Netherlands with kids

The largest collection of his work, arranged so you watch the style change year by year. Thirty-one dollars and timed entry.

Five floors of hands-on experiments in a green building shaped like a ship's bow, with a roof terrace. The best children's day in the city.

One of the oldest zoos in Europe, in the middle of the city, with an aquarium and a planetarium on the same ticket.

On Dam Square, nineteen dollars — cheaper than the London or Sydney branches and the same idea.

Banksy and modern names in a townhouse on the Museumplein, twenty dollars. Short, and the most child-legible gallery here.

His actual house and studio, with pigment grinding and etching demonstrations. Twenty-seven dollars.

On Dam Square, sixteen dollars, and still used by the King for state occasions. An hour with the audio guide.

A canal house museum of art about cats, with real cats asleep in it. Fifteen dollars and completely charming.

How the canal ring was built and why, in a house on it. Twenty-one dollars and it makes the boat trip mean more.

A working windmill inside the city limits, nine dollars, with a guide who runs it. The cheapest thing on this list.

A moated medieval castle half an hour east, with falconry and a knight's armoury. Twenty-three dollars.

A rooftop over the IJ with Europe's highest swing on the edge of it. Twenty-three dollars, and the swing costs extra.

Actors and jump scares, same format as Edinburgh and York. Ten-plus in practice whatever the official age says.

Oddities and illusions over several floors near Dam Square. Twenty-six dollars and a solid wet-afternoon hour.

Rooms built for photographs, twenty-six dollars. An hour, and exactly what it says.

Twenty-odd rooms to play in — a ball pit, a slide, a paint room. Twenty-eight dollars and aimed squarely at families.

Thirteen dollars for an hour of blacklight minigolf. Cheap, indoors, and it rains here.

A walk-through of projected worlds with sound and scent. Thirty-one dollars and more immersive than the trick-art places.

Projected art across the walls and floor of a former gas works. Twenty-one dollars, and small children take to it immediately.

An hour on the canal ring from fourteen dollars, with several departure points. The thing to do first, before walking anywhere.

The same canals after dark with the bridges lit. Twenty-eight dollars and a calm end to a day.

Thirty-two dollars with a boat option. Useful because the museums sit well outside the canal ring.

On the cycle lanes with a guide who knows the rules, which is the safe way to try this with children. Forty-one dollars.

Dressing rooms and pitchside at Ajax, thirty-two dollars. One of the cheapest stadium tours in Europe.

The ferry across on its own, nine dollars, if you are doing the villages under your own steam.

Tasting and the story of Dutch cheese. Twenty-six dollars, and children eat more cheese than you expect.

The Night Watch and the doll's houses, with a boat afterwards on the same ticket. Forty-five dollars.

Seven million bulbs over eight weeks a year, with a shuttle from Amsterdam. Late March to mid-May and nothing outside it.

Working windmills, a cheese farm and a clog workshop, half an hour out. Thirty-five dollars and the postcard Netherlands.

Fishing villages and a cheese town on the old inland sea, with the windmills on the same loop. Fifty-two dollars.

A village with canals instead of roads, reached by whisper-boat. Two hours out and the calmest day in the country.

Museums plus unlimited public transport and a canal cruise. Works out over two or three days.

The entire country at 1:25 — working ships, trains and an airport. Thirty dollars and the single best thing here for a young child.

Blijdorp, with an underwater Oceanium walk-through. Thirty-two dollars and a full day.

A 1960 observation tower with a rotating lift to the top. Sixteen dollars and the whole port laid out below.

Historic ships in the harbour outside and a children's harbour exhibit inside. Twenty-two dollars.

World cultures, twelve dollars, and honest about where the collection came from. Good for an older child.

Impossible staircases and tessellations in a royal palace. Seventeen dollars, and children who like puzzles stay for ages.

How he worked and why the light looks like that, in the town he painted. Seventeen dollars.

Seventy-five minutes through one of the world's largest ports, past container cranes the size of buildings.

A day ticket on the river bus out to the nineteen Kinderdijk windmills. Twenty-three dollars and the boat is half the point.

A ferris wheel on the end of the pier over the North Sea. Nineteen dollars and windy in the best way.