944; it also boasts one of the country's best modern art museums and is a good base for the nearby Hoge Veluwe National Park . Further south, in the provinces of North Brabant and Limburg, the landscape slowly fills out, rolling into a rougher countryside of farmland and forests and eventually into the hills around Maastricht , a city whose vibrant, pan-European air, is a world away from the clogs and canals of the north. The southwest, near the Belgian border across from Bruges and Antwerp, is a land apart, with the Delta Expo near Middelburg dramatically highlighting the country's long-standing tussle with the sea for supremacy.