11 unique reasons to visit the Netherlands

Discover the Dutch UNESCO World Heritage sites

We may be small, but did you know that the Kingdom of the Netherlands officially has 12 UNESCO World Heritage Sites? 

One of the 12 is located in Curaçao, a constituency of the Netherlands located in the beautiful Caribbean. The remaining 11 are on the Dutch mainland, and range from important nature preserves to historic towns and innovative water management systems. 

Let's dive right in, so you can discover some of the unique treasures you will find in our tiny, but incredible country! The years behind each site indicate the year they became a UNESCO heritage site.

1. Land reclamation of the Beemster (Beemster Polder) (1999)

This whole area was once the largest lake in North Holland. In the early 17th century, the people of Amsterdam needed additional agricultural space and also a way to combat flooding in this low-lying region. They came up with the idea to drain the lake and create farmland instead. A dike around the lake and 40 windmills inside were built to pump all of the water out. The reclamation of the Beemster was a major undertaking, one which required the most talented Dutch engineers and scientists. They worked together on the new land and as a result created canals, roads, and waterways in perfectly straight lines based on classical and Renaissance planning principles. Today, the reclaimed land is fertile and populated with both cows and people. If you fly into the Netherlands and the weather is clear, you can admire the precision and artwork of this engineering patchwork.

2. Dutch Water Defense Lines (1996, 2021)

Also known as the Amsterdam Defense Lines, the lines extend over 200 km or 125 miles around the city and are the only example of a fortification defense system based on the principle of controlling the waters. They were developed between 1815 and 1940. After Germany was formed, the Dutch government realized that they now had 2 very powerful neighbors and would maybe need to defend themselves. They could not rely on manpower alone, so they came up with innovative solutions for defense. An enormous series of 46 forts were built in a circle around Amsterdam.

In an attack, there is a network of forts, dikes, sluices, pumping stations, canals, and inundation polders, which could be used to temporarily flood the entire area around Amsterdam. It had to be exactly the right depth to not be able to send either warships or soldiers through it. Fortunately, the forts were never actually used. 

3. 17th century Canal Ring Area of Amsterdam inside the Singelgracht (2010)

The Amsterdam Canal District was designed at the end of the 16th century and constructed in the 17th century - the Golden Era of Dutch civilization. During that time the medieval town of Amsterdam was running out of space. In order to create more liveable space and attract more money, Dutch architects and engineers decided to dig big canals and reclaim more land, creating a new port city. The project involved draining the swamps by using a network of canals and filling the spaces in between. Each of these canals runs parallel in a sort of U-shape to the other, and they are connected by smaller canals radiating out from the center.

In fact, all canals were built in parallel around the city at roughly the same time, however, the houses on the canals were gradually constructed at later dates. Many of the old hydraulic systems have been rebuilt but most of the houses built in the 17th and 18th centuries are original and are protected by the heritage listing. Some things don’t change, however, and Amsterdam today is still highly sought after for living. It is overpopulated and bulging at the seams. If you visit the city anytime soon, you will also see a lot of construction happening since many of the bridges over these canals need to be repaired.

4. DF Wouda Steam Pumping Station in Lemmer (1998)

As you may know, the Netherlands in large part is below sea level, which is part of the reason we’ve had to reclaim so much land to build on! This also means we need to excel in water management. Being able to pump huge amounts of water out of an area very quickly, is crucial to survival. The pumping station of Woudagemaal is one of the keys to the strategy. The Woudagemaal, located in Lemmer in the province of Friesland, was built in 1920. It is the largest steam-powered pumping station ever built, and is also the only steam-powered pumping station still in use in the world. We take water very seriously here!

5. Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout (1997) *pictured in the header image

The picturesque Kinderdijk mill network is located around 20 km or 12 miles east of Rotterdam in the south of the country. It has been a network of mills since the Middle Ages, but most of them you will see today date from the early 18th century. The windmills are here to - you guessed it - pump water out of the farmland, as the area is well below sea level. 

The Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout is an outstanding example of the development of Dutch drainage techniques which have since been copied and adopted in many parts of the world. The mills are not actually used any more, but it is still fascinating to see how the landscape has developed.  

6. Schokland and Surroundings (1995)

Located in the Noordoostpolder about 30 minutes from the city of Zwolle is Schokland, the first site in the Netherlands recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site. What’s interesting about it, is that it was initially a peninsula sticking out into the wider sea, but due to lots of storms and flooding, it gradually became an island. In the Middle Ages, it was quite an important settlement, but the consistent storms over time drove people out to the surrounding areas. And, as you can perhaps already guess, we Dutch drained the sea around the island in 1942, so Schokland lost its island identity. Today, you can visit the remaining town, archeological sites, and museum. Notably, the population of Schokland remains tiny, and in 2014 there were only 8 registered inhabitants. Quite unique in such a densely populated country like ours!

7. Wadden Sea (2009, 2014)

The Wadden Sea is the world’s largest intertidal sand and mud flat. Its waters flow from the river deltas of three countries: The Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, as well as from the North Sea. It is an extremely important and unique ecosystem for numerous plant and animal species, including the harbor seal and gray seal. The North Sea waters bring plenty of plankton and sediment that remain during low tide. Algae and seaweed grow rapidly as the shallow water warms up quickly during the summer. These factors create an abundance of food for the inhabitants of the Wadden Sea, including many migrating birds. Between late March and the end of September, you can walk with guides on these mudflats when the Wadden Sea is at low tide (pictured right). It is a very unique experience in an already unique and dramatic place.

8. Rietveld Schröder House (2000)

The captivating Rietveld Schröder House is located in the center of the city of Utrecht on a quiet suburban street. Notable Dutch architect, Gerrit Rietveld, designed the house for Mrs. Schröder and her three kids to live in. She wanted a house that defied social conventions at the time, to promote openness and connection. While she preferred a house with no walls or divisions, she and Rietveld worked closely together to design the cutting-edge home which features moving panels and dividers to modify the rooms as one desired. The house became the pinnacle of the new modern architecture movement in Holland, known as De Stijl. When the house was finished, it was unlike anything anyone had seen before and Mrs. Schröder had the pleasure of living there until she passed away in 1985. A lot of modern architecture takes its cues from the Rietveld Schröder House, and today the house is a museum you can visit.

9. Van Nelle Factory (2014)

The Vane Nelle factory was originally built in the 1920s on the outskirts of Rotterdam to process coffee, tea, and tobacco. Designed by Leendert van der Vlugt together with J.G. Wiebenga, a civil engineer. What is important about the factory is the new architectural principles associated now with the International Style and constructivist architecture. It is one of the first buildings to use the so-called “curtain wall” technique, where the facades are made of steel and glass. The columns, rather than the walls, support the roof providing lots of daylight for workers. Although the factory ceased operating its industrial activities in the late 1990s, the building is still in use. You can find numerous graphic design, architecture companies, and startup offices inside. It is still consistently ranked as one of the most beautiful factories in the world.

10. Colonies of Benevolence (2021)

The colonies of benevolence, located then in remote locations in the Drenthe area of the Netherlands and in Belgium, represent one of the earliest philosophical and social experiments to end urban poverty. In the mid-1800s following the end of Napolean-led French occupation, and with the support of the government and the king, 7 agricultural colonies were built on uncultivated lands. The initiative sought to enable poor city dwellers to grow their own food and become more self-sufficient. The first colony was founded in Frederiksoord. The colonies were classified as ‘free’ or ‘unfree,’ with the unfree colonies comprising homeless people and orphans who required supervision. The colonies offered a high level of public services, including a health insurance fund, care for the elderly, a hospital, agricultural training, and compulsory education for boys and girls from the age of 6. In contrast, these benevolent social concepts were not introduced or regulated by law in many European countries for another 100 years. At the height of the colonies’ operation, 11,000 people lived and worked there. The colonies became ‘normal’ villages in 1918, and you can visit them and see some original structures, or visit a museum.

11. The Lower German Limes - Frontiers of the Roman Empire (2021)

This UNESCO World Heritage site is known as one of the longest archaeological sites in Europe. The Limes is the northern border of the Roman Empire extending through modern-day Netherlands and Germany. In the Netherlands, it stretches approximately from the North Sea to Leiden, Utrecht, and Nijmegen heading south into Valkenburg and Berg en Dal. The Romans secured the borders of the empire starting as early as the end of 1st BC, using the bases as a defense against Germanic tribes for more than 450 years. Archeological sites dispersed along the limes include forts, roads, towers, towns and cemeteries, an amphitheater, an aqueduct, and more. This frontier nearly 2,000km from Rome really shows just how strategic and powerful the Romans were.

Visiting the UNESCO World Heritage sites

Want to visit one or more of these sites?  Then it’s great to know that we visit several of these notable places during some of our existing tours. During our private Dutch Countryside tour, you can ride through De Beemster polder and see the reclaimed land with its farms and windmills. You can also appreciate the famous canals during our private walking tours in Amsterdam, or on a private canal cruise. 

We also regularly take customers on full-day or multi-day trips from Amsterdam to one of the Wadden islands, which is where you will cross the Wadden Sea. There are many options and, if you’d like to see any of these 11 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, why not ask if we can arrange that for you?