Rotterdam is the only Dutch city that could be thought of as having a decent modern skyline. It was already a center of modernist architecture in the early 1900s, but since its city center was heavily bombed throughout World War II, it got a completely different feel than traditional Amsterdam. Rotterdam is a play garden of modern architects, which has led to the largest residential building (Montevideo Tower) and the largest office building (Maastoren) of the country. The Euromast and the Erasmus Bridge are must-visits as they are an integral part of the look and feel of Rotterdam's skyline. The city is also home to some quirky architecture, such as the cube houses.
Utrecht has the Rietveld Schröder House, arguably the only true De Stijl building and another UNESCO-designated site. Other modern architecture nuts might want to spend some time in Hilversum, where architect W.M. Dudok designed a lot of buildings (and even whole neighborhoods) in the New Objectivity style. His most important creation there is the Hilversum Town Hall. Many other architects have also contributed to Hilversum as it is today, including Jan Duiker, MVRDV, Pierre Cuypers and Ben van Berkel.
Flevoland is a new province, its land has been reclaimed from the sea after World War II. This gave the province a completely different feel than the other traditional provinces. Almere is a suburb of Amsterdam, and while many Dutch claim it as the most boring city of the country, it does have a lot of modern architectural highlights. Some neighborhoods in Almere gave their inhabitants the freedom to design their own building. Others have been designed by famous architects, such as La Defense Offices by Ben van Berkel.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Western Netherlands
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Western Netherlands - updated May 2024
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Western Netherlands Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
