All twelve at a glance
| Capital | Known for | |
|---|---|---|
| Groningen | Groningen | Student city, Wadden coast, gas field |
| Friesland (Fryslân) | Leeuwarden | Frisian language, lakes, the Elfstedentocht |
| Drenthe | Assen | Prehistoric dolmens (hunebedden), heathland, TT motorbike race |
| Overijssel | Zwolle | Giethoorn, Hanseatic towns, the Twente region |
| Flevoland | Lelystad | Land reclaimed from the sea; youngest province (1986) |
| Gelderland | Arnhem | Hoge Veluwe, rivers, the Battle of Arnhem (1944) |
| Utrecht | Utrecht | Dom Tower, the country's rail hub |
| North Holland | Haarlem | Amsterdam, Zaanse Schans, Texel, tulip fields |
| South Holland | The Hague | Rotterdam, government, Kinderdijk, Keukenhof |
| Zeeland | Middelburg | Islands, beaches, the Delta Works |
| North Brabant | 's-Hertogenbosch | Carnaval, Efteling, Eindhoven tech |
| Limburg | Maastricht | Hills, marl caves, Burgundian food |
The north: space, water and history
Lively student capital surrounded by open farmland and terp villages on the Wadden coast.
Sailing on the Frisian lakes, eleven historic towns, and its own language spoken by a large part of the province.
52 hunebedden, stone tombs over 5,000 years old, best seen with a visit to the Hunebedcentrum in Borger.
The east: forests and rivers
Car-free Giethoorn, the Hanseatic towns Deventer, Kampen and Zwolle, and rolling Twente.
The largest province: Hoge Veluwe, the Kröller-Müller Museum, Nijmegen (the oldest city) and Arnhem's war history.
Entirely reclaimed land, below sea level, with Almere, the Oostvaardersplassen nature reserve and wide skies.
The west: the Randstad
Amsterdam, Haarlem, the bulb fields, windmills at Zaanse Schans and the island of Texel.
The Hague, Rotterdam, Delft, Leiden and Gouda, plus Kinderdijk and Keukenhof.
The smallest province by total area, with Utrecht city, castles and the Utrechtse Heuvelrug forest.
The south: Burgundian life
Islands and peninsulas, quiet beaches, mussels and oysters, and the storm surge barriers of the Delta Works.
Carnaval, Efteling, Hieronymus Bosch's Den Bosch, Eindhoven's tech scene and the Van Gogh villages.
Hills, vineyards, Maastricht and the Vaalserberg, where the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany meet.
Sources
This article is based on these official pages. If anything here differs from them, the official page is right.