Utrecht was already on our shortlist as we were working our way through places in the Netherlands connected to Brian’s heritage. His grandma was born in Utrecht and grew up in Enkhuizen.
Even without that connection, though, we’d had our eye on it since our first trip to Amsterdam years ago. Amsterdam is fun enough, but we found it to be a lot: lots of tourists, overrun with cyclists, expensive, and a little overwhelming.
Utrecht is 30 minutes away (or less!) by public transit, and we’d been told it feels like a different world. While it’s not exactly quiet, since it’s arrived as a popular day trip destination from Amsterdam, we quickly fell in love with the place anyway.
So, is Utrecht worth visiting? Here are our top reasons why we’d very much argue that it is.
Quick Tips for Your Utrecht Visit
Your Flight: Most international travelers will fly into Amsterdam Schiphol, which has direct trains to Utrecht Centraal running every 15 minutes or so. If you’re coming from within Europe, Eindhoven Airport is a budget-friendly alternative.
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Your Accommodations: We visited as a day trip from the countryside, but browse Booking.com or Hotels.com for accommodations in Utrecht. Vrbo is my Airbnb alternative.
Your Ride: You won’t need a car for Utrecht. Utrecht is very walkable. If you’re on a longer road trip in the region, book a rental car ahead of time.
Top Spots: See the Dom Tower, tour the Rietveld Schröder House, and pause to enjoy the café culture along the Oudegracht.
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Is Utrecht worth visiting?
Utrecht is worth visiting for anyone who wants a Dutch city experience without the chaos of Amsterdam.
It has the same essential ingredients, like historic canals, cycling culture, good food, and excellent museums, but in a more laidback way.
The city is also home to the largest university in the Netherlands, which gives it a lively energy that doesn’t translate to tourist overload.
Finally, Utrecht is really beautiful in that effortless Dutch way that makes everything look like a painting. I’m not being hyperbolic.
READ MORE: Planning a full day? Check out my one-day Utrecht itinerary for everything you need to know.
Here are the reasons Utrecht belongs on your Netherlands itinerary.
Utrecht is a pretty city.
The canals in Utrecht are lovely, but what makes them distinct from Amsterdam’s is the wharf level running alongside them.
Most Dutch canal cities have streets at street level. Utrecht has a second layer built right into the canal walls, with cellars that were once used for storage. Today, they’re home to restaurants, bars, and terraces sitting just above the water.
Once you go there, you’ll see what I mean, ideally at a seat with a beer in hand, with the light hitting the water in a romantic way. It’s still romantic if you’re solo, by the way. You can have yourself a lovefest with yourself that way, perhaps on an open-air boat.
Add the historic facades and the cobblestone streets, and you get a city that easily meets expectations. That’s simply not true for a lot of overtouristed destinations out there.
It’s quieter than Amsterdam, and that’s a good thing.
This isn’t a dig at Amsterdam. The city’s museum scene is hard to beat.
But if you’ve spent any time there recently, you know it can feel like a lot. We visited in January, and it was still overrun by bachelor parties, with queues for everything. Amsterdam’s Red Light District also gave me the ick.
In Utrecht, the tourist infrastructure is there, but it hasn’t swallowed the city whole yet.
You can walk along the Oudegracht on a Tuesday afternoon without having to elbow your way through. There are always options for a walk-in table at lunch. The city still feels like it’s built for its residents, which is obviously a good thing.
Note: We visited in the springtime. In many countries, that’s the off-season, but in a place known for its flowering tulips, spring is a peak time in the Netherlands.
For anyone who finds Amsterdam’s popularity exhausting, Utrecht offers the same aesthetic appeal at a much more manageable pace.
READ MORE: Speaking of tulips, see our guide as to whether Keukenhof is worth visiting on a Netherlands trip!
It’s home to an architectural wonder.
The Dom Tower is Utrecht’s most recognizable landmark. At 112 meters, it’s still the tallest church tower in the Netherlands.
It’s been standing here since the 14th century, which is impressive enough on its own. What makes it stranger and more interesting is its history afterward.
The nave of the cathedral that it was attached to collapsed in a storm in 1674 and was never rebuilt. The tower now stands completely separate from the Dom Church, with an open space between them where the nave used to be.
It gives Dom Square a bit of a surreal quality.
You can climb the tower on a guided tour, which takes you up 465 steps for views across the city. We skipped that and instead spent our time exploring the Domkerk itself and the gardens behind it. It was lovely.
The Rietveld Schröder House is one of the most interesting homes you can visit in Europe.
The Rietveld Schröder House is a UNESCO World Heritage Site sitting just outside Utrecht’s city center, and it’s worth the short trip to get there.
Designed in 1924 by Utrecht architect Gerrit Rietveld, it was built as an expression of De Stijl principles: primary colors, clean lines, and a rethinking of what a home could be.
Fun fact: The walls and partitions on the upper floor can be moved entirely, turning one open space into several rooms or back again, depending on the need. (It could also depend on how loud your kids are being, I guess.)
What also makes this a quirky stop is that it wasn’t built to be just a showpiece. Someone lived here. Tours run regularly, and the guides are good at making the context land, if a little intense about making sure you follow along in a certain way.
If the Dom Tower is Utrecht’s most iconic landmark, the Schröder House is its funkiest one.
The museum campus will keep you busy.
Utrecht’s Museumkwartier has enough to fill a full day without much effort. The Centraal Museum holds one of the oldest municipal collections in the country, covering Dutch design, applied arts, and a permanent collection over several centuries.
The Nijntje Museum next door is dedicated to the beloved rabbit character created by Utrecht’s own Dick Bruna, and it’s a cute stop if you’re traveling with small children.
Together they make for a solid stretch of culture in a very walkable area, without the queues you’d deal with at the big Amsterdam institutions. Our day trip to Utrecht was sunny, but it’s a good diversion on rainy days, too.
You can see self-playing instruments!
The Speelklok Museum (Museum Speelklok) might be the most delightfully weird museum in the Netherlands, and that’s not a low bar.
It’s dedicated to self-playing musical instruments. Stay with me.
Imagine yourself standing in front of an enormous, ornate mechanical organ that’s blasting out a full orchestral arrangement with minimal human involvement. (Someone, likely unsmiling, has to turn the thing on.)
Fun fact: The collection ranges from tiny 18th-century music boxes to massive street organs that used to travel through cities playing for crowds.
Guided tours run throughout the day, but you can also visit in DIY fashion, exploring several floors of exhibits dedicated to music in the Netherlands. I strongly suggest trying to time your visit to see the instruments play.
We were treated to a rendition of the theme from Pirates of the Caribbean.
Utrecht is very walkable (or bikable).
The historic center of Utrecht is compact. The main canal, the Dom Tower, the museum quarter, and the main market square are all within a very manageable radius, even if you’re not after Brian’s aggressive step counts.
You don’t need a car, and you don’t really need a tram. A pair of comfortable shoes and a rough sense of direction will get you most of the way there. If you want to cover more ground, bike rentals are everywhere, and Utrecht’s cycling infrastructure is great.
The one exception is the Rietveld Schröder House, which sits a little outside the center. It’s an easy bike ride or a short bus trip, and worth the small effort to get there.
Note: We had a car in Utrecht as we were coming from the countryside, and it was more annoying than anything else. Parking lots are expensive, and it can be tough to navigate the car-free zones around the city.
Utrecht’s food and café scene rewards wandering.
While you’re walking about, eating your way through Utrecht can be a tasty, indulgent experience.
It’s worth knowing that the city actually has some serious culinary credentials. Utrecht has Michelin-starred restaurants, and the food scene has grown enough that it’s becoming a destination in its own right for local diners and travelers.
We kept things casual on our trip, though, by eating on-the-go. Dapp Frietwinkel is an award-winning fry shop with all of the fried goodies. (We overordered.) The Oudegracht, the main canal, is lined with terraces and cocktail bars that offer a fun diversion.
We also liked the sandwiches at Brodie Mario, an Italian-style spot, and the carrot cake at ‘t Koffieboontje was genuinely excellent. All of that came up with minimal planning on our part, something my Type A personality has been trying to relax about.
Whether you want a Michelin experience or just good fries by a canal, Utrecht can do both.
Who Utrecht Is Best For
Utrecht is a great fit if you like:
- Cities that are lively but not overwhelming.
- Architecture and design history with real depth.
- Canal culture without the crowds.
- Walkable, compact city travel.
- Genuinely unusual museums.
It’s great as an addition to an Amsterdam trip, but I’d argue it’s a destination in itself without Amsterdam, too.
When Utrecht Might Not Be Worth Visiting
If you’re looking for nightlife on par with Amsterdam or Rotterdam, Utrecht is a step down. There’s a solid bar and music scene because of the student population, but it’s not what the city is known for.
This is what I’d read about it, by the way. I do not care much about nightlife, as I am now old and like nighttime with Netflix.
It’s also not the right choice if you want big, blockbuster museums. The Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum are in Amsterdam. Utrecht’s cultural offerings are good, but they’re more niche and better suited for people who like to go deep on specific things.
Is Utrecht worth visiting as a day trip from Amsterdam?
Utrecht is one of the best day trips from Amsterdam. The train is fast, frequent, and cheap, and the city center is walkable enough to cover a lot of ground in a single day. While we didn’t stay overnight, I bet doing so lets you experience the city differently.
It’ll be after the day-trip crowds have left, which I’m sure offers the best version of Utrecht.
Utrecht is worth adding to your Netherlands trip.
Utrecht exceeds expectations, and it’s not even that they’re low. We arrived with pretty high expectations, as we’d read about how cute and charming it is, particularly as an escape from Amsterdam.
We found a beautiful, walkable, interesting, and unbothered city. For a Netherlands itinerary that goes a little deeper than the obvious stops, it more than earns its place.
Planning more Netherlands travel? Check these out:
More cities we like across Europe:
- Spend Two Busy Days in Edinburgh
- Why You Should Plan a Trip to Warsaw
- How to Plan a Trip to Valletta, Malta
- A Guide to Romantic Verona, Italy
- How to Plan a Day in Chania, Crete
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