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1. Amersfoort
The lively and attractive places of Amersfoort lies amid expanses of forest and heathland at the confluence of several small streams which here join to form the river Eem. The well preserved old part of the town with its historic buildings is surrounded by a double ring of canals.
2. Amsterdam
Amsterdam lies in the province of Noord-Holland at the junction of the Amstel with the IJ, an arm of the IJsselmeer. Including its 10 outer suburbs, Amsterdam has a population of over a million, forming the largest conurbation in what is known as "Randstad Holland".
3. Arnhem
Arnhem, capital of the province of Gelderland, lies for the most part on the right bank of the Lower Rhine, a few kilometers below the point where the IJssel branches off the Rhine. Part of the town is situated in the hills fringing the Veluwe, an extensive area of woodland and heath.
4. Delft
Delft lies on the river Schie between Rotterdam and The Hague. The picturesque old part of the town is ringed by canals and has a number of notable buildings such as the Old and New Churches, City Hall and the Eastern Gate, the only remains of the original old city walls.
5. Eindhoven
The modern industrial town of Eindhoven, on the river Dommel, was until the second half of the 19th century a small town of no particular note or importance. Its rapid growth began after the establishment of the Philips works in 1891, and by 1918 the town had a population of 64,000. In recent decades it has developed into the largest town in the southern Netherlands and the fifth largest in the country.
6. Gouda
The old market town of Gouda lies in a fertile polder area between Utrecht, Rotterdam and The Hague, at the point where the Gouwe flows into the Hollandse IJssel. It is a very typical Dutch town with its picturesque canals and many historic buildings in the old part of the town.
7. Haarlem
Haarlem is the cultural center of southern Kennemerland, with several research institutes, educational establishments and libraries, and is the see of a Roman Catholic bishop. It is also a considerable industrial town, with shipyards, railroad workshops, printing works, engineering and coach-building plants and foodstuffs industries.
8. Leiden
Leiden lies in an extensive flower growing and market gardening area, the produce of which is marketed in the town and surrounding area and to a considerable extent processed in factories in the town. More important than the foodstuffs industries, however, are metalworking, engineering and Leiden's world-famed printing industry.
9. Maastricht
Maastricht, capital of the province of Limburg, lying on both banks of the Maas, has many tourist attractions to offer visitors, especially historic buildings and art treasures. It owes its present importance to its strategic situation in the Dutch-Belgian-German frontier region between the industrial areas of Aachen, Liege, Kempen and Limburg: a factor which has become of increasing importance since the establishment of the European Community.
10. Rotterdam
Rotterdam developed out of a settlement founded in early medieval times. A first period of prosperity began in the 13th century, when a dam was built to separate the little river Rotte from the Nieuwe Maas: hence the name Rotterdam. The town received its municipal charter in 1340.
11. Hague
The Hague was originally a hunting lodge of the Counts of Holland - hence the first name of the town, 's- Gravenhage, the "Count's preserve"- and from the mid 13th century it was their permanent residence. Around the Binnenhof, the Count's palace, there grew up at an early stage a village of peasant farmers, craftsmen and traders which became known as Den Haag.
12. Utrecht
Utrecht, capital of the province of that name and the fourth largest city in the Netherlands, lies at the northeast corner of "Randstad Holland" on the Kromme Rijn, which here divides into the Oude Rijn and the Vecht, and on the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal, exactly on the geographical divide between the fenlands to the west and the sandy heathlands to the east.
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