Museums are no longer the show-room of objects of art and science, but have become institutions where the visitor can search for beauty, surprise, historical insight and environmental awareness.

World Highest Museum Density

Holland , though a small country, has about 1200 museums and of all those museums we love to show you the somewhat less known, but yet surprising ones. Surprise, more than anything else, is a distinguishing feature of HollandTheRideWay.

Bottle ship museum, Thimble museum , the Distillery museum, the Leiden American Pilgrim museum

Experience surprise for example by an until now unknown collection of objects such as little ships in bottles, thimbles and 10,000 miniature gin-bottles or the story of the founders of New England, the Pilgrimfathers.


© Bottle ship museum	© Museum of Bags and Purses

Emperor Napoleon's fort
© Fort Kijkduin The most exciting fort in the Netherlands

Dutch maritime heritage

As lover of maritime archeology you will have the time of your life in the Dutch institute for Maritime and Underwaterarcheology, where shipwrecks and a Roman treetrunk canoe can be seen. In the workshop open to the public you can follow the repair and conservation process at close quarters.

Electrical machine of 1784

Besides the oldest museum in the country, founded in 1780 to spread knowledge about art and science among the population and possessing the biggest electrostatic generator of Van Marum of 1784, and the Planetarium of Eise Eisinga of 1781, there are by now many other museums such as for example the museum of Bags and Purses, Hourglass, Barrel organ, Alarmclock, Rock and Roll, Jukebox, Spectacles, Steam engine and Escher Museum

21 hectares of sculptures

In the unspoilt natural surroundings of the Hoge Veluwe National Park is the Kroller-Muller Museum, a magnificent blend of paintings, sculptures, architecture and nature where many works by Van Gogh are represented.

World War II wrecks

In a special museum the remembrance of World War II is kept alive.

A bridge too far

The history of the Battle of Arnhem (1944) can be seen in the Airborne Museum where one may gain a clear insight into Operation Market Garden and the famous film "A bridge too far".

Ajax Football museum

The history of a famous Amsterdam football team can be seen in the Ajax Football museum.

Mozart and Handel in Haarlem

You can very well combine your museum visit with a walk in a historic city centre. After a visit to Holland’s oldest museum, for example , you are very soon in the historic city centre of Haarlem where the interior of the mighty St Bavo-church shows you its treasures such as the Christiaan Muller organ on which Handel in 1750 and Mozart in 1766 played and the tomb of the famous Dutch painter Frans Hals.