Holland

[BarneyCumbria]

whats holland like for caravanning, any recommendations greatly appreciated

 

[Mark_5040952]

Well there's no long hills to drive up!! Sorry, just had a few glasses of wine and feel a bit "devil will care"!

 

[rob_jax]

Hi Barney,

Pretty similar to "Camping Blaarmeersen" - that's pretty much the standard for South Holland sites.

Exceptions are the "town centre" sites like the site in Delft "Camping Delftsehout" - this is very similar to Blaarmeersen - except that it's in easy walking distance of Delft Centre - but the pitches are a bit smaller and it can feel crowed in peak season.

Take a look at http://eriba.jconserv.net/viewforum.php?f=20 for a review I wrote on Holland and Belgium - and you'll probably recognise the Belgian bits. The web-link is to a new Eriba Owners Forum that we're developing - it's a test site so things may change - but the link should work.

If there's anything specific, please ask.

Robert

 

[rob_jax]

Barney,

You'll need a map for this to get your bearings:

Belgian Border to Middelburg - includes the Scheldt estuary - and is otherwise called "Forgotten Holland"because most Dutch people forget that this region is in Holland.

Some very nice "Groene Camping" sites on the estuary - great for bird watching or walking in the sand dunes

Middleburg (we have clients there) is a pretty city, with a good weekly market and fine restaurants.

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Middelburg to Brielle (and Rotterdam)

Called "Little Germany" by the Dutch, this is a popular region with German families - beautiful beaches, pretty towns - the towns of Renesse (free buses in the summer) and Zierikzee (inland) are worth visiting, lots of family oriented camp sites on the coast.

The main Rhine estuary is in this region - the road along the top of the sea **** is quite impressive

Brielle is a pretty walled town and worth a 1/2 day visit.

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Brielle to Rotterdam to Hoek van Holland - this is the two banks of the Rotterdam waterway.

Rotterdam is worth a visit, interesting city.

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Rotterdam - Delft - Lieden - Amsterdam

This is the area known as the "Randstad", it's houses the bulk of the Dutch population - and is the centre of the old world wealth from trading.

All of the cities are worth visiting.

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Amsterdam to the German border

I haven't explored this region yet - only driven through on the way to Hamburg

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East of the coast there are some attractive cities, like 's-Hertogenbosch (Den Bosch) and Utrecht. But for a caravanner, one attraction is the mega caravanning hypermarket "De-Wit" in Schijndel - it occupies 70,000 sq. metres - that's about 15 football pitches - and is by far the largest discount caravanning hypermarket in Europe.

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And Mark's right about no long hills - it's all as flat as a beach (well it was a beach) - so you climb a church tower (like the New Church in Delft) you can see Rotterdam and Lieden in the distance.

Robert