Nov 5, 2024 • 9 min read
17.10.2024 - 15:19 / lonelyplanet.com / Den Haag
Oct 16, 2024 • 6 min read
"Pack your bags, we're moving to Utrecht," I told nearly everyone after returning from the city. Nobody's going anywhere, unfortunately, but Utrecht has a way of embedding itself in your mind. It's not just about how tidy and clean everything looks, though that certainly makes me want to book a one-way ticket. It's the way the city operates on its own terms. Leafy streets lined with independent businesses and canal-side wharfs cleverly reimagined as outdoor terraces, as well as the sense of pride here, the quiet confidence in its history and its easy-going identity. It could also be the fact that this city is just a 25-minute train ride from Amsterdam, making it feel connected while still refreshingly different from its bigger, bolder neighbor.
If you're visiting Utrecht on a day trip from Amsterdam, here's how to experience it in just 24 hours.
Utrecht is located smack bang in the center of the Netherlands and is home to the country's largest train station, Utrecht Centraal, so it's well connected. Direct trains from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport take around 30 minutes (€11 one way), while trains from Amsterdam Centraal take about 25 minutes (€9) and run every 15 minutes or so. If you're train-hopping through the Netherlands, Utrecht is just over an hour from Den Haag (€15), 1hr 25mins from Rotterdam (€13), 1hr 15mins from Delft (€15) and an hour from Eindhoven (€17).
Bunk is a capsule-room hostel with facilities that wouldn't look out of place in a boutique hotel. It's located in a former church near Utrecht Centraal, and a one-person pod costs about €42 midweek. A cozier option is the four-star City Center Lodge where rooms range from about €168 per night for two people.
9am: Start your day at Jacques by the Oudegracht (Old Canal) with a creamy flat white or iced matcha and salted dark chocolate cookie. Take them to the bench outside overlooking the Domotoren bell tower, the city's towering landmark. Mornings are unhurried here; shops don't open until 11am, so this is your moment to watch the city wake up. If you're feeling ambitious, you could kickstart the day by climbing Domotoren's 465 steps (€13.50 for a guided tour) to get unbeatable views of the city.
10am: Join a walking tour of the Old Town. Tours are typically 90 minutes and begin in the serene, cloistered courtyard of St Martin’s Cathedral, once the largest church in the Netherlands, before moving along the canals to get the history of the city that used to be (for a brief time) the capital of the Netherlands.
Unlike Amsterdam’s more tourist-trodden paths, Utrecht’s canal quays are walkable along the lower level and peaceful. You'll come across former cellars in grand homes, now repurposed into quirky cafes, bars,
Nov 5, 2024 • 9 min read
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