European Maps, Routes and Tourist Information: The VVV and the ANWB in Holland
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This tourist office in Middelharnis
offers products from the VVV and the ANWB, as well as travel agent
servicesPractical Tips and Photos Page
Why Visit Small Towns in Holland?
VVV Info Page from trackandtrain.com
Driving in the Netherlands and Belgium
Brugge -- Amsterdam Suggestions
ZEELAND and ZUID-HOLLAND DRIVES
Brugge -- Sluis -- Terneuzen --Breskens -- Middelburg
Middelburg -- Veere -- Delta Expo -- Burgh Haamstede -- Grevelingen
Goeree-Overflakke Driving Route - Zeeland
NOORD-HOLLAND DRIVES
Haarlem -- Zandfoort -- Vogelezang -- Noordwijk
Tourist Offices in Europe
As a tourist in the Netherlands and Europe, you should become familiar with the various tourism offices. Located in most European cities, towns, train stations and airports are tourist information desks. You can ask questions, make hotel bookings and buy maps.Tourism offices also sell tickets for transportation (buses, trams), tourist attractions (museums, historical sites, discount coupon books) as well as phone cards. Offices are usually tailored for their location, so you wouldn't expect to find a map of Switzerland at the Munich Tourism Office. You have to go to Middelburg to buy a map of Middelburg.
In my experience the most helpful offices in Europe have been in Holland, Switzerland, and Austria. I did pretty well in Spain because I speak some Spanish. The French tourist offices in Paris seemed difficult because the workers didn't speak English (or more likely they didn't want to.)
The VVV - "Vereniging voor Vreemdelingen Verkeer" -- Amsterdam Offices
From the English-speakers standpoint, the Netherlands tourist offices are some of the best in Europe. The workers at these offices are generally very helpful and knowledgeable. The first VVV office you may encounter is at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport. They have a reasonble selection of map and tour information, but they will not be able to give much driving information. Information for hikers, bikers and drivers is explained in the next section below about ANWB offices.There is a VVV office in Amsterdam Central Station on track 2, along with a huge choice of fast and slow food. I have more posted about this on trackandtrain.com.
The track 2 VVV office can be busy with long lines of recently de-trained tourists looking for hotel rooms. There are 6 lines in this office, and one or two of them do not offer hotel bookings. If you are just buying a map or asking a question, then use the non-hotel lines.
If this office on track 2 at Amsterdam Centraal Station is too jammed full of tourists, then you can exit the station through the arrivals hall and walk past the tram terminal on the left to the white building next to the water. Inside this building is a cafe, restaurant, and VVV office.
Like the track 2 VVV office, this office has some lines for everything including hotel reservations, while one or two lines are reserved for those who need just need to buy something or ask a question. This office also has a set of windows for currency exchange and sales of useful items like phone cards and tram strip cards..
Also at Central Station is the GWK currency exchange and hotel reservation office. I never use this office because it seems like the place where the pickpocket will get you just before the guy approaches you hawking cheap, low-security flophouse rooms. You can get better exchange rates than offered here by using debit and credit cards whenever possible.
There is another VVV office at Leidseplein. I don't like this office because it's in a small recess off Leidsestraat at the corner of Leidseplein. This again is a place where I don't like to take out my wallet.
VVV Offices Outside Amsterdam
Many cities and towns in the Netherlands have VVV offices, and many of these offices maintain websites specifially about their area. To see a partial list of these, visit the links page on this site and the links page from trackandtrain.com.Drive, Bike or Hike! Visit an ANWB Office Instead
The ANWB is the tourist organization for drivers, bicyclists and walkers/hikers. While many ANWB offices also house a VVV desk and a travel agent, the ANWB provides many useful services in and beyond the office.Throughout the Netherlands is a great variety of signposted tourist routes for drivers and bicyclists. These routes are marked by ANWB signs, and a series of books and maps has been developed to document these routes. Unfortunaly many of these books are only available in Dutch, but you could make great use of the map series that breaks the Netherlands up into the Zuid, Midden and Noord regions.
I visited three ANWB offices on my trip in January, 2001. These offices are in Middelburg, Middelharnis and Noordwijk an Zee. The Middelburg office offered the best selection, ranging from maps and books to winter jackets and clothing. It was very stylish and expensive, considering that just around the corner is the long curved shopping street of Middelburg with better selection and prices.
At this office I noticed a book showing all the bicycling routes in the Netherlands. It was $50 and I passed it by assuming I would find it closer to Amsterdam. It was packaged in a nice plastic binder, but when I tried to find it at the Schiphol Airport VVV office, they had never heard of it.
The office in Middelharnis is located in a beautiful spot by the harbor. It offered the usual services, plus a desk with a travel agent. Normally a tourist would not need to speak to the travel agent, because information is dispensed while books and maps are sold at the ANWB desk instead. The office in Noordwijk an Zee has a similar arrangement.