Utrecht

If you ask me, Utrecht is the place to be, not Amsterdam. Utrecht has everything your heart desires. The station has been renovated, making it much colder and draughtier, and the reason for this is, of course, that homeless people no longer spend the night there. There is now a square between the station and the famous Hoog Catharijne shopping centre, or as they once called it, the shopping heart of the Netherlands.

The city of Utrecht is located in the province of Utrecht and also in the centre of the country. The city has been trying to ban car traffic for years, and public transport is good in itself. I say 'in itself' because if trains are cancelled due to weather conditions or overdue maintenance, it can take a while before you arrive or you may be delayed. But that also applies to Amsterdam, which suffers from this even more often.

Utrecht is a student city, the people are very friendly and helpful, not pushy. There are very nice neighbourhoods, or as they call them, quarters, in the city centre where you can walk to your destination or just sit on a terrace. And yes, people do this here too, even though it was really bitterly cold, close to freezing. I found it remarkable that in one street, all the Christmas trees with lights were still standing. In the middle of the street, you can see the Christmas lights transformed into what I suspect are Valentine's Day lights above your head. Certainly not uninviting and, given the grey and cold weather (winter), this is a nice attraction and certainly not out of place.

We set off for the Nijntje (Miffy) museum. What a long walk that was. On the way, we saw the Nijntje traffic lights and also took a look at the Dom, the Dom Square and the surrounding area. Our final destination was Hoog Catharijne again, not to shop but to visit Akiba, the largest Japanese arcade centre in the Netherlands, and I can tell you that it is definitely worth a visit. Two hours? That's far too short (we didn't leave home until after noon).

If you love canals, enjoy sitting by them or sailing through them in good weather, then you certainly don't need to go to Amsterdam; you can do all that in Utrecht. There is much more to do here, it is more pleasant, less dirty and you won't be trampled underfoot.

Even in bad weather, Utrecht is definitely worth a visit, especially if you come by public transport. You can simply walk from the station to the market or to Hoog Catharijne, where you can wander around for hours. We didn't have much time to visit Hoog Catharijne itself, so we only went to one toy shop where the Pokémon figures were better stocked than in the special Pokémon shop we saw during our long city walk.

The Spoorwegmuseum (Railway Museum) is also within walking distance and definitely worth a visit. On certain days, you can take a ride on an old steam train, but even if you find that too expensive, you can still view most of the trains from the inside, not just from the outside, or even from underneath. I definitely think this is a fun museum, especially when there is a theatre performance on the platform. Utrecht has something for everyone, from old architecture to Herman Brood.

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30-1-2026}