Experience Noord-Holland!

Welcome to the first blog entry of Holland Hopping. In the upcoming weeks this blog will be covering the 12 provinces of the Netherlands, kicking off with a popular tourist destination, Noord-Holland. We will be covering upcoming local events, list fun activities and local delicacies in these provinces. All with the goal to enhance the overall experience of your visit to Holland.

Noord-Holland is a province in the north-west corner of the Netherlands. It contains the capital of the country, Amsterdam, which is one of the touristic hotspots that you should visit during your stay.

Typical places to visit during your stay in Amsterdam are the

Amsterdam Dungeon, Madame Tussauds, the red light district and the canals of Amsterdam. A place that you might not initially visit is the zoo, Artis, which is also located in the centre of Amsterdam and is the oldest zoo in the Netherlands.

Amsterdam also regulary hosts events at the RAI Amsterdam and concerts at the Melkweg Amsterdam and the Paradiso. Tickets for these events and concerts may be sold out in advance. Therefor it is wise to check for ticket availability when planning your trip to Amsterdam.

As the capital of the country, Amsterdam is often the host of public events. Examples of this are the public festivals on Queensday (April 30th), the Amsterdam Dance event (17th october-21 october) and the Gay Pride (first weekend of august).

There is also plenty to do in the rest of Noord-Holland. Noord-Holland hosts a large portion of the Dutch coast line and has plenty of public beaches. The sea has a swimable temperature between the months of june and october, but this may vary every year. If you are into racing and also want to spend your day at the beach, you should visit Zandvoort. The circuit of Zandvoort hosts races multiple times each month. Before and after the races it is possible to visit the beach.

If you are interested in history and want to visit something different then a museum you should visit the

fortress island in IJmuiden. This island fortress used to defend the Dutch mayor harbours and was part of the atlentic wall during world war II.

While you are in Noord-Holland you should also try some of the local delicacies. Noord-Holland hosts most of the Dutch gin breweries, because of that the local food specialities are often best tried out when drinking. A list of some specialities:

• Boerenjongens (raisins prepared in brandy with a little bit of cinnamon)
• Schiedammer Jenever (Dutch gin)
• Amsterdamse kaas (spiced cheese prepared in a way that is unique to the region of Amsterdam)
• Weesper moppen (cookies with almond paste)
• Advocaat (an alcoholic beverage made from brandy and eggs)
• Alkmaarse kaassoep (cheese soup from the region of Alkmaar)

If you want a particular province covered next week or wish to know more about anything that was discussed in this weeks entry, let us know in the comments below!