The Netherlands: Beyond the naughty bits

While the Netherlands might be most commonly associated with the excesses of Amsterdam, its capital, there is a vibrant cultural scene here dating back centuries.

Since Hieronymus Bosch's fantastic depictions of heaven and hell in the 15th century, and especial since the "Golden Age" of the 17th century when Holland was one of the most powerful countries in the world, Dutch art has been at the vanguard of technical advances and cultural innovation. The Netherlands can still claim three of the greatest ever practitioners of fine arts _ Johannes Vermeer, Rembrandt van Rijn and Vincent van Gogh, and the country's museums, performing arts and architecture continue to captivate and innovate.

A small country about the combined size of Kanchanaburi and Nakhon Ratchasima provinces, with a population just under 17 million, the Netherlands is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. Nevertheless most of the country has a small-town communal feel to it, and if you travel between regions you'll pass miles of canals, forests and farmland. There are certainly exceptions, such as industrial Rotterdam, while in the cities festivities for New Year's Eve, Koninginnedag (the queen's birthday, April 30) and Koninginnenacht (Queen's Night, April 29, in The Hague) become so intense they can quickly get out of hand.

The country's nickname, Holland, derives from its two most influential provinces, the adjective Dutch from past ties to Germany, but whatever you call it, Nederland has always punched above its weight.

THE HAGUE

Famous for the International Court of Justice and International Criminal Court, where war crime allegations and international disputes are settled, 's-Gravenhage, or Den Haag, is a diplomatic as well as a cultural centre. Queen Beatrix lives here, the country's government, parliament and supreme court convene here, and this is where you'll find the Thai embassy and other foreign missions.

Unimpeded by rings of canals that Amsterdam and other coastal cities have had to contend with, The Hague's inner city is spacious and well preserved, with castles, churches and official buildings such as the Ridderzaal dating back to the Middle Ages.

The city lacks a student culture or famous nightlife, but that doesn't make it stuffy; it has some of the country's best museums and grandest architecture. The seaside suburb of Scheveningen, with its dunes and restaurants, has also been famous for centuries as an excursion for young elites.

Using Scheveningen as its subject, the Panorama Mesdag is a purpose-built museum housing a single gigantic cylindrical painting _ completed by Hendrik Willem Mesdag and Hague School artists in 1881. Over 14m high and 120m in circumference, from the middle of the room it looks as if you're on a sand dune overlooking the sea, beaches or village, depending on the angle. Real sand and fake terrain surround the viewing gallery, making the illusion more convincing.

Among others, the city has the MC Escher Museum, celebrating the life and works of the famous illustrator; the Haags Historisch Museum, where you can learn about the city's evolution since the Middle Ages; and the Gemeentemuseum, which houses many artworks by Dutch artists, especially Piet Mondriaan.

A particular highlight is the Mauritshuis. Since the 17th century it has served as an urban palace housing a stunning collection of Golden Age paintings that has expanded and diversified over the years. While relatively small, an entire day could be spent here studying masterpieces such as Vermeer's The Girl with a Pearl Earring and The View of Delft, Rembrandt's The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp, Girl Eating Oysters by Jan Steen or The Young Bull by Paulus Potter. The portraits, still lifes, genre scenes and landscapes combine with the setting to create a unique and memorable museum.

AMSTERDAM

The capital is a mecca for art lovers. The Van Gogh Museum has a formidable collection of works _ such as Bedroom in Arles, Vase with 12 Sunflowers and the haunting Wheatfield with Crows _ and of his contemporaries and influences. Recorded or written commentaries accompanying many of the paintings help viewers imagine the creator's artistic journey, development and passion. Don't mind the large crowds and surly staff and enjoy the beautiful paintings while you can; the museum plans to close later this year for lengthy renovations.

When that happens, major works from the collection will move into the Hermitage Amsterdam, a new extension of the Hermitage Museum St Petersburg in Russia, holder of one of the world's premier art collections. Until mid-March the museum is showing works by Flemish masters including Peter Paul Rubens.

The city's modern art museum, the Stedelijk, has an impressive collection and thought-provoking exhibitions but is closed for renovations until around May of this year.

The national Rijksmuseum is also being renovated, but several wings _ housing famous works such as Vermeer's The Kitchen Maid and Rembrandt's massive Night Watch _ remain open. Besides the works by old masters, there are also historical objects and exhibits on Holland's military might in the Golden Age.

Also of great interest are the Rembrandthuis, where the painter lived; the Anne Frank Huis, a very moving memorial to the Jewish girl who held out against the Holocaust; the Amsterdam Museum for a bit of history; and, if you miss the tropics of home, the large anthropology-rich Tropenmuseum.

The Concertgebouw has a world-class orchestra and regular concerts, and there are many smaller clubs that specialise in jazz. For less family-oriented activities, see sidebar.

EASTERN NETHERLANDS

Known in the Netherlands for its sculpture gallery and contemporary art installations, the Kroller-Muller Museum houses one of the most comprehensive modern art collections in the world.

The museum boasts an extraordinary collection of traditional, surrealist, pointillist, De Stijl and post-impressionist works, including nearly 100 van Gogh paintings _ including the famous Cafe Terrace at Night, Bridge at Arles and The Potato Eaters _ as well as nearly 200 of his drawings and studies, which are unfortunately not usually on display. Filling out the collection are works by other masters including Renoir, Millet, Toulouse-Lautrec, Monet, Gaugin, Pisarro, Cezanne, Picasso, Caravaggio, Rodin, Seurat.

The vast sculpture garden and conceptual exhibitions have a combination of the thought-provoking, the stylish, the beautiful and the downright silly, such as an empty room ostensibly full of ''cosmic rays'', or paintings consisting of nothing but untextured black or green.

Located in the middle of the Hoge Veluwe National Park, getting here involves a train ride to Arnhem (15 [608 baht] from Amsterdam), a bus ride to Otterlo (5) and another bus to the museum. A simpler way is taking a taxi from Arnhem to one of the park entrances (around 50), from where you can use any of the park's white bicycles for free to get to the Kroller-Muller or the park's other sights and museums.

South of Arnhem lies the expanding student town of Nijmegen, worth a visit in its own right. We went, however, to see the Museum Park Orientalis, as it plans to close in the near future because of renovations and insufficient interest. It is a religious and spiritual centre designed 100 years ago to recreate the Levantine landscape. The newly restored and astonishing Catholic Kenakelker is based on Istanbul's Aya Sofia, while the gardens recreate Nazareth and the sultanate of Oman has funded a new mosque to complement the park's original synogogue.

For the compact western part of the country, trains are a reliable, quick and convenient _ if not always cheap _ way to get from city centre to city centre. In the east the distances are greater and access to sights more circuitous. While getting around by public transport is certainly possible, renting a car for a few days might save time and money if planning visits to several towns. A good road map and navigational skills are essential _ but then, getting lost might not be a bad way to see the Dutch countryside. We decided to visit the mediaeval village of Bronkhorst near Apeldoorn, which involved a number of wrong turns and a blustery ferry ride across the Ijsselmeer. When we got there we were amazed to find a Charles Dickens Museum and a number of eclectic art and history galleries nestled among the thatched-roof houses and brick inns.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS

A visit to a small town such as Bronkhorst is a very Dutch experience. Walking around Delft (famous for porcelain and Vermeer), Gouda (cheese) or Leiden (one of the oldest universities in the world) is not to be missed. Excursions to tulip farms are touristy but in season can be very beautiful; Keukenhof near Lisse, for example, is the world's largest flower garden, with 32 hectares of vibrant colour. The north is the road less travelled, and the Dutch dialect in quaint Friesland villages is often so obscure it has to be subtitled on the national news. And while many Dutch speak very good English, here you may find attempts at phrase-book Dutch more effective.

There are also the new cities of the polder such as Lelystad _ not interesting in itself but for the utterly flat road to get there; built on reclaimed land, you can stand on a case of beer and see for miles around. Fishing villages in Zeeland, the Brabant countryside as it merges into Flanders, the tourist town of Volendam, Limburg's Roman university town of Maastricht near the convergence of three countries _ the list of highlights is potentially very long.

When asked what constitutes Dutch cuisine, however, most people scratch their heads. Diversified over the centuries through colonies in Asia and Africa, Dutch food mostly still involves a lot of potatoes, cheese, bread, chicken, meat, fish and boiled vegetables. That is not to say it's bland _ there is plenty of variety, and Chinese-Indonesian restaurants can be found in every urban centre. Combined with good national health care, the diet is probably responsible for at least one superlative: the Dutch are the world's tallest people _ the average adult is 185cm tall. The country also has one of the world's longest life expectancies _ two years behind world leaders Japan at 80 years _ and is generally quite athletic, with many people attached to local sports clubs. This makes the Dutch slimmer compared to neighbours with similar diets such as the Danes, Germans and Britons, and it is probably also the world's most bicycle-friendly country, with bike lanes or dedicated roads criss-crossing the flat provinces. If you have the time and stamina, cycling may be the best way to see the countryside and people that for centuries inspired the Dutch masters.

The red lights of Amsterdam

Amsterdam, much like Bangkok, is a vibrant city of culture, commerce and canals involved in a perpetual struggle against rising water levels. And also like our City of Angels it has an international reputation for hedonism _ perhaps unfair considering its wealth of museums and architectural and historical landmarks. Nevertheless, the signs of sin are all around you.

Garish red-light districts are only a short walk from Centraal Station, with scantily clad young women posing along the street behind full-length windows bathed in soft red neon. Brothels, escort services and sex clubs advertise on hoardings and less than subtly placed stickers and signs.

While prostitution is regulated but legal, cannabis use is less legal but widely tolerated. Coffee shops all over town (and around the country) with leafy plants in the windows sell ''space cakes'', hash brownies and marijuana by the gramme. Various governments over the years have promised crackdowns and tighter controls but little seems to have changed, and it is still possible to choose between museum high culture and smoke-addled high culture.

Besides its astonishing art museums, concert halls, markets and antique shops, the city has a Sex Museum, a Mediaeval Torture Museum and a Madame Tussauds. Anything that floats your boat _ and speaking of which, a canal cruise is the perfect way to see the city's architecture at eye level.

The club scene is equally vibrant, especially for techno music, with its own high-end (and the original) Supperclub, as well as trendsetting venues such as Club Up, Club Panama, Trouw, Studio 80 and the Sugar Factory, where you can dance away the night in a rhythmic reverie.

Vondelpark and the other municipal parks are full of art, music and activity, great for people watching during the day _ but don't linger past dusk or you might get chatted up.

The city is one of the few in the world that actively targets gay tourism. Amsterdam's reputation for tolerance helps it attract an eclectic diversity of budget travellers as well as high-end tourists from all over the world _ a palette that helps add pointillist colour to its multicultural canvas.

With tourist shops selling kitschy wooden clogs, cloth tulips and porcelain windmills, and stalls everywhere selling fritjes (chips), oliebollen (doughnuts), brodje haring (raw herring in a bun) and kaas (cheese), the city remains quintessentially Dutch _ and being Dutch, by nature and history, also means being open to people from all countries and walks of life. Even on a cold wintry evening, the city remains full of warmth and life.

The Hague.

A view of the Damrak thoroughfare, looking towards Dam Square. Left, one of Amsterdam’s many canals.

DUTCH TREATS: The mediaeval town of Bronkhorst, top left. People in Arnhem queuing to buy ‘fritjes’, or chips, below left, and the Cenakelkerk interior in the Museum Park Orientalis, right.

‘Guitar’, by Pablo Picasso, at the Kroller-Muller Museum; the museum’s Aldo van Eyck pavilion; and an installation for the ‘Windflower’ exhibition at the Kroller-Muller Museum.

USEFUL INFORMATION

Holland is a 10 or 11-hour flight from Bangkok, and frequent trains connect Schipol Airport to Amsterdam and major cities around the country and the continent. Forty-one airlines operate 296 flights a week between Schipol and Suvarnabhumi, but direct daily flights are limited to China Airlines (with a convenient and comfortable new route from around 30,000 baht return _ visit www.china-airlines.com) and Dutch carrier KLM (37,000 baht, www.klm.com).

Admission to the museums mentioned here costs on average 14 per visit. If you plan on visiting more than three museums, this steep cost can be offset by purchasing a Museumkaart (45), which gets you into almost every public museum in the country for a year.

Amsterdam and major cities have accommodation from budget hostels to five-star luxury. To experience Dutch hospitality in a unique setting with good value, you can't top staying canal-side in one of the numerous bed and breakfasts located in converted homes. Useful starting points include the National Board of Tourism at www.holland.com, Amsterdam city guide at www.iamsterdam.com, or www.agoda.com for accommodation.

Thai citizens need a Shengen visa; contact the outsourced visa centre (call 02-252-5490 or visit www.vfsglobal.com) or the Netherlands embassy (02-309-5200, www.thailand.nlembassy.org).