When you are in the Netherlands for a meeting there’s nothing better than exploring the county you’re staying in, and offering the attendants’ spouses the opportunity to entertain themselves during the day. Furthermore, some relaxing activities in the program are a necessity for letting all the new information sink in and maintaining a productive meeting .
I’ve selected a number of traditional Dutch ‘must sees’ in the Netherlands, suitable as either after the meeting distraction, or as partner activities.
Keukenhof
Keukenhof is the world’s largest flower garden. According to the official website for the Keukenhof Park, approximately 7,000,000 (seven million) flower bulbs are planted annually in the park, which covers an area of 32 hectares.
Keukenhof is located in the South Holland province in the small town of Lisse, southwest of Amsterdam. It is accessible by bus. It is located in an area called the “Dune and Bulb Region” (Duin- en Bollenstreek).
Look at this video of the beautiful flower fields.
Rijksmuseum
The Rijksmuseum (national museum) is the Dutch national museum in Amsterdam. The museum is dedicated to arts, crafts, and history, and houses some the finest and most famous art pieces in the world. It has a large collection of paintings from the Dutch Golden Age and a substantial collection of Asian art.
Kinderdijk
15 km east of Rotterdam lies the Kinderdijk. Kinderdijk is situated in a polder. To drain the polder, a system of 19 windmills was built around 1740. This group of mills is the largest concentration of old windmills in the Netherlands.
The windmills of Kinderdijk are one of the best known Dutch tourist sites. They have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997.
The Binnenhof
The Binnenhof (literally ‘inner court’) is a complex of beautiful and historical buildings in The Hague. It has been the location of meetings of the Staten-Generaal, the Dutch parliament, since 1446, and has been the centre of Dutch politics for many centuries.
More buildings were constructed around the court, several of which are well known in their own right, such as the Ridderzaal (literally ‘Knights hall’), where the queen holds her annual speech at Prinsjesdag (literally ‘day of the prince’). One of the towers, simply known as het Torentje (literally ‘The Little Tower’; directly next to the Mauritshuis museum) has been the office of the Prime Minister of the Netherlands since 1982.
The Alkmaar cheese market
The Noord-Holland city of Alkmaar is famous worldwide for its cheese market. Cheese carriers can be seen in action on the Waagplein square every Friday between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. during the summer.
Cheese has been weighed in Alkmaar since 1635. Cheese carriers carry thousands of kilos of cheese from the Waagplein square to the weighing house.
I hope I have given you some good ideas to do after a meeting or for a partnerprogram.
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