• Best Cheap Lunch: Fresh, tasty and nutritional food can be found at two Italian kiosks on Janskerkhof. (see photo). These two, stand-alone gazebos serve Tuscan-style sandwiches and thick pizza by the slice for under 5 euros. That’s why there’s always a line! There is a similar outfit at 130 Oudegracht called Broodje Mario, which has the same menu. Only open for lunch and snacks until 6 pm.
• Best Fast Food: For Mexican/American fast food, there’s a Taco Bell in Utrecht in Leidsche Rijn, a neighborhood north of the city. (location) Sure, it’s awful for you – with processed ingredients and lackluster quality – yet Americans love it! It’s a little taste of home – even if you have to ‘run for the border’ later on!
• Best Seafood: The Seafood Bar (next to the train station) is pricy but worth it. Runner-up: Vis en Meer (near KFC) fresh fish, mostly locals.
• Best Greek: Sirtaki Restaurant (near the DomToren) makes authentic Greek dishes for an upmarket price – but takeaway away is available.
• Best Bar: Lively Bada Bing & Lebowski’s (near the DomToren) offers a mid-priced pub menu, good drinks, and happy music in a great setting.
• Best Canal Dining: The old Graaf Floris Café near the bell tower has both inside and canal-view tables – a tasty personal favorite.
• Best High-End Dining: De Zakkendruger, De Karel V, and lakeside dining at the Wilhelminapark Restaurant represent the best food in town.
• Best Indonesian: The Blauwe Restaurant near the Karel V Hotel on Springweg and offers lovely tapas-style Indonesian fare – not cheap.
• Best Pannenkoeken: Anna’s Pancakes (several locations) offers both sweet and savory pancakes – apple/bacon is my order every time.
• Street Food Club / The Ruby Rose: Popular and fun, these restaurants are located in a small party district near the Utrecht University Library.
• Best Restaurant View: The Restaurant De Watertoren Utrecht offers lovely city views but requires a reservation and a thick wallet to enjoy. 

• Best Museums: The Speelklok Museum is a very fun, unique place. It competes with the Spoorweg Train Museum as my favorite archive.
• Best City View: No surprise, the DomToren wins with amazing 360-degree views, but a nice runner-up is the NODA cafe in Post Utrecht.
• Best Park: Romantic Wilhelmina Park and the family-oriented Griftpark tie for my preferred green space in town for different reasons.
• Best Nature: Flowers and butterflies at Utrecht Botanical Gardens are truly beautiful in season with a number of new gardens to enjoy.
• Most Beautiful Church: No, not the Domkerk but nearby Sint Willibrordkerk, so nice and impressive I visit often, yet I’m not religious.
• Best Markets: On Saturdays, both the fabric market (lapjesmarkt) and the city flower market (bloemenmarkt) are open, free and lovely.
• Best Hideaway: The courtyard of the Centraal Museum is really nice getaway from the busy city. Lovely Flora’s Hof is a close second.
• Best Cinema: The huge Jaarbeurs Kinepolis has 14 theaters with 3000 seats so you can see what you want, when you want – but pricey.
• Best Stargazing: Certain fall/winter nights the Sonneburgh Observatory has an English language stargazing workshop – details online.

1. Ride Canal Boats – Boat cruising around the ancient waterways is a relaxing way to show off Utrecht to friends, visitors, and romantic partners.
2. Indoor Skydiving: For thrill-seekers allergic to heights, City Skydive provides a safe way to experience the breathless rush of freefall – great for kids too!
3. Family Playtime: KidzCity is a great place for offspring and their adult children to burn off extra energy in a safe, clean, and super fun environment.
4. Rock’in Out: Live music is everywhere here, but I prefer club EKKO, near the fish doorbell, or Tivoli Vredenburg, with 7 concert venues rock’in nightly!
5. Smoke a Joint: The only decent place to share a reefer in the Dom City is the Culture Boat, a 100-year-old schooner docked near Griftpark on a canal.
6. Sing & Drink: The Duke of Tokyo karaoke is a bar to be the pop star only you want to be – great with friends (when drinking) or families (when sober).
7. Pet Animals: There’s a little petting zoo at Griftpark just a 10-minute walk from the Dom – the Dutch schoolkids are as cute as the critters!
8. Laugh Aloud: The Comedy Huis on the Oudegracht has funny Dutch and English comedians weekly, presented in a quirky canal bunker.
9. Experience a 4D Film: A special theater at Jaarbeurs Kinepolis has moving seats, wind effects, strobes, moisture, and more for the ultimate ride!
10. Cycle Utrecht: I love biking the flat, continuously interesting landscape here – cycling is a joy limited only by your stamina. Here’s my route below!

My Perfect Saturday in Historic Utrecht

My Personal Bike Route Suggestions

Let’s start with a good breakfast at a pannenkoekenhuis (pancake house) for a real Dutch ontbijt (breakfast). There are plenty in town but I recommend Anna’s Pancakes with several locations or Pannenkoekenbakkerrij De Muntkelder – which is conveniently near our first destination. The most famous flower market in the province is near St. John’s Church at Janskerkhof. (map)

The Utrecht Flower Market has a centuries-old history as a social hub where friends meet, families stroll, and gardeners exchange tips. Plus, the air is filled with a mix of languages as tourists mingle with the locals, all united by their love of Dutch flowers. While photography is encouraged, do remember to ask for permission before capturing the stall owner’s faces with their artful arrangements.

The market also offers a variety of plants, bulbs, and garden accessories, ensuring that every visitor finds something to take home, whether it’s for a windowsill, a balcony, or a backyard garden. However, for now, don’t buy any blooms just yet – there’s a bike ride ahead!

While you’re in the shadow of the large cathedral nearby, take a quick look inside St. John’s Church (Janskerk) and admire the architecture within. Once finished, walk east (away from downtown) for two minutes until you reach 030-Fietsen a bike shop at #3 Nobelstraat, and still within sight of the flower market. Here you’ll rent a bike for the rest of the day and the Free Walking Tours Utrecht has arranged a half-price rate of 7 euros a day for you. The city bicycle rack next to the nearby Willibrord horse statue 50m west offers other possibilities.

Once you’re all set, using this GPS setting to guide you, turn right out of the bike shop and pedal away from downtown. You’ll go past the Stadshowburg theatre on the left and cross the Lucasbrug at the stoplight, then head down Nachtegaalstraat.

After the Malibaan crossroad, continue to the train tracks and stop there for a moment to appreciate it was here the Doppler Effect was proven (see mural). Continue on through until you reach Wilhelmina Park and check it out with a few laps around the pond. Then continue east until to encounter a strange boxy house on the left-hand side of Prins Hendriklaan – behold a modernistic architectural wonder.

You should be standing in front of the retrofuturistic Rietveld Schroder House. Stop and admire this 20th-century architectural jewel from the outside unless you’ve prepaid for tickets online; they only have tours, no free exploration.

Continue cycling under the nearby bridge and follow this route, which takes you onto the University College Utrecht campus, then past the Museumhuis van Ravesteyn, another architectural landmark.

The bike path continues underneath some big, noisy highways until you reach the wide-open Science Park and ultimately the Utrecht Botanical Gardens. Spend an hour or so at the gardens, and maybe have lunch at the charming cafe on site – be sure and try their vegan chocolate cake – trust me!

Now that we’re refueled, let’s take a 15-minute ride to a lovely, hidden forest with wonderful bike trails, just follow this route. You’ll pass all sorts of business parks and neighborhoods, but the tan colored bike path is clear, just stick with it. You’re rewarded with a ride through the beautiful Park Voorveldse Polder, a dynamic public space with trails, soccer pitches, and tennis courts in addition to amazing bike paths.

Bike back into town using this route and you’ll end up at Roberto Gelato, Utrecht’s premiere tiny ice cream parlor. There will likely be a line on Saturday but it’s worth it! Then you’ll pedal through the Wittevrouwen neighborhood until you get to Griftpark – another public greenway with all sorts of secrets (skateboard park, kids zoo, local pub etc.)

If you take this pathway you’ll be biking beside a lovely canal (Weerdsingel Oostzijde) most of the way; heading towards a harbor area where you have a choice. Take a right and you’ll see the weird ‘fish doorbell’ that allows for seasonal river migrations of various marine life. Take a left across the bridge and you’ll find the odd-looking model stadskraan (city crane) in the canal.

From the crane, it’s a nice long, straight ride along the waterside all the way to Hoog Catharijne, the same large mall you first met outside Centraal Station. Go to the big intersection, cross the bridge, and continue underneath the mall (see picture).

Keep pedaling straight with the mall behind you but look back for a moment to see a huge teapot on the roof. Continue forward and on your right is the De Inktpot, the huge national railway headquarters with a UFO on the roof! Further down this road, cross over Bartholomew’s Bridge.

This last leg continues our tradition of biking by the water, so you’ll follow the singel (city moat) around the south end of town to the Sonnenborgh Observatory. A number of optional loops have been added for this leg, including routes past at the Nijntje Museum, the Centraal Museum and Spoorweg Museum with the big World War II monument in the parking lot. Pick your own path but keep following the singel and you’ll eventually end up back ay 030 Fietsen, where you can turn in your bicycle and buy those flowers we saw earlier for cheap – prices lower at day’s end.