Netherlands

Amsterdam's iconic canal rings, world-class museums, and cycling culture make it one of Europe's most charming capitals. The city punches well above its weight in art (Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum), food, and nightlife. Compact enough to explore on foot or by bike, with a tolerant, cosmopolitan vibe that's uniquely Dutch.

Europe's largest port and one of the world's great modern architecture cities — bombed flat in 1940 and rebuilt as a laboratory of 20th and 21st-century design. Piet Blom's Cube Houses, MVRDV's Markthal (Europe's largest food market hall), the Erasmus Bridge (nicknamed 'the Swan'), and the SS Rotterdam ocean liner form an architectural tour unlike any other European city.

Utrecht is the Netherlands without the Amsterdam crowds, plus a quirky architectural feature you will not see in any other Dutch city: the medieval canals run a level below the street, and the old wharves (werfkelders) along the Oudegracht are now packed with restaurants and bars at water level. The 112-metre Domtoren is the tallest church tower in the country, the DOMunder tour walks you through 2,000 years of buried Roman and medieval foundations, and the compact medieval center is built for bikes and slow afternoons. Twenty-seven minutes by Intercity train from Amsterdam.

The Hague is the Netherlands' political capital, the seat of parliament, and home to the International Court of Justice at the Peace Palace. The 13th-century Binnenhof courtyard sits at the city's core, the Mauritshuis around the corner holds Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring and Fabritius's Goldfinch, and Madurodam shrinks the entire country into a one-twenty-fifth scale model park. A short tram ride later you are on Scheveningen beach with the pier and a North Sea promenade. Less postcard than Amsterdam, more institutional, with serious museums and easy access to the coast.

Delft is a small canal town wedged between Rotterdam and The Hague, and it punches well above its size: this is Vermeer's birthplace, the home of Royal Delft pottery (still hand-painting blue-and-white ceramics in the same factory since 1653), and the resting place of William the Silent in the Nieuwe Kerk on the Markt. The leaning tower of the Oude Kerk shelters Vermeer's grave. The whole historic core is walkable in an afternoon, but the cafes around Beestenmarkt make you want to stay longer. Twenty-five minutes by train from Amsterdam-Zuid.