Netherlands

The Netherlands — or Holland, if you’d like — is one of the most densely populated countries of Europe, despite being only about twice the size of New Jersey. Outside its major cities you can travel through stretches of farmland punctuated only with villages, windmills and, in the springtime, tulips, and see few people. What you do see is a lot of water. Although more than half of the country has been reclaimed from the sea by a vast system of dikes, about 20% of the country is still covered with canals and other inland waterways. Canals crisscross the country almost everywhere, but it’s in cities such as Amsterdam where they show their real charm.