How to spend one day in Maastricht

Maastricht is a town in the southeast of the Netherlands and it is the capital city in the province of Limburg. The river named Meuse (Maas in Dutch) is located in Maastricht. It has become famous by the Maastricht Treaty as the birthplace of the EU and the euro. It is a very popular city for students to study and also to shop.

As it is so international, it is a multilingual city. The national language is of course Dutch, but it is often spoken with a Limburgish accent which is not the same as the Limburgish language. Other languages which are spoken are Limburgish, French, German and English.

Maastricht

The first thing one should visit is of course the City Hall of Maastricht. It is a beautiful building, which reflects the charm of the city perfectly. For the shoppers outside, I can only recommend the shopping center „Entre Deux„. It’s a huge shopping area, which is covered, so that you don’t get wet when it’s raining. Since I was there around Christmas time, the Entre Deux was decorated so gorgeously.

The most beautiful place was the Vrijthof. It is the biggest place in Maastricht and mostly common for its monuments and of course the twin churches, the Church of Sint-Janskerk and the Church of Sint-Servaasbasiliek.

To get a better view of the city, you can cross the Meuse by walking over the Hoge Bridge (Hoge Brug). You’ll get an amazing view for a picture from the other side.

Christmas

Every year I want to visit new Christmas markets that I haven’t seen before. This time it was Maastricht and Valkenburg. Although, I preferred the one in Maastricht, the village of Valkenburg is more decorated. The most famous Christmas market is definitely the one on the Vrijthof. Apart from the stands, it also had a Ferris Wheel and also an ice-skating area.