Everybody knows Amsterdam and there is lots to see and do there but if you are willing to undertake a little more time you can see some great tourist attractions not far from Amsterdam too. Holland is a small country so the distances are relatively short. Below are my recommendations for 3 places to see outside Amsterdam.

1) Madurodam in The Hague
This open air miniature park shows the best Holland in one small area. They have recreated a lot interesting places and buildings that are known in The Netherlands. Basically you see all of Holland’s sight in one place here. They just remodelled the park too so that there more activities to do for kids. But also for adults it’s interesting to walk around here and see all of the important dutch sights. It’s about 1 hour away from Amsterdam near The Hague which in itself is a nice place to visit too.

2) Kinderdijk
Wether you know it or not you probably will have seen some pictures of Kinderdijk in your tourist guide. It’s a world famous place where you can go to see lots of windmills. You can get a guided tour to visit the mills inside or even rent a bike there because it’s a big area. It’s close to Rotterdam, the 2nd largest city of Holland about 1,5 hours away from Amsterdam.

3) Batavia
During te 17th century Holland, the dutch golden ages, Holland was a dominate force on the sea. In Lelystad a place about 45 minutes from Amsterdam they recreated one of the old VOC ships. You will get a guided tour on the ship and will be able to walk around on it. Quite impressive. There is also a little village recreated there which infact is one big outlet mall with plenty of shops.