Holiday in Maastricht

About Maastricht

Maastricht is the least Dutch city in the Netherlands – and that is exactly what makes it so enchanting. Nestled between Belgium and Germany, located in the far south of the province of Limburg, Maastricht has developed a Burgundian lifestyle that resembles France or Belgium more than Amsterdam. Here, people enjoy good food, drink extensively, and savor life with a casualness that is found nowhere else in the Netherlands. The Vrijthof, the magnificent main square of the city, framed by the Romanesque Sint-Servaasbasiliek and the Theater aan het Vrijthof, is one of the most beautiful squares in the Benelux countries. The Dominicanen bookstore, located in a former Gothic church from the 13th century, was chosen by the BBC as the most beautiful bookstore in the world – and rightly so. Browsing among the Gothic arches between bookshelves and the café in the former choir chapel is an almost spiritual experience. Equally impressive are the caves at Sint Pietersberg, a more than 200-kilometer-long underground labyrinth of tunnels that have been used as marl quarries since Roman times. During World War II, the people of Maastricht hid Rembrandt's Night Watch here from the German occupiers. For German visitors, Maastricht is a nearby destination in the truest sense: it is just 35 kilometers from Aachen, and it takes just over an hour to reach the city from Cologne. This makes Maastricht the perfect weekend trip for the Rhineland and West Germany. The shopping streets around the Stokstraatkwartier offer luxury boutiques, while the market at Vrijthof offers local products three times a week. In February, Carnival transforms the city into a vibrant festival – Maastricht Carnival is even wilder and more authentic than that of Cologne.