Step Into a 5D Flight Over the Netherlands
You take your seat, the floor gives way beneath you, and suddenly you are suspended in front of a giant spherical screen with the whole of the Netherlands spread out below. This is THIS IS HOLLAND, a 5D flight experience in Amsterdam, and it begins the moment you lift off — wind in your face, mist in the air, the scent of the landscape drifting past as the aerial footage carries you across the country.
Before you fly, an introductory presentation sets the scene: how the Netherlands was formed, and how land was reclaimed through mounds, dikes, polders and windmills, leaving a country that sits below sea level. That context makes the flight itself feel less like a ride and more like a view of a place that was, in part, made by hand.
What the Flight Feels Like
The main ride is a nine-minute 5D flight — the longest of its kind in Europe — and it carries you over 22 authentic Dutch locations. You are not watching from a seat; you are hanging suspended before the screen, moving with the footage, with wind, mist and scent layered in so the air around you changes as the landscape does.
- You hang suspended in front of a giant spherical screen.
- The flight lasts nine minutes and covers 22 authentic Dutch locations.
- Wind, mist and scent are used throughout the experience.
Before You Book: What to Know
Entry is free with a valid City Card, but you must reserve a time slot in advance using the 'pre-book ticket' option on the THIS IS HOLLAND website. At the cashier you present your pre-book ticket along with your City Card, and the card must be valid on the date you visit. Opening hours change, so check the official website for current times before you plan your day.
The experience is not open to everyone. You cannot take part if you are pregnant; if you are under 4 years old and/or shorter than 100 cm; if you have a history of heart or circulatory complaints or hypertension, including pacemakers and cardiovascular disease; if you are recovering from back or neck surgery; or if you have epilepsy.
Where It Fits in Your Amsterdam Days
Amsterdam rewards a mix of ground-level wandering and one big view. Spend your mornings on the medieval streets of the Binnenstad — the Warmoesstraat and the Zeedijk are the oldest — and in the Begijnhof, the late-medieval enclosed courtyard whose gardens you can enter freely, quietly, mindful of the people who still live there. Walk the 17th-century Canal District and cross the Magere Brug, over 300 years old and still close to its original capacity, a fine place to look out over the river.
Give the museums their own time: the Rijksmuseum on Museumplein, with Rembrandt's Night Watch and Vermeer's Milkmaid among its Dutch Golden Age holdings; the Van Gogh Museum, which holds the largest collection of his paintings and drawings in the world; the Stedelijk for modern and contemporary art and design; and the Anne Frank House in the Canal District, in the hidden rooms known as the Achterhuis. If you plan to see several, the Museumkaart covers admission to over 500 museums across the Netherlands and can pay for itself quickly.
When to Go and How to Pace It
The most popular museums crowd up in the summer peak season, so book ahead or arrive off-peak, very early in the morning. Pair a flight over the country with the places it shows you: the Jordaan, built around 1650 as a working-class district and now a hip boutique quarter of narrow streets; De Gooyer, the windmill near the city centre now used as a brewery; or the Molen van Sloten, the only windmill fully open to the public. However you arrange it, give THIS IS HOLLAND a fixed slot in your schedule and build the rest of the day around it.
Start with the official site: check the current opening hours, pre-book your time slot, and confirm your City Card is valid for the day. Then let the rest of Amsterdam fill in around it — the canals, the courtyards, the collections — and finish with nine minutes in the air above all of it.