Aerial Views of the Netherlands

Explore the Netherlands from above in this compilation video, which was created using footage from the "Aerial Views of the Netherlands" collection.  You'll be treated to bird's eye views of the canals of Amsterdam, the windmills of Zaanse Schans and Kinderdijk, the Frisian Lakes, and more.  

Interested in sponsoring the Netherlands collection?  As part of the sponsorship package, this compilation video will be re-branded with the sponsor's name, and will be available for use on the sponsor's website and social media pages.  

The Netherlands offers some of the most iconic winter scenery in Europe.  While the (mostly) dead-flat landscapes of the North European Plain generally preclude skiing, it's a paradise for ice-skating as well as more adventurous action sports which take advantage of its wide-open frozen expanses.  It's also simply beautiful, whether it be the windmills of the Zaanse Schans region west of Amsterdam or its colorful medieval towns.  Those are the takeaways from this fantastic DVOW-winning drone video of the Dutch winter by contributor By_ewold.

Take an aerial tour of the Netherlands in this fantastic 2020 drone reel by Robbert roos.  The video features footage of the following locations: the North of Limburg, the southernmost Dutch province; the three windmills of Leidschendam, in South Holland; the northern province of Friesland; the lake Wijde Aa, in South Holland; the Wadden (Frisian) Islands; the island of Tiengemeten, the church of Hoogmade, and the town of Voorburg, all in South Holland; and the beach town of Scheveningen, which is part of the Hague.  

Take an aerial tour of the Netherlands in this excellent 2020 compilation by former DVOW Winner By_ewold.  The video opens with a shot of an iconic windmill on the plains of Friesland, followed by a stunning bird-chasing sequence.  Starting at about the 1:05 mark, you'll fly over one of the fabled Dutch flower fields, and at 1:48 you'll see the De Haar Castle in Utrecht, the largest in the Netherlands.  Other highlights include the Pyramid of Austerlitz, also near Utrecht, the windmills of Zaanse Schans near Amsterdam, and more.  This video was a DVOY finalist in 2021. 

Top AirVuz contributor and pilot Beemflights brings us this breathtaking drone video from one of the most iconic sites in the Netherlands.  The location is near the town of Zaanse Schans in the province of North Holland, just west of the city of Amsterdam.  Part of the European Route of Industrial Heritage, the area is famous for its collection of Dutch windmills.  The windmills of Zaanse Schans are one of the most popular tourist attractions in the Netherlands. This video won DVOW in June 2020.  

Take an aerial tour of the Netherlands in this fantastic drone video by contributor and drone pilot OCdrone.  The video beautifully captures some of the landscapes and seascapes of this country on the great North European Plain.  It includes bird's eye views of the Dutch countryside, its North Sea coastline, and its extensive dykes and other feats of hydro-engineering.  It also includes some great aerial shots of some fabled Dutch windmills as well as some of the country's quaint medieval towns.

Multiple Drone Video of the Week/Month Winner By_ewold brings us this stunning drone video from one of the Netherlands' most famous tulip fields.  It's called Keukenhof (aka the Garden of Europe), and it's located near the town of Lisse in the province of South Holland.  Actually one of the world's largest flower gardens of any type, the park covers about 80 acres, over which an astounding 7 billion bulbs are planted annually!  In addition to tulips, hyacinths, daffodils, lilies, roses, carnations and irises are also planted here. 

Some of the most iconic sights of the Netherlands are its windmills.  While the Dutch did not invent windmills, the windswept North European Plain proved an ideal environment to perfect the technology.  One of the best place to see Dutch windmills is around the town of Zanse Schans, which lies in the province of North Holland, just west of Amsterdam; It's home to hundreds of these wooden marvels.  Check out this DVOW nominated drone video of the windmills around Zanse Schans, compliments of JS Videography.  

While it's generally known that Netherlands is one of the world's most colorful countries during the tulip harvest in the Spring, the country offers other colorful attractions at other times during the year.  In this DVOW nominated film by top AirVuz contributor BeemFlights, you'll get an aerial view of fields of purple heather.  Dutch heather fields typically turn their distinctive shade of purple in the late summer.  This video was filmed over a field in the middle section of the country, during the month of August.

Take a tour of the Netherlands by drone in this excellent piece by AirVuz contributor Tom Groenhof.  The video opens with a shot of some iconic-looking Dutch windmills, followed by Rotterdam's Erasmus Bridge.  Then it's on to some Dutch tulip fields, followed by a view of some wind turbines - windmills in modern form.  Other highlights include the Pyramid of Austerlitz in Utrecht at the :17 mark, the windmills and canals of Kinderdijk (:36), the Martinus Nijhoffbrug Bridge (:40), the Eierland Lighthouse on Texel (:48), and more.  

AirVuz contributor and pilot Het bloklandcoptersteam brings us this excellent drone video from the famously flat countryside of the Netherlands.  The wintertime video was filmed over the Alblasserwaard, which is what's known as a polder - basically a stretch of land which has been reclaimed or which is protected from the incursions of the sea with a system of dykes.  Located in the province of South Holland, as you'll see the landscape is ideal for ice skating.  This video was a Drone Video of the Week Finalist in April, 2021. 
 

Amsterdam is certainly the largest and most well-known city in the Netherlands.  While it is the country's official capital, it's not the seat of the central government, which is located at the Hague.  In this beautiful drone video, AirVuz contributor and pilot Jaap gives us a bird's eye view of the splendid Dutch city and its immediate surroundings, which includes pastoral landscapes replete with iconic windmills, tulip fields, canals, and other hallmarks of the Dutch urban and rural landscapes.

While the Dutch did not invent windmills, they developed an important variation called the post mill design which represented a major improvement over earlier designs.  The harnessing of wind to saw timber for ships was one of the reasons that Holland (the western province of the Netherlands) was able to establish a huge overseas empire in the 16th-17th centuries, in effect punching far above its weight.  Contributor Benpwallis used a drone to create an amazing aerial tour of these predecessors to modern wind turbines.

One of the defining geographical features of Europe is the great plain which stretches from northern France all the way to northern Poland.  The Great North European Plain is home to some of Europe's most important agricultural areas, as well as major cities like Amsterdam, Berlin, and Warsaw.  Given the lack of mountainous obstacles, it's also home to some of the most fought over land in the world.  In this video by The Art of Drones, you'll get an epic bird's eye view of the countryside of the Netherlands, at the western end of the great plain.

See the Dutch city of Amsterdam in a new light in this fantastic drone video from Passport_Aerial.  It's the capital of the country and its largest city, the center of an urban area of about 2.5 million.  Originating from a dam on the Amstel River, Amsterdam was one of the 2-3 most important cities in the world in the 17th century.  It's still an important business and financial center, known around the world for its canals and cafes as well as for historical sites like the house where Anne Frank hid during World War II.

If you've heard the term the "Great Plain of Northern Europe" and wondered what it really meant, this drone video by top contributor and pilot Rlardon will give you an excellent visual picture.  This footage was shot over the Zuid-Beveland Peninsula in the Dutch province of Zeeland, as well as over the Belgian towns of Straboek and Wijnegem.  These areas, like most of the Benelux country region, are part of a vast plain which extends southwards from here to western France, down to the Pyrenees.  

While tulips originated in the mountains of Central Asia, since the late Middle Ages the flower has been most closely associated with the lands now part of the Netherlands.  In this excellent video by former Drone Video of the Week/Month Winner By_ewold, you'll get a highly instructive aerial view of the process of planting and harvesting tulips.  The narrated video follows the cycle of tulip bulb planting in the Fall to their harvest in the Spring, when the Dutch countryside explodes in color.  

Explore the great Dutch city of Rotterdam in this excellent drone video by Rodoworld.  The video opens with shots of the Erasmusbrug bridge, which spans the Nieuwe Maas, a distributary of the Rhine River which runs through the heart of the city.  At the :36 mark, you'll see the White House, which was one of the few buildings in the center of the city not destroyed in the terror bombing during the Nazi invasion of the Low Countries in 1940.  Other highlights include the Willemsbrug bridge (:45), the Hotel New York (1:16), and more.  

For a first upload, brand-new contributor City Films by Louis brings us this excellent drone video of the Hague, the third-largest city in the Netherlands as well as its administrative capital.  The Hague is located on the country's North Sea coastline, in the province of South Holland.  Shot with a DJI Mavic 3 drone, the video captures the city's modern skyline, some of its historic windmills and churches, as well as some sights in the city's outlying territory, including the SkyView de Pier Ferris wheel at the pier of Scheveningen.

Den Bosch is an important Dutch city.  It is the largest municipality and capital of the province of North Brabant, a region rich in cultural and historical significance which is in the southern Netherlands, along the border with Belgium.  Top AirVuz contributor and pilot Veerdonkvisuals used a drone to create this unforgettable aerial video of the town, which was created in the 12th century and whose name translates approximately to "Duke's Forest" in reference to its early ownership.  

Top AirVuz contributor RIK Fotos brings us this stunning drone video of the famous Dutch village of Kinderdijk.  Situated in the Alblasserwaard polder (the Dutch term for a low-lying tract of land) in the province of South Holland, Kinderdijk is known primarily for its large concentration of old fashioned windmills, which were not invented by the Dutch but which represented localized perfection of an older design.  The particular windmills here were built in the mid-18th century in order to drain the surrounding land.  

Perhaps no other country sees such profound change with the arrival of Spring as the Netherlands.  As March turns to April and May, the tulip fields which dot the Dutch countryside (many of which are large commercial operations) turn to brilliant colors of pink, yellow, and red.  As amazing as this is from ground level, a drone brings an entirely new perspective to this phenomenon.  In this video, top contributor and drone pilot Art of Drones created an amazing aerial view of a Dutch flowerfield.  

Much of the Western European nation of the Netherlands lies below sea level and is thus prone to flooding.  Over the centuries, the Dutch developed advanced water control technologies to keep the (highly productive and populated) land from being washed away by the sea.  The Dutch Deltaworks is one of the keys to this whole flood control system.  Top contributor Mikezwijgers used a DJI Mavic Pro drone to create this amazing video showing this sophisticated system from an aerial perspective.  

North Brabant (sometimes just called Brabant) is the main province of the southern Netherlands.  It occupies some of the most fought-over land in Europe, on the North European Plain.  Unlike most of the Netherlands, there is a large Catholic community here, as well as a strong cultural affinity with the Belgian neighbor.  Much of the province sided with the (Catholic) Habsburgs during the 80 Years War.  In this video, you'll get an aerial tour of this historic province, compliments of contributor NTG Drone.

Former Drone Video Award Winner videobros brings us this spectacular drone video from the Dutch city of Nijmegen, the oldest city in the Netherlands.  Nijmegen is located on the south bank of the Waal River, in the eastern province of Gelderland.  Located just a few km/mi west of the German border, Nijmegen has been settled for over 2,000 years.  It was granted its city charter in 1230 by the then-Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick II.  It was the first city to fall into German hands during the Nazi invasion of the Low Countries in 1940.  

Contributor and pilot Silvano1988 created this beautiful drone video of the historic Dutch town of Brielle.  It's located in the western Netherlands, in the South Holland province.  The town played a pivotal role in the 80 Years War, which raged from 1568-1648 over control of what Benelux region.  In 1572, the town was captured by Protestant rebels fighting the forces of Spain's King Phillip II led by the Grand Duke of Alba; this was a turning point that eventually led to Spanish defeat and Dutch independence.

Check out these marvelous drone views of the Netherlands' province of Zeeland, compliments of contributor Peter van Haastrecht.  Zeeland is the westernmost and least-populated of the 12 Dutch provinces.  It consists of a series of peninsulas and islands along the North Sea, bordering Belgium to the south.  Devastated by the North Sea Flood of 1953 which killed nearly 2,000 people here, Zeeland is now protected by the great Delta Works civil engineering project.  The video includes footage of the Zeeland Bridge, the country's longest.

Content creator and pilot The Art of Drone created this beautiful bird's eye view of a Dutch island off the coast of the mainland Netherlands.  The island's beautiful seashores make it a popular tourist destination.  Ameland is one of the West Frisians, a chain of about a dozen islands off the northwestern coast of the country in the North Sea.  Ameland is part of the Friesland province, a territory which includes the northwestern part of the mainland plus some (although not all) of the West Frisians. 

Contributor and drone pilot Mikezwijgers used a DJI Mavic Pro combined with ground camera footage to create this aerial tour of a well known castle in the Netherlands.  Loevestein Castle is a 14th century structure near the town of Zaltbommel in Gelderland, one of the provinces of the east-central Netherlands.  Until the 20th century, the castle was one of the key positions in the Dutch Waterline, a system of dykes and fortifications built in the 17th century which could turn Holland into an island via flooding.  

Content creator and pilot Nielsboere created this stunning drone video of Vlieland, an island in the North Sea off the coast of the Netherland.  It's one of the westernmost of the West Frisian Island, a chain which is separated from the northwestern Dutch coast by the Wadden Sea.  One of the most sparsely populated areas in the Netherlands, during World War II it was fortified by occupying Nazi Germany as part of the Atlantic Wall.   The western part of the island consists almost entirely of sand.

See the two most famous cities in the Netherlands from above in this travel piece by AirVuz contributor and drone pilot Rein Martens. He’ll use both ground and aerial cameras to show some of the historic buildings and tulip fields in full bloom in Amsterdam and Rotterdam. Amsterdam is known for its extensive art scene, its elaborate canal system and 17th century Golden Age architecture. Rotterdam is known for its seafaring history and modern architecture, and eas heavily damaged in World War II.  

Top content creator and pilot XL Creations created this marvelous drone video of Saeftinghe, a famous swampy area of the Netherlands.  Saeftinghe was founded during the 13th century town in the Zeeland Province.  During the 80 Years War for the independence of the Netherlands from control by Spain, the area was flooded by desperate Dutch soldiers.  Despite numerous attempts to reclaim it, the area has remained a swamp and in fact is now protected as such.  It's now known as the Drowned Land of Saeftinghe. 

Here's a bird's eye view of an important fortress in the northern Netherlands, near the German border, compliments of contributor and pilot Wout.  Bourtange Fortress is near the city of Groningen, the largest city in the northern Dutch province of the same name. It was completed in the late 16th century, during the course of the long fight for Dutch independence from Spain called the Eighty Years' War.  The star-shaped fort was situated here to cover a road between Groningen and northwestern Germany.   

Contributor and pilot Jaap put together this bird's eye view of Muiden, a well known castle in the Netherlands.  It's located in a town of the same name, just a few minutes south of Amsterdam.  The current structure was constructed in the 14th century on the ruins of a castle which had been built about a century earlier.  It was used as a prison for a time in the 18th century, and was almost destroyed (again) but saved by an intervention by the Dutch King in the 19th century and subsequently restored. 

For a second upload to AirVuz, contributor City Films by Louis brings us this excellent drone video of the famous famous pier of Scheveningen in the Netherlands.  Located on the North Sea, Scheveningen is a northern suburb of the Hague.  Having appeared in numerous Dutch paintings, and it's increasingly popular with extreme sports enthusiasts, specifically kiteboarders and windsurfers.  The video features some marvelous shots of modern Scheveningen's most distinctive feature: its pier, which is also home to an amusement park.   

BG Drone created this beautiful aerial look at two of the most important cities in the Netherlands.  Eindohoven is the #5 Dutch city by population, and capital of the North Brabant province in the southern part of the country.  The Hague is the capital of the South Holland province, in the southwestern part of the country.  While it's not the capital of the country, some of its most important governmental functions are located here.  It's the third largest Dutch city after Amsterdam and Rotterdam.

New AirVuz contributor Skyflight Productions brings us this excellent drone video of the historic city of Utrecht in the Netherlands.   The capital of its namesake province, Utrecht is situated near the geographic center of the country.  The fourth-largest city in the Netherlands, Utrecht was the most important prior to the rise of Amsterdam beginning in the 17th century.  Among the highlights of the video, at the :52 mark you'll fly by the Dom Tower undergoing a renovation; the 14th century landmarks stands 368 ft. tall (113 m).  

AirVuz contributor Quadcore brings us this excellent drone video of the Dutch town of Arnhem.  It's located in the eastern part of the province of Gelderland, not far from the German border.  Strategically situated on the banks of the Nederrijn River (a Rhine distributary), Arnhem has been fought over throughout history.  In late 1944, in the closing months of World War II, it was the site a German victory over an Allied airborne operation called Market-Garden, which was immortalized in the book (and later the movie) A Bridge Too Far.  

Although tulips did not originate in the Netherlands, the spring-flowering plant (part of the lily family) has been indelibly connected to the country since they were introduced to the Dutch provinces in the late 16th century, when they were still territories of Spain.  In this beautiful drone video by timroosjen, you'll get an aerial view of some Dutch tulip fields.  Shot with a DJI Mavic Air 2 as well as the new DJI FPV drone, the video brings out the iconic beauty of the Dutch countryside at the height of the Spring season.  

De Haar is a very well known castle in the central Netherlands, in the Utrecht province.  It was built in the late 14th century, nearly destroyed in a fire, and rebuilt in the 16th century.  After that, it fell into disuse for over 200 years.  Beginning in 1892, it underwent a 15 year restoration as a Neo-Gothic masterpiece.  The castle is just a short distance from the provincial capital Utrecht, the fourth-largest Dutch city.  Droneflybenny created this marvelous aerial view of the famous castle, shot over four seasons. 

Contributor XL Creations created this fascinating drone video of the Maasvlakte, a piece of reclaimed land in the Dutch North Sea at the mouth of the Nieuwe Maas River.  It was built in the 1960's as a way to enlarge the  Port of Rotterdam, at the time the world's busiest port (and still Europe's busiest), which lies a bit upstream.  It's now a massive industrial and transportation complex and part of the Europoort, the area west of the original port which had been developed starting in the 19th century.

Naarden is an important historical town in the Netherlands.  It's located in the Gooi region of the province of North Holland, east of the Dutch capital city of Amsterdam.  It is known for its star-shaped fortification, a design which evolved in the early years of gunpowder-based warfare in the 15th century.  The town's unusual shape was used as a navigation aid by Allied bombers in World War II; you can see it from a somewhat lower altitude in the beautiful drone video by contributor and pilot XL Creations. 

The port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands handles millions of containerloads of freight every year.  For forty years after World War II, it was the busiest port in the world, and it continues to be the biggest in Europe.  Its massive facilities provide the crucial connection for freight traffic between Europe and Asia.  Contributor Mike Zwigjers used a DJI Mavic Pro to create an amazing aerial video of this mammoth harbor in the southern Netherlands, the driver of the economy of the second largest Dutch city.

The Dutch seaside village of Urk has roots that go back for a millennium.  The town is situated on the approaches to the Zwarte Zwarte Meer in the central Netherlands, in the province of Flevoland.  As it has for centuries, the life of the town revolves around fishing.  Contributor and pilot The Netherlands from Above used a drone to create an amazing aerial view of his home town.  Take in the beautiful red roofs, the greenery along the water, and the gorgeous fishing boats, all from a bird's eye view!

Take an aerial tour of the historic Dutch town of Breda, compliments of AirVuz contributor Iulian Iancu.  Breda is located in North Brabant, one of the provinces of the southern Netherlands, not far from the Belgian border.  Founded in the 13th century, the city became heavily fortified in the late Middle Ages due to its strategic location.  The video features extensive footage of Breda's most well-known landmark: the Church of Our Lady (Grote Kerk), which stands 318 ft. high (94 m) and which dates to the mid-16th century. 

Despite the close association between tulips and the Netherlands (particularly the Holland region), the flower is not actually native to the area.  Tulips actually came to Holland from present-day Turkey in the 16th century.  Today, Holland is sometimes called the Flowershop of the World due to its prominent tulip growing industry.  If you like aerial views of these beautiful flowers, sit back and enjoy the splendid colors in this Drone Video of the Week nominated video from Abstract Aerial Art. 

Contributor NTG Drones created this beautiful drone's eye view of a fortress in the northern part of the Netherlands.   Pettelaarse Schans is a star-shaped fort (sometimes called a bastion fort) which is situated just south of 's-Hertogenbosch, one of the main cities of the Noord-Brabant region of the country.  Constructed in 1623, the fort was successfully besieged by Dutch forces in 1629, during the latter part of the 80 Years' War in which the Dutch won their independence from Imperial Spain.  

Muiden (Muiderslot) is the location of one of the most important castles in the Netherlands. It's situated on the Vecht River east of Amsterdam, at the river's mouth on what used to be the Zuidersee but which is now the enclosed Lake IJsselmeer.  The castle was built in the 14th century.   During the 17th century, Muiden became a gathering spot for many of the leading lights of the Dutch Renaissance, then fell into disuse in the 18th century.  Check it out from above in this drone video by Peter van Haastrecht. 

Here's an amazing aerial view of a historical monument in the Netherlands, compliments of contributor rengervanesveld.  The Pyramid of Austerlitz is situated on the Utrecht Ridge, in the province of the same name.  It was constructed by Napoleon's soldiers in 1804.  It was shortly thereafter renamed in honor of the Battle of Austerlitz, the great 1805 battle which is considered Napoleon's greatest victory.  The pyramid shape of the base was inspired by Napoleon's earlier conquests in Egypt.  

Here's a stunning drone video from one of the North Sea islands of the Netherlands, compliments of former Drone Video of the Week Finalist Active Perspective.  Ameland is a mostly sand dune island which is part of a chain of islands called the West Frisians.  The video opens with a beautiful shot of the Ameland Lighthouse, also known as Bonrif.  Built in 1880, it's one of the principal navigational aids through the West Frisians, which in effect act as a screen to get from the North Sea to the port of Amsterdam.  

Contributor and pilot Ghosttjr used a DJI Mavic 2 Zoom to create this drone video from the southern Netherlands.  It was shot over Panheel, a village in the province of Limburg.  Limburg is the southernmost of the dozen provinces which make up the modern Netherlands.   On a map, the province appears as an odd-looking appendage to the rest of the country, extending well to the southeast.  Its main geographic feature is the River Meuse, one of the most important waterways in northwestern Europe.  

The magic of winter in the Netherlands is beautifully brought forth in this excellent drone video by AirVuz contributor and pilot jdverolme.   The video includes footage of Noordoostpolder a polder (low lying tract of land) in the central Dutch province of Flevoland; Schokland, a one-time island of the Zuiderzee; Oud-Kraggenburg, a town which is also part of the Noordoostpolder; IJssel, harbor on a distributary of the Rhine River; and Kampen, a town in the eastern Dutch province of Overijssel.  

Probably no other country has modified its natural landscape as much as the Netherlands.  Going back to the Middle Ages, Dutch lands have been extensively engineered with dykes, dams, and canals to accommodate the stark fact that most of the country lies below sea level and thus extremely prone to catastrophic flooding.  In this drone video by contributor and pilot NTG Drone, you'll get a glimpse of some of this ingenuity around the town of Den Bosch in North Brabant, on the country's southern border with Belgium.  

Check out this drone video of the Dutch town of Hoorn, compliments of contributor Roodaap Aerial Videography. During the Duth Golden Age, Hoorn was one of the country's greatest seaports and a virtual company town of the Dutch East Indies Company.   Part of the Province of North Holland, it's a harbor town on the Markermeer, a lake which was created by the Great Closing Dyke in the 1930's and which cut off Hoorn's sea access.  Hoorn's fortunes revived after World War II as an important center of the Dutch horticultural industry.  

Top AirVuz contributor and drone pilot Active Perspective created this amazing winertime aerial video of the largest lake in the Netherlands.  It's called the IJsselmeer, and it's actually only been a lake since the 1930's, when the North Sea inlet known as the Zuiderzee was closed off with a dyke due to ongoing flood risks.  Fed by the IJssel (a Rhine River distributary), the IJsselmeer is now a freshwater reservoir.  Given the climate, the lake partially freezes in winter, as you'll see in the video.  

Kampen is one of the best-preserved cities in the Netherlands.  Located near the mouth of the River IJssel in the central province of Overijssel, it was once one of the members of the powerful Hanseatic League of cities.  It gradually lost its access to the sea, beginning with the silting-up of the river in the late Middle Ages and finally with the closing off of the Zuidersee in the 1930's.  Nevertheless, the town retains a proud sea-faring tradition, as you'll see in this drone video by SkyStudio.

Promotion Films created this drone video of Roermond a historically significant town in the Limburg Province of the southeastern Netherlands.  It's situated on the banks of the River Meuse, near the German border.  Sitting on some of the most fought-over territories in Europe, Roermond has been at or near many of the largest conflicts that have plagued Western Europe: the Hundred Years' War, the 80 Years' War by which the Netherlands won their independence from Spain, and the Napoleonic Wars.  

AirVuz contributor By_ewold brings us this excellent drone video from the northern Netherlands.  The video was filmed over the plains of Friesland (Fryslân), which is (along with Groningen) one of the two main northern Dutch provinces.  With long northern and western shorelines along the Wadden Sea and the IJsselmeer (now technically a lake), Friesland also includes some of the West Frissian Islands just across the former body of water.  Its highest point is a dune which is only 45 meters (a little under 150 ft.) above sea level.  

The Netherlands' Biesbosch National Park is one of the premiere coastal wetlands areas in Western Europe.  It's situated in the South Holland province of the Netherlands at the head of the Hollands Diep, the estuary for the Rhine and Meuse Rivers.  One of the largest of the Dutch national parks, Biesbosch covers an area of numerous small rivers, creeks, and willow forests. Critical for migrating geese and other waterfowl, you can check out the beautiful park from above in this drone video by Silvano1988.

Zutphen is one of the oldest towns in the Netherlands.  It's located in Gelderland, a province which covers an east-central part of the country.  Zutphen was founded in the late 12th century, the third city in the modern-day Netherlands to receive its town rights.   Zutphen was one of the more fought-over towns in the 80 Years War for Dutch independence from Spain, the site of a major battle in 1586, and a siege in 1591.  In this excellent drone video by Tonny Nagtegaal, you'll get a bird's eye view of this historic town.  

Check out this fantastic drone video from the windswept North European Plain in the Netherlands, compliments of AirVuz contributor and pilot By_ewold.  Using the small and versatile DJI Mavic Air drone, he filmed the area around the village of Conwerd.  Conwerd is located in Friesland, one of the two northernmost Dutch provinces.  The largest of the 12 provinces of the Netherlands by area (including water area), Friesland defines flat territory - its highest point is only 45 meters above sea level (148 ft.). 

Texel is the southernmost andn largest of the West Frisian Islands, a chain which runs along the Netherlands' North Sea coast.  The island's signature dunes and other eco-systems make it an important reserve for bird life and other species in the region.  In this drone video by top AirVuz contributor XL Creations, you'll get an aerial tour of this Dutch island.  The video includes footage of the Eierland Lighthouse, at the northern tip of the island, as well as of some of Texels beaches, dunes, and wetland areas.  

Check out this drone video of a historic city in the northern Netherlands, compliments of contributor and pilot The Netherlands from Above.  It's the town of Hindeloopen, and it's on the IJsselmeer, the great bay-cum-lake north of Amsterdam.   Founded in the early 13th century, Hindeloopen was one of the most important seafaring towns in the province of Friesland, and was a member of the Hanseatic League.  In 1932, when the IJ was created by closing off the Zuiderzee with a dike, Hindeloopen lost its direct access to the North Sea.  

AirVuz contributor Gekol Droneflyer used a DJI Mavic Mini drone to create this marvelous aerial video of the Wadden Sea in the Netherlands.  The sea is a wetland intertidal zone wetland which separates the Frisian Islands from the mainland of Western Europe.  It runs from Den Halder in the northwestern Netherlands in an arc that extends to the northeast through Dutch, German, and Danish waters.  Rich in biodiversity and particularly important to bird life, the entire sea is now part of a UNESCO World Heritage site.  

See the outskirts of the scenic town of Rosmalen, Netherlands in the bitter winter in this drone video by AirVuz contributor and pilot NTG DRONE. Home to around 35,000 people, it is located in the province of North Brabant in the southern part of the country.  In this video, we’ll see a bright yellow train streak past the otherwise while backdrop, fields of frozen fruit trees, and a dronie of pilot NTG DRONE and his companion as they stand in the blanket of snow on the North European Plain.  

Top AirVuz contributor Art of Drones brings us this excellent piece from a windswept island of the Netherlands.  It's called Texel Island, and it's the largest of the West Frisians chain which extends along much of the country's North Sea coastline.  Part of the North Holland province, the island covers about 160 square km or around 60 square mi.  The area filmed is called De Slufter, which is a wide dune valley in the northern part of the island.  The valley channels water directly into the North Sea.  

Check out this drone video of Cannenburgh, a well-preserved Renaissance castle in the eastern Netherlands.  Surrounded by water, it's located in the town of Vaassen in Gelderland, a province which covers much of the east-central part of this West European country.  The castle was completed in the 1540's, when the Netherlands was still part of the Spanish Empire.  Confiscated by the Dutch government following World War II, the landmark was carefully restored to its former state of grandeur during the 1970's.  

With some of the earth's lowest-lying coastal areas, the Netherlands is profoundly affected by climate change.  In this drone video by top contributor XL Creations, you'll get an aerial view of what this looks like in practice.  The video was filmed over the Noordwaard Polder, an area of the province of Nord Brabant which had been protected from the sea by a typical Dutch dyke system.  Since 2015, parts of the area have been allowed to flood when water levels reach certain critical levels, thus sparing its more populated areas.   

Checkout this highly cinematic drone video of some Dutch windmills, compliments of contributor chrisdeyong.  While the windmill was not invented in the Netherlands, it found an ideal home there beginning in the 15th century.  With much of its territory below sea level, the Netherlands was prone to chronic flooding.  The windmill was originally adopted here as a means to control the environment by pumping water out of the low-lying areas which were then protected by dykes.  The windmills later helped the region industrialize.  

For a first upload to AirVuz, new contributor Dedication Photography brings us this beautiful drone video from the countryside of the southeastern Netherlands.  The video was shot over the Schwalm, a stream which originates in Germany and flows on a generally westward course, emptying into the Meuse River in the Dutch province of Limburg just north of the city of Roermond.  The peaceful scene here belies Limburg's traumatic past; the southernmost of the 12 Dutch provinces is home to some of the most fought-over lands in European history.  

Check out this beautiful drone video of a famous Dutch windmill, compliments of AirVuz contributor and pilot droneflybennie.  The Spengense Mill is what's known as a seesaw-type windmill, which is a design for polder mills (windmills specifically designed to move water uphill) that dates to the 15th century.  In seesaw mills, the upper housing rotates around a tube held in place by a pyramid-shaped base.  Built in the 1840's, the Spengense Mill is located near the town of Kockengen in the central province of Utrecht.  

Contributor and pilot NTG Drone created this beautiful drone video of a spot on the Meuse River in the Netherlands.  The river rises in northern France, runs north through Begium and into the Netherlands, where it flows through the Rhine/Scheldt Delta before emptying into the North Sea.  Also known as the Maas, the river has played an extremely important role in military conflicts in the region for centuries; major battles of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1 as well as both World Wars were fought on its banks.  

AirVuz contributor Tom Groenhof brings us this excellent drone video of the lovely seaside Dutch town of Ouddorp.  Ouddorp is located on the Rhine-Meuse Estuary, just southwest of Rotterdam in the province of South Holland.  It's on the island of Goeree-Overflakkee, facing the Grevelingenmeer, a portion of the estuary which is now closed off by the Brouwersdam dyke.  The Brouwersdam is part of the Dutch Delta Works, a giant 20th century hydro-engineering project which was constructed  to protect the estuary's shoreline.  

For a first upload to AirVuz, brand-new contributor tiesdebruine brings us this excellent drone video of the Dutch seaside village of West-Terschelling.  The video was shot at sunrise over this town of about 2,600 inhabitants, which lies on the island of Terschelling.  Terschelling is one of the West Frisian Islands, a chain of 14 islands which are separated from the mainland by the Wadden Sea intertidal zone.  Like the other islands in the middle of the chain, Terschelling is part of the province of Friesland.  

Explore the Dutch province of Zeeland in this excellent drone video by AirVuz contributor Gekol Droneflyer, which was filmed with a DJI Mini 3 Pro drone.  Occupying the southwestern corner of the Netherlands, Zeeland is the least populous of the country's 12 provinces.  All of Zeeland's territory is part of the great Scheldt/Meuse River Delta, and much of it is below sea level.  Much of the Zeeland countryside was flooded during the great North Sea Flood of 1953, which led to the construction of the Delta Works in the subsequent decades.

Loonse en Drunense Duinen is one of about 20 national parks in the Netherlands.  It's located in North Brabant, one of the southern Dutch provinces.  As its Dutch name suggests, the park, which covers about 35 square km (around 14 square mi.), is known for its extensive sand dunes.  It's just a fifteen minute drive north of Tilburg, the province's second-largest city after Eindhoven and one of the half-dozen largest cities in the country.  In this creative drone video by Peter van Haastrecht, you'll see the park and its dunes from above.

Check out this drone video of a beautiful spot on the coast of the Netherlands, compliments of jeroenpardon.  The video was filmed over Noordwijk aan Zee, which is part of the municipality of Noordwijk.  It's located in the province of South Holland, about a 45 minute drive southwest of Amsterdam and a slightly shorter distance north of the Hague.  The area is known for its beaches and (slightly inland) its flower fields.  Since the 1920's, its most prominent landmark is its white lighthouse, which is featured prominently in the video.  

For a first upload to AirVuz, brand-new contributor timroosjen brings us this stunning drone video from the plains of the Netherlands in the wintertime.  Most of the video was shot in the Zaanse Schans area, a region of preserved windmills and houses which is situated just to the west of Amsterdam in the province of North Holland.  It's one of the most popular tourist spots in the country, and it serves as an anchor point in the European Route of Industrial Heritage.  The windmills here date to the late 16th century.  

Dutch contributor XL Creations created this spectacular drone video of the longest bridge in the Netherlands.  The Zeelandbrug (usually referred to simply as the Zeeland Bridge) connects the islands of Schouwen-Duiveland and Noord-Beveland over the estuary of the Scheldt River in the Zeeland province.  Built in the early 1960's, at the time of completion it was the longest bridge in Europe.  Composed of 50 spans, the bridge has a total length of just over five kilometers, or about three miles.

The Meuse is one of the most important rivers in Western Europe.  Also known for parts of its course as the Maas, it rises on a plateau in northeastern France and flows on a generally northwards course through eastern Belgium and the southern Netherlands before taking a western turn and emptying into the North Sea as part of the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt Delta.  In this drone video by Dedication Photography, you'll get an aerial view of the great waterway as it runs its course around Neer, in the Dutch province of Limburg. 

Some of the Netherlands' most iconic scenery is on full aerial display in this beautiful  drone video by AirVuz contributor By_ewold.  The video was shot on the outskirts of Zaanse Schans, a small town in the province of North Holland, just west of Amsterdam.  This area is the heart of Dutch "windmill country", and it's become one of the Netherlands' most popular tourist attractions.  Shot on a sunny morning with the countryside covered in mist, it makes for a stunning view of the often-windswept North European Plain.  

Check out this beautiful drone video from the northern Netherlands, compliments of AirVuz contributor and pilot Dedication Photography.  The video opens with footage of the village of Oosterzee in Friesland, one of the two main northern Dutch provinces (along with Groningen).  From there, you'll head just a bit north to the lake known as Tsjûkemar.  It's one of the largest of the Frisian Lakes, a group of about two dozen lakes which covers part of southwestern Friesland and which is a popular aquatic recreation area.  

Brand-new contributor Google Earth Nerd brings us this excellent drone video of a famous royal estate in the Netherlands.  It's called Soestdijk Palace, and it's located in the central province of Utrecht.  It formerly belonged to the House of Orange-Nassau, which has provided the country's kings and queens for nearly five centuries.  Originally a 17th century hunting lodge, the palace was significantly modified in the 19th century.  The home of Queen Julianna until her death in 2004, it was recently sold to a private investor.  

For a first upload to AirVuz, brand-new contributor PVD-productions brings us this outstanding drone video of a beautiful fishing village in the Netherlands.  It's called Volendam, and it's located a short distance north of Amsterdam along the Markermeer, which was part of the North Sea inlet known as the Zuiderzee until the latter was dammed off in the 1930's.  The town is part of North Holland, one of the 12 provinces of the Netherlands, which covers most of the northwestern part of the country.  

Cement is one of the most basic and vital manufactured materials.  It's produced from limestone, which goes through a series of is processes in a special-purpose plant (usually located near the quarry) and distributed.  With considerable returns to scale, cement plants tend to be quite large, like the one you'll see in this drone video by AirVuz contributor and pilot Galliano.  Located near the city of Maastricht in the eastern part of the Netherlands, it's a factory which is operated by Dutch cement company ENCI.

Of the twelve provinces which make up the modern Netherlands, Limburg is one of the most unique.  It extends southeast from the main body of the country, and is largely surrounded by the territory of Germany and Belgium.  In contrast to the dead-flat terrain which characterizes most of the country, Limburg is a land of gently rolling hills and river-crossed valleys.  Due to its distinctive landscapes, it's sometimes called the Dutch Tuscany.  Check out beautiful Limburg from above in this drone video by Travel and Drones. 

Contributor and pilot Matthijs created this drone video of Texel, an important island of the Netherlands.  It's the largest and second westernmost of the West Frisian Islands, a chain of just over a dozen islands which extends along the Dutch coast.  Part of the province of North Holland, the island is famous as being the site of a number of important naval battles, including (during the Napoleonic Wars) a battle where a Dutch fleet was frozen in and defeated by a French army formation on horseback.  

Here's a stunning aerial view of the rural landscape of the Dutch province of Limburg, compliments of contributor JamesButtiens.  Limburg is the most geographically isolated of the 12 provinces of the Netherlands; it has longer borders with Belgium and Germany than with the neighboring Dutch province of North Brabant.  One of the key battlegrounds in the bloody 80 Years War for Dutch independence (1568-1848), the now very peaceful countryside consists of rolling hills on the Great European Plain.  

Check out this drone video of the Dutch city of Roermond and its surroundings, compliments of contributor Dedication Photography.  It's part of the province of Limburg, which extends southeast from the main part of the Netherlands and is otherwise surrounded by Belgian and German territory.  Given its strategic location on the Meuse River, Roermond was a town of considerable importance; it played an important role in the Eighty Years' War (under which the Netherlands became independent of Spain) and later in the Napoleonic Wars.  

Take in these drone views of the famous pier of Scheveningen in the Netherlands, compliments of AirVuz contributor and pilot jeroenpardon.  Scheveningen is located on the North Sea, just north of the Hague.  Its iconic appearance has attracted the attention of various painters over the years, and it's increasingly popular with extreme sports enthusiasts, specifically kiteboarders and windsurfers.  Scheveningen's most distinctive visual feature is its pier, which is also home to an amusement park.   

Check out this fantastic early-morning drone video of the Dutch plains near the city of Utrecht, compliments of Peter van Hasstrecht.  The capital of its namesake province, Utrecht is the Netherlands' fourth-largest city, after Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and the Hague.  It was here that the seven Dutch provinces signed a union in 1579, giving birth to the modern Netherlands.  Located near the geographic center of the country, Utrecht is one of the Netherlands' most important transportation hubs as well as the home of its largest university.  

For a first upload to AirVuz, new contributor Rutger brings us these fantastic early-morning aerial views of the Windmills at Kinderdijk, one of the most iconic sights of the Netherlands.  Part of their namesake village in South Holland, the 19 mills were built between 1738-40.  Their purpose was to keep water out of the surrounding polders.  The largest collection of Dutch windmills, the site is a Dutch National Monument and has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site.  

AirVuz contributor City Films by Louis used the telephoto lens capability on the DJI Mavic 3 drone to bring us this excellent aerial view of the skyline of the Hague, the administrative capital of the Netherlands.  The two skyscrapers you'll see near the middle of the frame are both government ministry buildings; standing about 480 ft. tall (about 147 m), they are the city's two tallest.  The tall building on the left is the Hoftoren; standing 465 ft. tall (142 m), it's the city's third-tallest building.    

One of the major natural dangers facing any non-arid plains area is flooding.  This is particularly so if there is a nearby river.  As a country on the Great Plain of Europe and crossed by numerous rivers, the Dutch developed some of the most sophisticated flood control techniques the world has ever seen.  Perhaps the best place to see this is in the area around Kinderdijk, a small town in South Holland near the confluence of several rivers.  See Kinderdijk from above, compliments of contributor Pepinair.

Top AirVuz contributor iDrone Aerials put together this DVOW nominated film from Amsterdam, Netherlands.  Shot using both drone and ground camera footage, the video will take you around the great city on the Amstel River. At the :11 mark there's a great shot of the city's Old Church (Oude Kerk), followed by some great shots of the Rijksmuseum, the country's largest museum.  At the :43 mark, you'll get an aerial view of the A'Dam Lookout observation deck.  The video was produced in connection with a music/dance event in the city.  

Check out this fantastic drone video of the Dutch city of Rotterdam, compliments of AirVuz contributor Rodoworld.  The Netherlands' second-largest city after Amsterdam and the home of Europe's largest container port, Rotterdam is situated at the mouth of the Niewe Maas Channel, a distributary of the Rhine River.  While Rotterdam's roots date to the 13th century, it has one of the most modern skylines in Europe.  That's because most of the central city was reduced to rubble in an infamous German bombing raid near the outset of World War II.