Maastricht

By many considered to be the most beautiful city of the country, Maastricht is the southernmost city in the Netherlands. It's the capital of the province of Limburg and famous for what the Dutch call the "Burgundian" way of life. Dutch and international visitors alike flock in to enjoy this "joie de vivre" and indulge in the many fine dining, arts, culture and shopping opportunities in town. The river Maas runs through the city, offering some scenic views, and the lovely cobblestoned centre is full of historic buildings and impressive cathedrals. Whether you're here for sightseeing or just to shop till you drop, this is a great place to spend some time.



Understand
Situated within walking distance of Belgium and cycling distance of Germany, Maastricht claims to be the oldest city in the Netherlands (a claim it shares with Nijmegen). It is an especially popular tourist destination in the Netherlands because of its historical old centre and broad shopping possibilities. The city is home to approximately 122,000 people (2019). The University of Maastricht attracts many national and foreign students to the city. Geographically, the city is split in half by a major river (the Maas), with the majority of commercial activity being concentrated on the Western bank of the river, and the train station and the Bonnefanten Museum on the Eastern side.

Tourist information
The VVV is a branch office of the Dutch national tourist agency. The office offers maps, souvenirs, and local, regional, and national travel suggestions. It is at Kleine Staat 1, in the city center. For information about all cultural events in Maastricht, try to find a copy of the Week in Week uit. They are distributed all around the city. Maastricht.nl is the city government website.

Talk
Due to its location close to the border, large and internationally oriented events and of course the many foreign students and visitors, you'll find that plenty of Maastricht's inhabitants speak languages besides their own. Don't worry if you don't speak Dutch, as you'll be well able to get by with English, German or sometimes even French. Locals amongst each other typically speak the city dialect Maastrichtian, a variant of Limburgish, which is widely spoken in the region. Even for Dutch natives from the north, this tonal dialect is not necessarily intelligible. Although Maastrichtian seems to be losing words and grammar as younger generations use it, it is still widely used and locals tend to be proud of it; street signs in the city are often dual language, showing both the Dutch and the Maastrichtian name.

By plane
Maastricht-Aachen Airport can be reached by bus with Veolia route 59, Maastricht-Sittard and vice versa, and stops at Maastricht train station. A ticket from the Maastricht train station to the airport costs €4.50.

Centrally located in the Euregion, major airports in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany can be convenient from travellers to Maastricht.
 * Amsterdam Schiphol Airport is the country's main airport with a wide array of international connections to all parts of the world. It is over 2½ hours from Maastricht by train, requiring a change in either Amsterdam, Utrecht or Sittard along the way.
 * Brussels Airport the main airport of neighbouring Belgium is a good alternative as it also serves a long list of international destinations. It's about a 2-hr drive, but a train trip to Maastricht requires transfers in Brussels North and Liège. Private taxi and minibus transfers are available.
 * Düsseldorf Airport is only a 70 min drive, but the train trip takes about 2½ hr. There is however a bus run by DB that does the trip from Düsseldorf Central Bus Station to Maastricht in 1½ hr.

A number of other, smaller airports with low cost carrier connections are within easy reach of Maastricht. Eindhoven Airport (90 min), Rotterdam The Hague Airport (2½ hr), Brussels South Charleroi Airport, Weeze Airport (NRN) in Germany and Cologne-Bonn Airport (also in Germany) are all worth checking out for common discount carrier destinations.

By train
Maastricht is well served by train, with, near the centre of the city, and , in the south. There are two trains departing from Maastricht Station to the northern destinations every hour. Some popular destinations include:

Prices in this table are one-way and non-reduced fare. For more information check the NS English language website. Local trains will take you to Valkenburg, Heerlen & Kerkrade, four times every hour.

Coming from Germany with the Deutschland-Ticket just put in the destination Maastricht on the DB app or website and choose "regional/local transport only". You have 2 options: • Taking a train (every 30 min) from Aachen or Herzogenrath to Maastricht. Here you need to buy an extra ticket from Herzogenrath to Maastricht for €9 (Feb 2024). • Taking the bus line 350 (every 15 min) from Aachen to Maastricht. Here you need an extra ticket for Vaals-Maastricht for about €6 (Feb 2024).

Rail travel in the Netherlands
There is an extensive rail system in the Netherlands. Travelling by train is generally a good experience in the Netherlands, although Dutch people will often complain that the trains are late and full. National train services are run by Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS), and an elaborate timetable system including price information is available on their website. Prices for trips are determined by distance, with longer distances costing less per km than shorter ones. Tickets can be bought at the ticket office in the train station's main hall, but you can save yourself an extra service fee by buying your train ticket from a yellow-and-blue electronic ticketing machine (note that some machines only accept European pin passes/debit cards and only older machines accept coins). Wherever you plan to buy your ticket, make sure you buy it before boarding the train, as it is not possible to buy a ticket on-board and you'll risk a €35 fine (in addition to the ticket price). Tickets can be bought as either one way tickets, or as a same-day or same weekend return. If you plan to return in the course of a couple of days, you should simply buy two separate one way tickets.

International trains
An hourly service connects Maastricht with Liège, Belgium. Although there is no longer a direct, high-speed connection between Maastricht and Brussels, Belgium, you can catch an express train in Liège and take it to Brussels. From there you can switch trains to Paris and London.

An hourly service also connects Maastricht with Aachen, which is linked to the rest of Germany by ICE trains.

For further information on international train journeys, check timetables and train fares at the Belgian Railways, the French Railways, or German Railways websites.

By car
There a two motorways from and to Maastricht: A2 (Amsterdam, Eindhoven, Sittard, Belgium and France - "Route du Soleil") and A79 (Heerlen, Aachen).

By bus



 * Bus 350 from Aachen serves Maastricht every 15 min all days. Generally, travellers pay about (Feb 2024) for a one-way ticket. Travel time is approximately one hour from Aachen. See 9292.nl for timetables.
 * Belgian busses come and go to Hasselt, Tongeren, Lanaken and Liège.
 * Semi tours travels on Tuesday ("Utorak") to/from Bosnia via Belgium, passing Maastricht, to Amsterdam. Return trip around €150, reservation by phone at the Belgian office. Bus stops at the central station.

By foot
This is by far the most attractive option as it allows travellers to see the beautiful winding streets in the centre of the city, as well as experience the cultural melting pot that Maastricht's location allows. A particularly nice walk outside of the centre is along the river, from St Servaas Brug (The Stone Bridge near the entrance to the city) down to the JFK Bridge (near the bottom), which goes through Maastricht's largest park. Visitors can then cross the JFK bridge and go to Maastricht's modern art museum - the Bonnefanten (see below).

Maastricht Running Tours offers guided city jogging tours in Maastricht or their green surroundings. During tours you get to see more and you do your work out at the same time. The Highlight tours is about 6 km (1½ hours). During several stops on the tour you get to hear the interesting stories behind the most interesting sights of the old historical center. The pace is very easy and adapted to the group. If that is still too much exercise you can pick up a City Walking Tour Guide (€1.60) from the VVV Tourist Office at Kleine Staat 1 and tour the town at your own pace.

By bike
There are thousands of bicycles in Maastricht, often the young gents giving their girlfriends a lift on the parcel carrier at the back, with the girls sitting "side saddle". A charming sight, and you can join in the bicycle culture very easily, there are several bicycle hire shops in Maastricht. You can explore the flat country of South Limburg. Dutch traffic law is heavily biased towards the cyclist, so you might find cars slowing down to let you pass when they are pulling in to a side street which you are about to cross - no sane car driver is going to cut you off since in the case of an accident the cyclist is always presumed innocent unless grossly negligent. Also while there are many one-way streets in Maastricht, almost all (if not all) of them have a cycle lane going the other way up the street.

Maastricht Gulpen Cycle Route (53 km). Exploring the river valleys of South Limburg.

Maastricht Pietersberg Cycle Route (21 km). Ancient quarries and forts along the River Meuse.

Maastricht-Biking offers 2 hour guided city tours off the beaten track.

By bus
The city has a bus system called the Stadsbus ("City Bus") that travels over most of the city and to surrounding areas. Tickets can be bought on the bus, or you can buy an OV-chipkaart. It is a magnetic card which you can recharge with chosen amount of money (minimum €5). This card costs €7.50 and can be bought at the train station, also at the vending machine at the station or in the Veolia Transport service point (Veolia is Maastricht's bus transport company). When you enter the bus, you have to put the card close to the yellow card reader which will 'check you in' at the beginning stop. When you go out from the bus, you have to do it again to 'check out'. The amount of money for the trip will be taken from your card. It is much cheaper than buying a ticket from the bus driver. 'Strippenkaart' is no longer valid in Maastricht.

By car
Travelling by car can be painful in Maastricht, largely because most of the city centre is pedestrian-only, constant roadworks and closed roads, and also due to the horrendous (€2.60 an hour, max 2 hours per ticket placement) parking rates. It is often easier to park your car outside the town centre and either walk or bus into the city.

If you need to park for the day, try one of the parking areas on the edge of the centre such as: Machines take coins and local EC cards.
 * the free (for 48 hours) P+R Maastricht Nord, which is right at a bus station with a 10 minute ride to the city centre, a day ticket with return costing €2 p.p for 2 or €5 for 3-5 people
 * the Spinx, which costs €2.30 an hour but with a maximum day charge of €9
 * the Stadtpark parking under the west side of the Kennedybrug (bridge), which costs €1.40 an hour, €6 for day ticket

By train
Trains run four times per hour between Maastricht Centraal Station, and Maastricht Randwyck station (at the South of the City), at a cost of €2.20.

City Centre
Perhaps one of the best (free) sights of Maastricht is simply to admire the two town squares in the centre of the city and the many old buildings around the street near the university and town wall:



Carnival
Few Dutch cities take their carnival celebrations as seriously as Maastricht and when the weather is nice, the omnipresent music, laughter, costumes and parades might even make you think of Rio. It's a major happening and the highlight of the year for many of the locals. For a day or three, virtually all of regular life comes to a standstill as the mayor symbolically hands over the key of the city to Prince Carnaval, who is always accompanied by his jester and "council of eleven" advisors. Shops, museums and other institutions close their doors and people from all over the country flock to Maastricht to join in the merry celebrations that go on from late in the morning till the early hours of the next.

Start of the season
The whole thing -locals call it Vasteloavend rather than carnival- starts as early as November. As eleven is the fool's number, the carnival season is opened at the 11th of the 11th, at 11:11. The Vrijthof is the stage for the first events and the first appearances of Maastricht's zate hermenikes, or drunken bands. They are small music bands, often in costume, often deliberately performing in a slightly amateurish way. A "blue ship" travellers the streets, a tradition going back to the 12th century and linked to the theme of Hieronymus Bosch's painting: The ship of fools. For outsiders, things may seem quiet after that, until the actual spring celebrations, but in reality numerous parties are organized behind closed doors during those months, typically involving a satiric sort of stand-up comedy in local dialect.

Main events
For outsiders, the spring celebrations are most interesting. Dates vary as they are related to Easter, but the main events take places on Saturday to Tuesday.
 * On Saturday the new prince takes over town, parading (usually at 13:11) from the central station to the market square, where the mock-transition of power takes place.
 * Sunday sees the main parade, full of colourful carts, individual acts and thousands of spectators in costume. It leaves around 13:55 from Wijck and travellers towards the city centre. Princes (some city districts or clubs have their own, and some from neighbouring towns join the parade) throw candy on the crowds.
 * Monday is family-day, with a children's parade pulling through the centre, towards the Vrijthof.
 * The Zate hermenikesconcours on Tuesday has all the little bands roaming the streets, competing to impress a jury on the Vrijthof. Be warned that the music is only part of the competition, and it's a funny show rather than a concert. On Wednesday, the day after, cafés all over town serve raw herring or head cheese with rye bread to their guests.

Green, yellow and red are the official carnival colours and alaaf! is heard everywhere as a greeting. Dressing up is not obliged, but you don't want to be and outsider, pick up at least a few carnival gadgets (widely available in the days before).





Buy
Shops are generally open between 09:00 and 17:00 but many are closed on Monday morning. Thursday some shop are open until 21:00. Also Sunday opening between 12:00 and 18:00.


 * Visit the European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF) This art fair is among the world's leading art fairs with buyers from all over the world.
 * 'Regular' shopping centre, known for its exclusivity. The main shopping area is between the Vrijthof and the river south of the Markt; should however also check out the more specialist shop over the other the side of the Sint Servaasbrug.

Eat
There are many excellent places to eat in the town. Key areas to peruse are around Onze Lieve Vrouweplein, Vrijthof, Maaspromenade and Wycker Brugstraat. Also around Tongersestraat, close to the Economics and Law faculties of the Universiteit Maastricht.

Eating out in Maastricht is not always cheap, with most restaurants catering more to a posh older crowd rather than the student population. On weekdays there are a number of good and relatively low-priced sandwich outlets, as well as the usual fries based take-aways.

Drink
Maastricht has many bars, restaurants, pubs and dance clubs, located on Vrijthof and Market Squares, and in the centre of downtown it's nearly impossible to walk around and not see anything to do.


 * Maastricht is great for a night out (Maastricht is home to both a University & Institute). Therefore, lots of students, also lots of foreign companies are based here so a mixture of international pubs & clubs can be found here.

Bars

 * Be sure to check out these places to go drink and have a good time: The Highlander, Falstaff, Twee Heeren, Metamorfoos, C'est La Vie, Take5, De Allabonneur, and especially the make!-bar.  They all are very welcoming and have great music to dance to.

"Coffeeshops"
In the Netherlands, the policy regarding soft drugs (such as weed, hash and magic mushrooms) is lenient. Therefore, there are several coffee- and headshops where you can buy these products. You can buy up to 5 grams of marijuana. Make sure you bring your identification card or driver's licence with you, because the shops are very strict about age and they will check it no matter how old you look. You have to be at least 18 years old to enter a coffee- or headshop. As of May 1, 2012, only those with a Dutch passport and clubpass are being allowed entry.

The coffeeshops in Maastricht have a lot (2.2 million annually!) of foreign customers, so they are able to understand Dutch, English, French and German. The Mississippi boat is the most popular with coffeeshop visitors from abroad. It is a coffee shop built in a large boat which lays in the Maas river and is certainly worth visiting. However it is regarded as having overpriced products and lower quality by locals and connoisseurs. Recommended are; Black Widow, a small coffeeshop located outside of the city centre that has reasonable prices and good quality, Easy Going for its centrality and Heaven 69 for the open roof diner. Club 69, just around the corner of the Cool Running, is the oldest, smallest but most laid back one in town. For tourists other than Dutch, German or Belgian, there is a coffeeshop at Koestraat near the Beluga restaurant that is outside of the "union" and will serve you.

Talk
Maastricht is a very multilingual city, and it is not uncommon to regularly hear people speaking Dutch, English, French and German. In addition, many locals speak in the widespread local dialect Maastrichts, which is a variety of Limburgish. Street names tend to be written in both Dutch and Maastrichts, which has a French influence. Consequently, there are many languages to learn in Maastricht, both in the city or through lessons.

Stay safe
As with much of the Netherlands, Maastricht is a safe city if you are not looking for trouble. Pickpocketing and muggings have been known to occur in less tourist-friendly parts of the city, but tourists are rarely targeted.

Religious services

 * El Fath Mosque. Sint Lucassingel 70.
 * Tevhit Mosque. Weustenraadstr 24.
 * Damascus Road International Church, Stay Okay Hostel, Maasboulevard 101. Su 11:00, service in English
 * All Saints Maastricht International Church (Anglican), Onze Lieve Vrouw Kerk, 1st and 3rd Sundays 10:30, service in English
 * Saint John Chrysostom Orthodox Church, St. Maartenslaan 37. Check website for service times.

Holy mass in Catholic churches in Maastricht:
 * Sint Servaas Basilica, Keizer Karelplein. Sa 18:00; Su 10:00, 11:30; M-Sa 09:00 (Sint Servaas chapel)
 * Onze Lieve Vrouwe Basilica, Onze Lieve Vrouweplein. Sa 17:00 (crypt), 18:30; Su 09:00, 10:00, 11:30; M-Sa 09:30
 * Sint Matthiaskerk, Boschstraat 99. Sa 17:30; Su 11:15; Tu-F 08:30
 * Sint Petrus Banden, Oude Kerkstraat 10 (Maastricht Heer). Sa 19:15; Su 08:30, 09:45; M-F 19:00
 * Basiliek van het H. Sacrament, Markt, 6231 LR Meerssen. Su 11:00; M Tu 19:00; W F 08:00

See also English-language Church Services in the Netherlands.

Go next

 * World War II Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial: take the [[Image:NLD-N278.svg|28px]] 9.5 kilometers (6 miles) east of Maastricht. The cemetery is just west of the village of Margraten. Open daily except for December 25 and January 1; 09:00 to 17:00. The cemetery is the final resting place for 8,301 American military dead. A monument is inscribed with the names of 1,723 Americans whose remains were never found or identified. The site contains a chapel and museum with three engraved operations maps describing the European Campaign.
 * Caves in the Sint Pietersberg: Although the limestone caves are actually mines, it is nice to take a guided tour through the belly of the berg. In the Second World War, the Dutch stored their national arts collections in a vault in the hill, and a lot of engravings - some more old than the other - are to be admired. Entrances lie at several places on the mountain, and are well within walking distance of the town center. Plan in advance to make sure you can get in.
 * Fort Eben-Emael: A Belgian World War II fort no longer in use, but open to the public on certain weekends. Very close to Maastricht, just south across the Belgian border.
 * Valkenburg aan de Geul: This historic town was besieged many times and many traces remain to be seen, including Valkenburg castle. Along with tours of the old mines there is also a popular spa and a casino.