NETHERLANDS GUIDE

Discover Benelux | Top Places to Visit in the Netherlands in 2019 | The Ultimate Destination
Nieuwkoop’s historic heart, located right by the lakes. Photo: Ruben Griffioen
NIEUWKOOP
Get the full Dutch experience
TEXT: EVA MENGER
Tourists in the Netherlands often try to
get a flavour of the country by visiting
the Keukenhof flower park or tourist
attractions de Zaanse Schans and
Kinderdijk. The problem? Queues and
queues of people! Nieuwkoop, on the
other hand, is an undiscovered gem
where visitors can peacefully enjoy the
full Dutch experience.
Located right in between major cities
Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Utrecht, this
little Dutch town offers the perfect base
for people wanting to make the most of
their trip to the Netherlands. Need to do
business in the capital? Not a problem.
The Amsterdam business district is only a
half hour drive away. It is also very easy to
reach from Schiphol, making it a suitable
spot for a quick visit.
An undiscovered pearl
“Nieuwkoop really is an undiscovered
pearl,” Joke Pelser, marketing manager at
Nieuwkoop Marketing, tells us. “The municipality
is surrounded by green meadows
and a very unique nature reserve called de
Nieuwkoopse Plassen. It’s also the only
place in the country where mill-courses are
still being used for draining the surrounding
polder – there’s a couple of them open for
visitors just outside the village, where tours
are given by the millers themselves. The
typical image of windmills, tulips, cows,
cheese, clogs and green meadows; that’s
how we still live around here.”
No less than 26 per cent of the
Netherlands – pretty much the whole
western part of the country – is located
below sea level, and it is this experience of
living in such circumstances that is really
tangible in Nieuwkoop. With mills, locks
and dykes still actively doing their job, it is
the best example of authentic Dutch country
living out there. The Oudheidkundig- en
Poldermuseum, a museum exploring various
elements of the village’s history, is an
excellent place to learn all about that.
Otters in the Nieuwkoopse Plassen.
Photo: Luc Hoogenstein
42 | Issue 62 | February 2019