Geleen

Geleen is a city in Limburg. It's one of the major towns in the region, but of limited interest to average travellers as it's mostly an industrial city.

Understand
Geleen is a city in the southern part of the province of Limburg in the Netherlands. With over 30,000 inhabitants, it is part of the municipality of Sittard-Geleen. Until the end of the 19th century, Geleen was a small village. The remains of one of the oldest prehistoric farms in the Netherlands were found here. In the 20th century the exploitation of coal mines in this area brought a fast population increase. During the 1960s and 1970s all Dutch coalmines, that were all located in this part of this province, were closed. The State mining company DSM (privatised in 1989) however remained active in Geleen, now purely as a chemicals producer.



Get in
Geleen is located near two highways, the A2 and the A76, which makes the city easily accessible by car. The city is served by two train stations, served by regional trains. Station Geleen-Oost has direct trains to Heerlen (18min) and Sittard (7min) while station Geleen Lutterade has connections to Maastricht (17min) and Sittard.

Buses in the region are operated by Veolia, and connect Geleen to nearby Sittard and other destinations. Lines 11, 12, 15, 16 all connect to Sittard, while line 42 connects to Hoensbroek, 59 to Maastricht and 49 to Gulpen.

Maastricht-Aachen airport is located 8 km south east of Geleen. Take the E14 and then  E25, or bus 59 (45 min.)

Get around
Buses run from the busstation, located near the city center, to most of the city and to surrounding areas. Renting a bike is a good way to get around the city center or explore the surroundings. If you'd rather rent a car, consider renting a colorful 2CV (available from Weekendjeweg, from 99 EUR per day )

See
A few historic sights in and around Geleen are worth listing.

Buy
As a rather large town, Geleen has a good variety of shops and stores. You'll find most around the market square and adjoining streets. Large parts of the shopping area have been renovated and modernized in 2008, and a parking garage has been created under the main market square for better reachability. Where Sittard markets its shopping area as a historic centre, Geleen chose a more modern approach.

On Thursdays, shops are open until 21.00h. On Saturdays there's a colourful weekly market, open 11.00 to 17.00.

Eat
Most restaurants are to be found at the Rijksweg. The city center offers several places for quick bites, with a number of good places around the market square.

Drink
The bars are concentrated around "de Markt" in the city center. On the first Saturday of each month local bars organize music night, with live music acts.

Go next
There are plenty of interesting towns in the rest of South Limburg. Historic city Sittard is just next door, and Maastricht is not that much further. Visit the picturesque castle of Hoensbroek or ski down the slopes of the large indoor ski resort of Landgraaf.

Just across the Belgian border is Maasmechelen, which is home to a large shopping outlet centre. The city of Roermond is just 15 minutes to the north.