Provincie Limburg Travel Forum

Later this month we will be travelling to Holland and staying in Nijmegen for a week. The family consists of ourselves (two adults and a girl, 16 and a boy 13) and my parents. We will have a rental car and are eager to explore.

My parents were born in the Netherlands and speak the language... we will be visiting their birthplace in Noord Holland / Friesland but they've never visited Limburg (or Gelderland? for Arnhem and Nijmegen).

We all love history, cultural festivals, hiking, architecture, etc. I've received many tips from reading VT pages... if anyone could particularly recommend an event or exhibition thats not to be missed, we would welcome your suggestions!

A question about the Roman road (the Limes?) that was discovered recently near Utrecht? Can that be visited or is it still under excavation? We will be visiting Xanten in Germany so that would be a connection to the Roman history in the area. Any other suggestions?

I have another request for ideas to help my kids complete some special assignments for school while they are in Holland. I will post them in another Forum Post because this is so long already.

Thank you in advance for your ideas!

Lisa

Yes, that's the Limes (Roman border). Part of it in Germany (as you may know) have become a Unesco World heritage site. But in The Netherlands there is little to see. Utrecht visualised the location of the castellum Traiectum in November 2007 by a broad band of coloured light, near the Dom tower in the middle of the city. I could not find any information about actual excavations though.

Here's an interesting map:
http://geocement.esrinl.com/cultuurhistorie/limes.html
And another:
http://www.livius.org/ga-gh/germania/limes.html

There's a cycling route (in two parts, 45 and 50 kms) following the Limes route near Utrecht.
You can buy the route at the Utrecht Tourist Office (VVV) at the foot of the Dom tower. Which will include links to downloadable vouchers for discounts at various restaurants along the way.

For more information (in Dutch):
http://utrecht.utrechtyourway.nl/default.asp?action=thema&thema=138&taal=1&sId=3

The 50 km route starts at Utrecht Central station where you can hire bicycles.

Of course you will also know that April 30 is Queens Day. A national holiday. If that is the day that you are leaving (through Schiphol I presume), then it will be important for you to know that loads of people will be flocking to Amsterdam by car and train. This may cause serious traffic jams and very full trains towards Amsterdam. You might want to plan your schedule and route accordingly.

Tourist information Nijmegen:
http://www.gonijmegen.nl/uk.html

Limburg is certainly a nice place to explore. You can do nice hikes there in the "Dutch Mountains", visit Maastricht with its old city walls (a must) and the St Pietersberg, with man-made caves that your kids will like as well I guess.

Maastricht itself has a pretty good feel, friendly city.

With a car it is also easy to visit e.g Giethoorn, the Dutch Venice with its canals instead of roads.

The Open Air Museums in Arnhem http://www.openluchtmuseum.nl/ and Zuiderzee Museum in Enkhuizen http://www.zuiderzeemuseum.nl/ are good options.

On my Netherlands page I have many links to sites for hiking, you can assign your parents to that since many sites are in Dutch and it will be easier for them :-)

Cheers
Dennis

If you intend to visit Atrnhem and Nijmegen I also recommend visiting Apeldoorn (my hometown). 'We' do have a famous palace Het Loo - now a museum - where ytou will find a lot about the history of the Dutch royal family.

And being in the Netherlands in April you may not miss the flowering tulips. I would recommend to see them in the 'Noordoostpolder', absolutely 'off the beaten path' and not as touristy as the bulb fields in the western part of the Netherlands (See for more info/map: http://www.tulpenfestival.nl).

For more off the beaten paths destinations see my Netherlands page.

happy travels
Jaap

The next day we fly out of Schiphol - May 1 in the evening. How will traffic/congestion be then? Thanks for the tip... we already were noticing car rental agencies closed on those days!

May 1st should be fine. It's also a public holiday: Ascension Day. Not by far as busy as Queens Day. At least there won't be commuting traffic.
Just leave plenty of time to get to Schiphol.

My dad is so excited. He will hardly touch the computer, but I have assigned him your travel tips pages, and now my Mom says he has planned enough for two weeks instead of six days! Thanks so much to you (and all VT Tipsters)!

He also found his Dutch hiking boots - he bought them in the 50's! Yesterday he was cleaning them up, replacing laces and polishing their metal cleats. We are so embarrassed, but its too late to hide them. Perhaps they will classify as potential weapons and be denied boarding at the airport.

Queensday is a national holiday, not to be missed and the most exciting place to celebrate is Amsterdam. As for Limburg, you can visit the soutern part of the provice "het heuvelland" it is only hills country in the Netherlands. Beuatifull far views trough the forrests and weadows, timbreframe farmhouses, little villages, ideal for hiking of biking. The "mergellandroute" is an interesting walk, you can get a map of the walk at the tourist office in the Capital of Limburg. This capital is also worth visiting. it has 1500 monuments and is the second best monumet city next to Amsterdam. Some remains of the romans can be found here (Derlon cellar, Thermen plein, OLV church, it has a lot of fortifiations and city walls and some beautifull churches, amongst which the oldest of the country