Trip Planning
The TakeYourBackpack guidebooks are your all-in-one travel companion, featuring the best cities, national parks, hikes, beaches, and unique sites, along with essential tips on when to go, how to get around, exchanging money, and even local phrases to get you started — everything you need for a smooth, unforgettable backpacking adventure.
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Planning a backpacking route through The Netherlands can be tricky — you need to balance must-see places, travel times, budget, and how long to stay in each destination. Our free personalized The Netherlands itinerary planner creates a route based on your travel style, trip duration, and interests, so you can spend less time researching and more time exploring.
Personal tip: I normally search on good rating for atmosphere (for meeting people) and location (for easy exploring). Cleanliness as a bonus.
Travel Essentials
No vaccinations are required to enter the Netherlands, and there are no specific travel vaccines recommended for most visitors. Make sure your routine vaccinations are up to date, including measles-mumps-rubella, diphtheria-tetanus-polio and the seasonal flu shot if you travel in winter. If you plan long hikes or camping in forest and heathland such as the Veluwe, consider tick awareness rather than a vaccine, since Lyme disease is present, and check yourself for ticks after walks in tall grass.
vaccination requirementsWhen I first started traveling, I often spent part of my first day in a new country hunting for a local SIM card. While this can still be slightly cheaper, it also takes time and planning.
These days, it's much simpler to install an eSIM before leaving home. Once you arrive in The Netherlands, you can activate it immediately and have mobile data from the moment you land — which is especially useful for ordering transport or navigating away from busy airports.
There are many providers nowadays, and price differences are usually small. I personally go with
Holafly, as it offers excellent network coverage throughout the country and strong global coverage, so you can manage multiple countries from a single app.
HolaFly eSimCulture & Customs
Dutch culture values directness, punctuality and practicality, so blunt answers are rarely meant as rude and arriving ten minutes late for a tour or dinner reservation is noticed. Do keep off the red-paved bike lanes when walking, split restaurant bills without fuss (going Dutch is standard), and keep your voice down in the stiltecoupé quiet carriages marked on trains. Don’t photograph sex workers in Amsterdam’s Red Light District, which is banned and can get your phone grabbed, and don’t smoke cannabis on the street there, as it has been prohibited in the area since 2023; use coffeeshops instead and buy only from them. Public drinking is banned in many city centres, and urinating in canals brings fines. Same-sex couples can show affection openly in cities without drawing attention, and women can dress as they like without standing out.
Trying traditional food is always a great way to experience the culture. Here are some must-try dishes for The Netherlands.
- Stamppot: potatoes mashed with kale, sauerkraut or carrots and onion (hutspot), usually topped with a smoked sausage and gravy. It is the classic Dutch winter meal, eaten at home far more than in restaurants, so look for it on café menus from October to March.
- Hollandse Nieuwe haring: lightly brined raw herring served with chopped onion and pickles, often held by the tail and eaten in one go. The new season starts in June and fish stalls across the country celebrate it.
- Erwtensoep: a split pea soup thick enough for a spoon to stand up in, loaded with smoked sausage and pork. Locals eat it in the cold months and serve it from stalls along frozen canals when skating is possible.
- Bitterballen: deep-fried balls of beef ragout with a crunchy crust, served with mustard. They are the standard bar snack with a beer, and letting them cool for a minute saves your mouth.
- Kibbeling: battered chunks of white fish with a garlic or tartar sauce, sold at market stalls. It is the most popular street fish for people who are not ready for raw herring.
- Stroopwafel: two thin waffles sandwiching caramel syrup, invented in Gouda. Buy them fresh and warm at a market rather than from a packet.
- Poffertjes: small, fluffy buckwheat pancakes served with butter and powdered sugar. They are a fixture of markets, fairs and winter festivals.
- Appeltaart: a deep apple pie with cinnamon and a lattice top, served with whipped cream. It is the default order with coffee in a Dutch café.
Tap water in the Netherlands is completely safe to drink and is among the best quality in Europe, tested more strictly than most bottled brands. Locals drink it straight from the tap at home and in offices, and tourists can do the same, including in hostels and cafés, where you can ask for a glass of tap water (kraanwater). There is no need for bottled or filtered water, so bring a refillable bottle and top it up at free water points found at Schiphol and many train stations.
The main language in Netherlands is
Dutch. Backpacking is way more rewarding if you know a bit of the local language, so I'd suggest brushing up on the basics just in case your Dutch skills have become a bit rusty.
Want to understand locals better?The complete Travel Guide for The Netherlands includes 52 essential words and phrases — greetings, thank-yous, ordering food, transport, numbers, and common local expressions you'll actually hear.
Get your local basic phrases 👉
Get the Travel Guide - is spoken almost everywhere in the Netherlands, and around 90 percent of the population can hold a conversation in it, so in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and the other big cities you can get through an entire trip without a word of Dutch. Younger people, hostel staff and anyone working in hospitality usually speak it fluently, often with a near-native accent. In rural villages, small-town bakeries and among older people in the north and east it is slightly patchier, and German occasionally helps more there, especially near the border. Learning dank je wel (thank you) and alstublieft (please) goes down well, and Google Translate’s camera mode handles supermarket labels and menus.
Money & Payments
The local currency of The Netherlands is EUR (€).
The Netherlands uses the euro and is close to cashless, so a contactless debit or credit card covers trains, trams, supermarkets, bars and most market stalls, and some cafés and shops display pin only signs and refuse cash entirely. A few smaller shops and supermarkets still reject non-European credit cards, so carrying a debit card from a different network as backup avoids awkward moments at the checkout. ATMs, known as geldautomaat and mostly run by the Geldmaat network, are found in train stations, shopping streets and supermarkets, and Geldmaat itself charges no withdrawal fee, though your home bank may add its own charge. Avoid the stand-alone Euronet machines in tourist areas, which can charge €3 to 5 per withdrawal, and always decline the offer to be charged in your home currency, since the conversion rate is poor. Bring euros or withdraw them on arrival rather than carrying US dollars, which almost nobody accepts, and if you must exchange cash, use an official exchange office at Schiphol or a major train station instead of street-side booths.
Tipping in the Netherlands is appreciated but not expected, because service charges are included in menu prices and staff earn a regular wage. In restaurants, locals usually round up the bill or leave 5 to 10 percent for good service, while in cafés and bars rounding up to the nearest euro is plenty. Taxi drivers and hotel staff do not expect tips, though rounding up a taxi fare is a friendly gesture.
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Over the years, I've learned the importance of packing minimally. It's so much easier to jump on the back of a truck or squeeze yourself into the last spot of a minibus without that supersized backpack. If you're headed to a warm destination, leave your winter jacket at home; for colder regions, opt for thin thermal underlayers. Instead of packing your entire wardrobe, bring just three sets of clothes, as laundry facilities are available everywhere.
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Hi, I’m Johan (Netherlands 🇳🇱), the creator of TakeYourBackpack. Over the past 3 decades, I’ve backpacked through 90+ countries across six continents, gaining extensive experience with independent travel, long-term trips, and overland routes.