Netherlands General Information

Netherlands - The basic facts.

Netherlands otherwise know as Holland is really a tiny country with an area of just

41,528 sq km (16,034 sq miles).

Into this tiny space squeeze a population of: 16.9 million(2005).

Making it one of the most populated places on earth with a density of: 390.1

The capital of the Netherlands is: Amsterdam with a population of : 765,328 (2005).

The government and parliament sit: The Hague which has roughly half the population of Amsterdam at around 460,000 (2005).

Geography: The Netherlands has borders with Belgium and Germany and the North Sea lies to the north and west. Large areas of The Netherlands have been reclaimed from the sea so one fifth of the country including Amsterdam are all below sea level. If the global warming keeps getting worse as is predicted, keeping the water out of many of the Dutch cities will be almost impossible even for the Dutch who are the worlds experts when it comes to keeping back the sea.

Netherlands being a flat country with no mountains is crisscrossed by rivers and canals.

The landscape is broken by the large forest at Arnhem, the world famous tulip bulb fields to the west and the lakes in northern and southern areas.

Netherlands Government: Constitutional monarchy since 1848. Queen Beatrix being head of state since 1980.and the Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende since 2002.

Official Language: Dutch is the official language but most people speak English and a lot of people speak German and French are also widely spoken.

Religion: The Netherlands is made up of 31 per cent Roman Catholic, 21 per cent Protestant; the rest is made up of Muslims 10% and others made up the remainder.

Time: GMT + 1 (GMT runs from from the last Sunday in March to Saturday before last Sunday in October).

Electricity: The voltage for electricity is 220 volts AC, 50Hz. Two pin European style plugs are used in the Netherlands. Transformers are required for many tourists visiting the Netherlands.

Netherlands Communications

Netherlands is very advanced when it comes to communications.

Telephone: The country code is (00) 31 followed by the area code (20 for Amsterdam, 10 for Rotterdam and 70 for The Hague). For outgoing calls the international code:is 00.

Telephone information is given in Dutch, French, English and German.

Low cost calling rates are Mon-Fri 8pm to 8am. Most public booths do NOT accept coins so you must purchase a phone card from most shops and post offices and anywhere displaying the PTT-telephone sign.

Mobile telephone:

All the main world wide operators T-mobile (Website: www.t-mobile.com), Orange (Website: www.orange.nl) and Telfort (Website: www.telfort.nl) and Vodafone of course. The local supplier is KPN Telecom (Website: www.kpn.com)

Fax: There are many places which offer a fax service as well most hotels and by us.

Internet: You will find a few small Internet cafes around the centre of most of the main cities but the giant Easy Internet cafes have all withdrawn from the Netherlands. There are many shops/business centre's which also offer international calls / fax and Internet all under the one roof as well as all the public libraries offer Internet facilities free of charge. (Not sure if tourists are allowed)

Post: Postage Stamps are available post offices, tobacconists and kiosks selling postcards and souvenirs. Posting within Europe takes approximately 2-5 days depending on the country

All post offices open Mon-Fri 9-5. Some post offices in major towns are also open on late shopping nights (Thursday or Friday night) and Sat 10am to 1pm. T

Press: The main daily newspapers are De Volkskrant, Trouw and De Telegraaf. NRC Handelsblad being the only evening newspaper. A huge range of foreign newspapers are widely available which are available on the day from 10am onwards depending on how far they have to travel. The main English dailies are available in most newsagents shops.

Radio: The BBC World Service (Website: www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice) and Voice of America (Website: www.voa.gov) can be received. From time to time the frequencies change and the most up-to-date can be found online.