City planners have always taken care to incorporate space for nature into Amsterdam. Private outside space is rare, but cherished. Enormous foxgloves leap up from tiny streetside flowerbeds, herb boxes cling perilously to window ledges and exotic blooms flourish on roofterraces or houseboat decks. The great outdoors can be enjoyed in 28 parks, and for wilder landscapes (well, as wild as the neat Netherlands ever gets), the beaches and dunes are a short bike, bus, train or boat ride away.