Welcome to my personal page! Here I would like to share my personal tips of Utrecht and give you the opportunity to experience Utrecht as a local.
Live is something that needs to be experienced. Not something to sleepwalk through. I’ll try to live life very consciously and enjoy and appreciate the big and small things of life. I am convinced knowledge should be shared in a lively and interactive way. I have a very clear and easy to understand way of speaking and I love sharing with you all the historic events that took place here in Utrecht. I will try my best to make you feel very comfortable and always feel free to ask me any questions you might have. I’ll be there for you!
I created this list of tips very carefully so I am 100% certain you will have a good time in Utrecht!
Go check out the amazing view you will have over the city. Tickets will be available at the Tourist Information Centre.
It has a permanent art collection telling you more about the city of Utrecht. They also have temporary exposition that changes every now and then.
A Neogothic Castle just outside the city.
When the weather is good, rent some bikes and bike to this wonderful natural area, where you can go swimming.
Rent a canoe at the old canal (Oudegracht number 275) and go check out all the different canals in Utrecht. Or go rent a ‘Waterfiets’ (a peddle boat) at old canal (number 165). It will be an experience.
This movie theatre is in the city center of Utrecht. It looks like a cute movie theatre from the 60s and the movies they have are often pretty good. They do nice beers and coffee also.
Treat yourself with these two layered waffles filled with sweet syrup. If you are in luck, you can find some fresh baked ones on the market at Vredeburg. In any case, you will find them in any supermarket.
Unlike American pancakes, the Dutch are known for a thinner kind of pancake. Order them with some fruit, Nutella, or syrup and enjoy or – in Dutch – ‘eet smakelijk’! You will find Dutch pancakes in a lovely restaurant called ‘Pannenkoekenbakkerij de Muntkelder’ (Oudegracht aan de Werf 112).
Small pancakes. If you are lucky you will find them on the market at Vredenburg on the market square.
Go to ‘HEMA’ and get yourself some tompouce (Steenweg 59). A really typical sweet Dutch pastry.
One of the Dutch dinners is a big stew with sausage called ‘stamppot’. You can get them real cheap for EUR 3,50 at HEMA (Steenweg 59). They will probably close rather early, so try it for lunch instead.
‘FEBO’ is a very Dutch fast food vending machine (Lange Elisabethstraat 2).
Check out the cheeses on market square at Vredeburg or go to the Cheeseshop
called Cheese & More!
Dutchies love bread. Not only do they eat bread with cheese in the morning, but peanut butter is also a Dutchies’ best friend. There is a special peanut butter shop in Utrecht where you can buy all sorts of peanut butter. Quiet the experience (Zadelstraat 45). Get yourself some bread at a bakery and enjoy!
A sweet cooky that looks like a pretzel. Go and find them in one of the supermarkets.
My favourite bakery. You can go downstairs and sit next to the canal to enjoy fresh baked bread/pastries with coffee (Wittevrouwenstraat 2).
This place has such a nice interior and. on top of that, a really affordable high tea menu with scones, tea/coffee, and other cakes (Achter Clarenburg 39).
Hipster kind of coffee place with really nice staff, who can tell you a lot about the coffees they make (Voorstraat 44-46).
Go check out Olivier, the pub that once was a shelter church. During the tour I will tell you about the history of this place. It will be worthwhile to take a look inside (Achter Clarenburg 6A).
This bar is in one of the cellers at the Old Canal. It often has life music and it has a very good vibe (Oudegracht 279).
Really nice place with a wide variety of beers. You can also have burgers and other types of fastfood here too (Oudegracht aan de Werf 125).
Wine bar with pretty good wines at the old canal (Donkere Gaard 2).
Surya is a really nice Indian restaurant with really good veggie options (Janskerkhof 23). Another really good one, with a little less ambiance, but probably a little cheaper is called Namaskar. The food is amazing there (Vredenburg 38).
Ruby Rose: a really pretty Italian restaurant and wine bar with great options for Italian food. If you want to go for a more regular pizza then try il Pozzo at the Old Canal. You can sit outside next to the canal or in one of the cellars.
Umami is an Asian restaurant. They offer sushi, grill, fusion and wok food in one of the cellers at the old canal (oudegracht 74). Right at Central Station you will also find the Japanese inspired chain Wagamama.
Syr is one of my favourite restaurants in the heart of Utrecht, where the Arab and European cuisine meet. Syr started out as a restaurant where Syrian refugees started to work together with Dutch colleagues. A lot of the products are grown organically (Lange Nieuwstraat 71).
El mundo: good tapas bar in the city centre (Voorstraat 18), but also a place called ‘Vintage tapasbar’ is a very good option (Drieharingstraat 18).
Meneer Smakers is a really nice burger place, with veggie options too.
If you want to go for a food experience, then please go to the Ethiopian restaurant called Sunshine. You get to eat with your hands. A huge kind of pancake will be served in the middle of the table for everyone to share with loads of different meat or veggies to taste. The owner is really friendly and is always entertaining (pauwstraat 11).
A very well-known Greek restaurant here in Utrecht is called Corfu. You will find it at the beautiful old canal 178.
the one and only German restaurant I know of here is called Kartoffel. They do Brattwurst and schnitzels. But they also have a veggie bratwurst and some amazing Flammkuchen there.