South Holland

South Holland (Dutch: Zuid-Holland) is a province in the Netherlands.

Regions

South Holland consists of the southern half of the historic county of Holland. It can roughly be divided into six regions:

Regions of South Holland

Bollenstreek This area's landscape is renowned for its enormous flower fields, considered typical for the country. The Keukenhof flower garden is visited by millions of travelers each year.

Groene Hart In the middle of the Randstad conurbation lies the Groene Hart, a green agricultural zone between the four big cities. The countryside offers flat polders, canals and lakes, which can be explored on foot, by bicycle or by boat.

Rotterdam-The Hague Metropolitan Region A combination of The Hague, political heart of the country with numerous attractions like the Binnenhof, the Royal Palace and Madurodam, and Rotterdam, the largest port of Europe and the only Dutch city with an impressive skyline and modern architecture. Interesting towns lie between, such as historic Delft with its famous blue-white ceramics, Schiedam with the tallest historic windmills of the world and the beach resort of Scheveningen.

Alblasserwaard-Drechtsteden Flat polders surrounded by rivers, typical Dutch scenery best shown by the picturesque Kinderdijk windmills.

Zuid-Hollandse Eilanden The former islands Voorne-Putten and Goeree-Overflakkee are good destinations for water sports, but also for hikers and cyclists. Historic towns like Brielle, Hellevoetsluis and Middelharnis can also be found here.

Cities

• 1 The Hague — "judicial capital of the world", seat of the government and plenty of attractions
• 2 Alphen aan den Rijn — one of the oldest cities of the Netherlands with prehistoric remains and museums
• 3 Delft — old town famous for its Delftware ceramics
• 4 Dordrecht — historic town with numerous museums
• 5 Gouda — famous for its Gouda cheese and the cheese market
• 6 Leiden — vibrant student town with the oldest university of the country
• 7 Rotterdam — Europe's largest port, modern architecture and an impressive skyline
• 8 Scheveningen — largest and most popular beach resort of the country, officially a district of The Hague
• 9 Schiedam — historic town known for its jenever, a Dutch alcoholic drink, and the five largest windmills of the world

Other destinations

Kinderdijk

• 1 Biesbosch National Park — one of the last freshwater tide areas in Europe
• 2 Delta Works — a high-tech engineering project of dams and sluices; a show case of the Dutch and their endless struggle against the sea
• 3 Keukenhof — each spring more than 800,000 travelers visit this flower garden
• 4 Kinderdijk — the windmills at Kinderdijk show the typical Dutch landscape in all its glory

Get in

Schiphol Airport and Rotterdam Airport are the primary ways for flying in internationally. NS railways provide multiple connections from various cities domestically. Trains run every 30 minutes or less, especially to and from larger cities.

Get around

There are several operators for local bus services in the area. HTM and RET also have tram services within The Hague and Rotterdam. Rotterdam has a metro subway service extending as far as The Hague. For towns with direct rail connections, taking the train is usually faster between cities and towns.

See

• The windmills of Kinderdijk (on the Unesco heritage list)

Do

• Go sailing on the Kager Plassen.
• Go cycling through the polders or the coastal dunes or from historic town to historic town.

Go next

• To the west, United Kingdom (by sea).