Utrecht Bucket List

When I left my previous job, one of my leaving gifts was a guidebook, Utrecht: Sights and Secrets of Holland's Smartest City by Annika Redhed. It's a wonderful book, written by a local, which offers a wry a delightful overview of some of the best sights and experiences of the city. I highly recommend buying or borrowing a copy to anyone who is planning a visit here.

 

When I started reading my copy, I added a page flag every time I found something I would like to experience or explore. Four months later, when I finished, my copy bristled with colourful slips of paper! Here is my list of all the things I flagged. Many thanks to my lovely University of Lincoln library colleagues for their marvelous gift. 

An excellent guidebook

 

Anything in bold is something I have explored in my first five months here and would personally recommend to tourists or visitors.

Breweries, Cafes, and Restaurants

• Bakkerij Bond en Smolders (for Domtoren-shaped cookies) 
• Belgisch Beer Café Olivier Utrecht, which is hidden in a secret church
• cafe in the back of the Domkirk (p. 18)
• De Kaasbar, for the opportunity to try many different kinds of cheese
  
• Le Jardin, because it has a greenhouse and menu featuring lots of vegetables
  
• Maximus Brouwerij, a brewery in the Máximapark which looks very nice.
  
• Pannenkoekenbakkerij De Muntkelder, to try lots of different kinds of pancakes
• Restaurant De Watertoren, because it is in a former water tower with nice views
• Winkel van Sinkel, where it is apparently possible to "knit in the company of other knitters" (pp. 37-8); it seems mostly to be a cafe, restaurant, and event space now.
  

Churches

• Domtoren (and all its souveniers, including candles and cake molds). 
• Domkirk. Especially recommended on a Saturday afternoon, when there are lovely free concerts. The Night of Light is also incredibly beautiful.
  
• Sint Willibrordkerk (because it's a fancy nineteenth century church, and they can be fun to see)
  

Eating

• fresh stroopwafels
  

Events 

• city tours in English, Saturdays and Sundays at noon, starting underneath the Domtoren
• ice skating rink in De Neude, which appears before Christmas (p. 98)
• Open tuinen dag--will be Saturday, 29 June 2024. A day when a day pass gets access to private gardens in the city centre.
  
• Sint Maarten--events include a market the weekend before the saint's festival (11 November), a parade, and singing
• Singelloop, a 10k run. Took place on 1 October in 2023
  
• Trajectum Lumen, a tour of all the light art in Utrecht, taking place on Saturday evenings; seems to end in March of this year; there is also an app for self-guided tours
• Utrecht Marathon, 19 May 2024
  

Markets

•  Lapjesmarkt, for fabric, buttons, and sewing stuff; Breedstraat (Saturday mornings)
  
• Vredenburg Square, for food (Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday)

Museums

• Hoge Woerd, an archaeological museum, including a rebuilt Roman fortress with a very old boat on display
  
  Museum Catharijneconvent, and its collection of medieval and religious art
  
• Museum Speelkok, the museum of music boxes and self-playing instruments
  

Parks and Gardens

• Botanic Gardens, Uithof, The branch near the University is lovely and easily reachable by bus or bike. It has a wonderful cafe that is a lovely place to sit on a sunny day. Its city-centre branch near the University Museum sounds lovely too, but I haven't been there yet.
  
• City Garden, which can be entered via a blue gate on Springstraat (pp. 102-3)
  
• Landgoed Amelisweerd en Rhijnauwen, Finding lovely spaces to be outside is important in a city, and this one looks lovely
  
• Maarseveense, another park that sounds very lovely
  
• Máximapark, a large and beautiful park in the outer city, easily accessible from the centre by bus. This where the Utrecht parkrun takes place every Saturday morning.
  

Sightseeing

• Achter Sint Pieter, where there is a seventeenth century house with a doorbell in the shape of a pretzel, built by Everard Meyster
  
• Bakkerbrug, a bridge with decorated street lanterns and flower stalls
• Bartholomeus Gasthuis, a medieval foundation which became a home for the elderly; guided tours are offered on Sunday mornings (p. 103)
  
• Molen de Ster, a rebuilt historic wind-powered sawmill
• Paushuize, the palatial house of the only Dutch pope, who never got to live in it (some of the rooms are, according to the guidebook, open for tours on Saturdays, pp. 86-7)

To Stay

• B&B Gregorius, which is very central and along a lovely canal
  
• Court Hotel Utrecht Centrum; I stayed here for my job interview and can confirm it is very nice.
  
• Hotel Beijers, which looks lovely on the outside.
  
• Klein Armelisweerd (a campground--the description is the guidebook is a very good example of Dutch humour but I would not personally stay there.)
  
• Stayokay Hostel; it is very central and looks fine.

Further Reading

• Secrets of Utrecht Facebook page (seems to have stopped updating regularly in 2020)
• The back of the book contains useful Dutch vocabulary for tourists. Ik heb en kikker ingeslikt somehow slipped into the vocabulary list, which is excellent, and reminds me of the fact that the first Spanish phrase one of my postgrad housemates taught us was how to say "my hovercraft is full of eels". You never know when you'll need to prepare absurdities to meet the absurd?