Our Blog

Let it be clear: although I’ve lived in Chicago for years now, I remain a proud Dutchman and I love Amsterdam. It is a gorgeous city, full of culture, culinary adventure, history and an eclectic mix of architecture, people and style.

But I am not the only one who loves Amsterdam: in fact, the city is so popular with tourists from around the world that the Dutch government and Holland Tourism Board make a concerted effort to get visitors to explore beyond Amsterdam.

The Netherlands flag: Red, White and Blue

And that is a wise move: compared to the United States and many other countries, Holland is tiny: you can easily travel from the East to the West in about two hours, or from North to South in 3-4 hours. And if you’re looking for canals, historic buildings, quaint towns – they are all over the place!

What’s more: the (mostly) excellent Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS) Netherlands train system makes exploring Holland easy and worry free. Much like the Swiss railways, trains in the Netherlands are typically timed for frequent departures – you may find as many as two to four departures per hour between Amsterdam Central Station and larger cities like Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht – all less than an hour away. And even the southernmost city of Maastricht is only about a 2.5 hour by direct train from Amsterdam, with its train station conveniently located in the heart of the historical city.

In our Q Cruise + Travel blog, I’ll start describing some of my favorite areas in the Netherlands “beyond Amsterdam” – keep an eye out for the posts!