Dordrecht

You need to choose your restaurant carefully around honeypot areas like this, around the historic Groothoofdspoort city gate, as some places use their location as an excuse to hike prices, but at the Jongepier you can be assured of a decent menu and good service. Try one of the special breads with a salad for lunch, or splurge with one of the more substantial steak or fish dinner main.

The leading sight on Museumstraat, this impressive museum is stuffed with many paintings, drawings, and prints by Netherlandish artists, especially native son and fabled landscape artist Albert Cuyp and works by his father Jacob, to boot. Other star names here include Ferdinand Bol and Nicolaes Maes—famed as pupils of Rembrandt. The collection extends to the 20th century, and there are some important works by Karel Appel on view.

Dominating the scene in Dordrecht is the imposing mass of the 15th-century Grote Kerk (also sometimes called the Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk), whose tower is a good 6 feet off the vertical and whose chancel bends left to symbolize the head of Christ inclining toward his left shoulder. One window pictures the disastrous flood that inundated the city in 1421, and the huge 2,600-pipe organ has a 10-second echo. The 67-bell carillon is claimed to be the largest in Europe. The interior is astonishing in its whiteness, accented by a mahogany sounding board and a bronze screen (which used to be kept brilliantly polished by the local schoolchildren). It was in this church that the Protestant synod met in 1618 to settle the controversy between Arminius and Gomaurus, two professors of theology at Leiden. The outcome was Prince Maurits's decision in favor of Gomaurus, who believed in a less strict Calvinism. From the church, follow the Voorstraat (on the far side of the canal), with old houses at every turn, to the Groenmarkt, where at No. 31 you'll find the city's oldest house (1550).

To the west of the Grote Kerk on the quay of the Nieuwe Haven (New Harbor), this lavish 18th-century house was occupied from 1864 to 1922 by art collector Simon van Gijn. When he died he left his home and this collection to the city. There are magnificent period rooms on view, along with—up the stairs in the attic—the childless banker's extensive antique toy collection.