Venlo, the real capitol of Limburg

The best things to do are visit the Limburg Museum, stroll around in the best and biggest independent record store, Sounds, visit the most beautiful town hall in the Netherlands, or just order a nice beer in one of the hundreds of cosy bars and terrasses. Venlo won the award for "greenest city" of the Netherlands in 2003 and even won the European award in the same catogory in 2004. So rent a bike and go visit the many parks, forests, and green suburbs.

Quick Tips:

The annual "Zomer Parkfeest", a 4-day festival in August, is one of the best free cultural events in the country. The atmosphere is great; you can watch bands, theatre, and art and indulge yourself in one of the cosiest cultural happenings of the season!

Best Way To Get Around:

Nearby airports are Niederrhein, Dusseldorf, Koln, Maastricht Aachen, and Eindhoven. Venlo has excellent connections by train and bus from these airports. The best way to get around in the town itself is by (rental) bike.

If you want to spend a day in a modern museum that has an unique way to combine education and entertainment, look no further.

The best way to visit this great museum is in the company of kids! They will love it! The museum is one big playground for kids. They can build castles, dress up, crawl to narrow tunnels, touch stuff, and play on computers. And they will learn during it. For adults, the audiovisual presentations are superb, and the exhibition is one-of-a-kind.

The museum is like a chronological journey through the history of this beautiful province. The central focus lies on the river Maas, wich flows from the south to the north of the province. From the Stone Age, the Romans, the Dark Ages, and WWII to the present, it will never be boring!

The city centre has lots of historical bars. The only problem is that they are all crowded during the weekend.

The best night to explore the nightlife in Venlo is a Friday night. Most bars will be open until 5 in the morning but are not so crowded as on Saturday.

The street with the most bars is called Parade Street. It has some cosy little cafes, and in the summer, some great terrasses.

Each bar draws a different entourage, from yuppies who like to play hockey to gays, jazz fans, and long-haired heavy metal freaks. For every crowd, there's a bar here.

If you have had enough of the too-crowded bars, just ask a local to show you a bar of your preference just outside this crowded street.

This yearly cultural festival takes place during four days in August.

On serveral stages, open-air and in tents, international acts perform, from alternative music to traditional blues and folk, theatre, DJs, film, and sculptures. This is a multicultural experience.

But most of all, it is a meeting place of people that have any sort of connection with the festival or the town that it is held in. Everybody meets here once a year; even if you were born in this town and emigrated to Canada, once a year you come back to meet your old friends in the park.

The festival has no official camping ground, although every year there seem to be more tents. In the centre of the town, there are lots of cheap and clean hotels. But during the festival, you have to book in advance.
On Sunday morning, they have a special program for kids!

Just north of Venlo between Wellerlooi and Arcen is located a wonderful strech of land called Landgoed de Hamert.
It is part of one of the most beautiful national parks in the Netherlands, called De Maasduinen. You can find it between the river Maas (Meuse) and the German border, halfway between Nijmegen and Venlo, near the village of Wellerlooi.

In the park, you can find a variety of landscapes, from forests to open fields with fens.

Also, the biggest grave hill of the Netherlands can be found here. Dating back to 2,000 years before Christ, it is one of the oldest royal grave hills in nothern Europe.