Discover Utrecht

First impressions of Utrecht

Utrecht is the Netherlands' fourth city and quietly the most rewarding to visit — a medieval university town that has the same canal-side charm as Amsterdam but on a much more human scale, with around 360,000 residents (vs Amsterdam's 900,000), no tourist mass to fight through, and the country's largest student population (one in six of the city's residents). The most distinctive feature is the unique two-level canal system: stone wharves run along the Oudegracht (Old Canal) at a level 4 metres below the street, with arched cellars that have been converted into the country's most atmospheric collection of waterside cafes, restaurants, and bars. The Dom Tower, the tallest church tower in the Netherlands at 112m, recently reopened after a five-year restoration — climb its 465 steps for the panorama; the medieval cathedral behind it lost its nave in a freak 1674 tornado and never replaced it, so the tower now stands alone. Don't miss the Centraal Museum (with a wonderful Dick Bruna / Miffy collection — the rabbit was created here), the moving Spoorwegmuseum (the country's railway museum, in a former station), and Rietveld's UNESCO-listed Schröder House on the edge of town (the 1924 De Stijl masterpiece that defined modernist architecture).