Is Utrecht worth visiting, or is it just a student town? That is exactly what we were told before we came: don't bother, it's only students. This Utrecht travel guide is what we found instead: the medieval wharf cellars of the Oudegracht, a canal that runs a full storey below the street, the Dom Tower, and one of the oldest and most important cities in the Netherlands, a place most people skip on the way to Amsterdam. If you are planning things to do in Utrecht, weighing up Utrecht vs Amsterdam, or looking for slow travel in the Netherlands, this is an honest few days in a city we nearly left off the itinerary.
Utrecht was the religious and political centre of the northern Netherlands for centuries, long before Amsterdam rose to take the trade. It stopped growing, and that is exactly why it still looks and feels the way it does.
We show you what a few days in Utrecht actually looks like:
The Wharf Cellars: the Oudegracht canal runs a full storey below the street, with restaurants and bars at the water's edge. We take a boat down it and explain how a single merchant's shortcut, copied for 300 years, turned into a two-kilometre harbour running straight through the middle of the city.
The Dom Tower: at 112 metres, the tallest church tower in the Netherlands. We stand in the empty square where the nave of the cathedral once stood, before a storm brought it down in 1674 and left the tower and the choir standing separately, with a public square where the middle of the church used to be.
Museum Speelklok: a collection of self-playing organs and mechanical instruments, housed in the Buurkerk, a church older than the cathedral itself. We take the tour and hear the machines play themselves.
The student city: Utrecht has one of the largest universities in the country, and one in five people here is a student. It is the thing we were warned about, and it turned out to be the reason the city feels the way it does.
A canal that started as a motorway between two rivers, the Vecht in the north and the Rhine in the south. A city that was awake until four in the morning and beautiful at half past ten. And the smallest apartment we have ever tried to do laundry in.
Someone told us not to bother with Utrecht. They were wrong.
If you are researching things to do in Utrecht, Utrecht vs Amsterdam, a Utrecht travel guide, or slow travel in the Netherlands, this is an honest account from two people who nearly left it off the itinerary.
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Original Soundtrack by Adam. All music in our films is original, composed and produced by Adam (PhD in audio-visual composition).
Who are The Floating Nomads? We are Rick and Adam, The Floating Nomads. We live a life of constant slow travel by train, ferry and water. When not on our UK narrowboat, Serenissima, we live abroad for months at a time. Whether spending 200+ days in Malta (and Venice) or travelling from Buxton to Brazil without flying (as seen on CNN).
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Chapters:
0:00 We Were Told Not to Come Here
0:46 Arriving From Norway
1:39 A Drink in the Student City
3:37 The Canals Below the Street
5:10 The Pedalo Debate
6:59 How the Wharf Cellars Were Built
13:13 Our Tiny Utrecht Apartment
15:53 The Dom Tower
16:20 The Cathedral That Fell
20:20 Museum Speelklok
23:27 Were We Wrong About Utrecht?
23:48 Next Week
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