Amsterdam is a Must-See City. But When We Were in the Netherlands, We Enjoyed Our Stay in Gouda More.
A case study of the benefits of getting away from major tourist centers.
In 2022, Brent and I visited the Netherlands. We saw Amsterdam, of course, but also the Hague, Rotterdam, and the country’s beloved amusement park, Efteling, near Tilberg.
Oh, and we also spent a week visiting some friends who happened to be living in a small city in the middle of the country named Gouda, which is most well-known for, yes, the famous cheese.
(But unlike the English pronunciation of the cheese — “GOO-dah” — the name of the city is pronounced “KHOW-dah” with a harsher throatier sound, more of a very guttural “ch” sound.)
And despite the fact that we never would have visited Gouda if not for our friends, of all the places we saw in the Netherlands, we ended up liking Gouda best.
It wasn’t even close. We loved Gouda — and had very mixed feelings about Amsterdam.
Which seems like something worth exploring, don’t you think?
Yes, you should still visit Amsterdam.
Amsterdam is a fascinating, world-class city. It has a trio of fantastic museums: the Rijksmuseum, the Anne Frank Museum, and the Van Gogh Museum.
And it has the infamous Red Light District, a ton of fascinating history, and lots and lots of canals, which can be quite beautiful.
But even in wet, grey, drizzly November, the city was absolutely mobbed, and everything was really expensive. In ten years of travel, it was the most we’ve ever paid for a hotel room, and it was the smallest and worst hotel room we’ve ever stayed in.
Look, part of the reason we loved Gouda was obviously because we were visiting very dear friends.
But, well, we visited friends in Amsterdam too.
And yes, we had sky-high expectations for Amsterdam and none at all for Gouda.
Even so, here are all the reasons why, if you go to the Netherlands, you should consider going to Amsterdam and Gouda.
But even if you have no interest in Amsterdam or Gouda, this is also a pretty good case study in the benefits of visiting lesser-known places outside of the major tourist centers, especially if you want to make connections and get a sense of how locals really live.
Gouda isn’t all about cheese, but the cheese is pretty damn good.
I’m lactose intolerant, so I couldn’t eat any of Gouda’s famous cheese. But I’m told that young Gouda is mild, creamy, and slightly sweet, while aged Gouda becomes firmer, richer, and nuttier.
Which, ironically, can also be said of me.
Gouda cheese dates back to the 13th century, which means it’s one of the world’s oldest cheeses still in wide production today.
However, because the cheese became so well-known and so widely produced — and also because the cheese was produced in the surrounding region, not the city — it does not have the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status of, say, Roquefort, feta, or Parmigiano Reggiano.
And even if you are lactose intolerant, you can consume another internationally known Dutch product that was born in Gouda: the stroopwafel.
“Stroopwafel” is a mashup of the Dutch words for “syrup” and “waffle,” and that’s exactly what they are: two thin waffles glued together with syrup — often caramel — to form a kind of sandwich cookie.
Stroopwafels’ actual origin — and their original inventor — is lost to the mists of time, but they first appeared in Gouda in the late 18th or 19th centuries, probably by bakers repurposing scraps.
Today, you can find stroopwafels all over Gouda, including a store that is nothing but a giant vending machine dispensing them!
Gouda is the center of some terrific biking.
True story: When we told our Dutch friend Miek we wanted to go on a bike ride, she didn’t understand the concept.
“Why?” she asked us.
“For fun!” we tried to explain.
“For fun?” she said. “I don’t understand. Who rides a bike for fun?”
Which is a perfectly reasonable attitude, given that Miek rode her bike forty minutes every day to get to work, often in the rain. For the Dutch, bikes are strictly utilitarian.
But Miek humored her crazy American friends and led us on an amazing ride through the beautiful Dutch countryside.
