The Best Sight in Utrecht, The Randstad

Background Illustration for Sights

If you arrive by train, you might be forgiven for thinking Utrecht is one enormous covered shopping mall, since the station is incorporated into the warren of 200-plus shops that is the Hoog Catharijne. You could get lost here for a day, but if you follow signs for Centrum (town center) and keep walking with determination, you will eventually come out in the historic center. The soaring tower of Domtoren—tower of "the cathedral that is missing"—on the skyline will direct you to the center of the action. Most of the main sights are in a fairly compact area and reachable on foot within a few minutes of the Domtoren.

Centraal Museum

This vast and eclectic collection ranges from a 10th-century boat to a Viktor and Rolf A-Bomb coat, and from Golden Age paintings to minimalist home furnishings. What you see largely depends on the theme of the current temporary exhibitions, but there are also permanent displays. Don't miss the Utrecht Boat, the complete 1,000-year-old wooden hull of a ship, excavated from a nearby riverbed in 1930, which has survived remarkably intact. The museum also has a collection of Golden Age work by artists from the Utrecht school. Across the square, modern-art lovers should make a beeline for the Gerrit Rietveld Wing, focusing on the most famous of De Stijl architects and designers; there is a reconstruction of his studio and lots of original Rietveld furniture.

Agnietenstraat 1, Utrecht, 3512 XA, Netherlands
030-236–2353
Sight Details
€14
Closed Mon.

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