Why the Netherlands
A quarter of the territory is below sea level and exists only thanks to dykes, polders and barriers: the entire landscape is a human construction, and that is the key to understanding the country.
Amsterdam takes the attention with its seventeenth-century canals and three first-rate museums, but Rotterdam, Utrecht, Delft, Haarlem and The Hague are less than an hour away by train and infinitely less saturated.
Getting around
The bicycle is the main means of transport, with separate lanes, dedicated traffic lights and priorities of its own. A distracted pedestrian on a cycle lane is a real danger: you look before crossing, as you would for a road.
The train serves the whole country in under three hours from end to end. The OV-chipkaart, or simply a contactless bank card, validates entry and exit — you have to tap at both ends, on pain of paying the maximum fare.
Money
The country is largely cashless, but with a particularity: many businesses accept only debit cards on the Maestro network and refuse credit cards, including in supermarkets. An international debit card is more useful than a credit card.
Tipping is not expected; rounding up is enough.
Before you go
Amsterdam has tightened its tourism policy: the city limits short-term rentals, bans guided tours in the red-light district and applies one of the highest tourist taxes in Europe, added to the nightly price.
Coffee shops sell cannabis within a tolerated framework, but consuming it in the street is forbidden in central Amsterdam and ticketed.
Tulip fields are not to be walked on: they are commercial crops, and damage is charged for. The gardens open to the public exist for that purpose.