There is so much to know about this tiny country. Here are 15 (fun) facts as a start to get to know the country:

  1. The Netherlands is a relatively small country. It will only take you 3.5 hours by car to travel from the most northern big city Groningen to the most southern city Maastricht.
  2. Three islands in the Caribbean are also part of the Netherlands: Bonaire, Saint Eustatius and Saba. And the three islands Aruba, Curacao and Saint Martin are part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
  3. The Netherlands is the lowest country in Europe. 26% of the country is below sea level. The province Flevoland was reclaimed from the sea in the 1950s and 1960s.
  4. The flag of the Netherlands is red-white-blue, but the national color is orange.
  5. Did you know that the ‘classic’ way of throwing a Dutch birthday party is to assemble some chairs, put them in a circle and serve cheese and sausage? Also, at a party everyone congratulates everyone with the birthday boy or girl.
  6. There is a special Dutch party on Kingsday. Kingsday is celebrated on the 27th of April. Most people celebrate this day by wearing orange clothes and go to a festivity in their city of village.
  7. The Netherlands have by far the most Olympic medals for speed skating.
  8. Did you know that the top-10 DJs of the world, count 4 Dutch DJs? The Dutch DJs are Armin van Buuren, Tiësto, Hardwell and Afrojack.
  9. Windmills are part of the Dutch heritage. Did you know that there are over 1.000 windmills still standing from over 1850? If you want to see a lot of them at the same place, visit Kinderdijk.
  10. Besides windmills, the Netherlands are very much known for their fields of tulips. 80% of the world’s tulips come from the Netherlands.
  11. Same-sex marriage has been legal since 2001. The Netherlands was the first country to legalize gay marriage.
  12. The Dutch are the tallest people of the world with an average height of 181 cm for men and 168 cm for women.
  13. The number of bikes in the Netherlands is approximately 19 million. This is more than the 17 million inhabitants that the Netherlands count.
  14. The Netherlands has the highest density population in Europe.
  15.  Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands, the seat of the government is in the Hague.