The best-preserved star fortification town in Europe, a double-moated six-pointed star of 17th-century ramparts enclosing a grid of gabled streets, 25 minutes from Amsterdam yet ignored by most itineraries.
19 km · about 20 min drive
museum
Rietveld Schröder House
Gerrit Rietveld's radical 1924 Utrecht house, the purest built statement of De Stijl with its sliding walls and Mondrian palette: UNESCO-listed and visitable on pre-booked tours.
20 km · about 25 min drive
cathedral
Dom Tower of Utrecht
The Netherlands' tallest church tower at 112 metres, standing detached from its cathedral in central Utrecht.
21 km · about 25 min drive
castle
Muiderslot
A moated red-brick medieval fortress at the mouth of the Vecht, one of the best-preserved castles in the Netherlands.
27 km · about 30 min drive
castle
Kasteel de Haar
The Netherlands' largest castle, a turreted neo-Gothic fairytale with moats and formal gardens near Utrecht.
28 km · about 30 min drive
museum
Kröller-Müller Museum
Museum deep inside Hoge Veluwe National Park holding the world's second-largest Van Gogh collection plus a 25-hectare sculpture garden with Rodin, Moore and Dubuffet; free white bicycles carry you there through the park.
31 km · about 35 min drive
photogenic
Marken
Former Zuiderzee island village on a causeway north of Amsterdam, its green-and-black wooden houses raised on stilts and mounds against floods; walk out to the Paard van Marken lighthouse on the dike.
35 km · about 40 min drive
national park
Hoge Veluwe National Park
Cycle free white bikes across heath, dune and forest to the Kröller-Müller museum's Van Goghs in this vast wild park.
36 km · about 40 min drive
Driving roads near Langenoord
3 named roads, passes and coastal drives within 150km.
50 kmHoutribdijkA 26 km dike road (N302) running straight across the water between Enkhuizen and Lelystad, splitting the IJsselmeer from the Markermeer with sea views on both sides.
68 kmErasmusbrugRotterdam's swan-necked cable-stayed bridge soars over the Maas, a striking modern icon glowing over the river at night.