The night before my bookshop visit, I stayed at the\u202fKruisherenhotel, a former 15th-century monastery and Gothic church that has been transformed into a five-star hotel. <\/p>\n
![\"View](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/SEI_285394002.jpg\")
Sint Servaas bridge over the Meuse river in the centre of Maastricht (Photo: Jaap Hart\/Getty)<\/p>\n
The city\u2019s heritage is also\u202fevident\u202fin\u202fits\u202fmedieval\u202fsquares that are filled with busy restaurant terraces in warmer months,\u202fand in its cosy,\u202fcobbled streets, medieval city walls and\u202f11th-century restored watermill.\u202f<\/p>\n
Present day life\u202fis woven\u202felegantly with these markers of history. For example, the watermill is next to a popular bakery,\u202fde Bisschopsmolen, which is situated on the Jeker (a tributary of the Meuse River). <\/p>\n
The\u202fmenu is filled with treats made from grains grown in the Limburg province, of which Maastricht is the capital.\u202fVlaai,\u202fa local pastry with a mixture of fruits that are covered by a lattice of dough or crumbs, is its most-coveted item.\u202f \u202f<\/p>\n
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The city is in the south of the Netherlands<\/a>, close to Belgium (about five miles) and Germany (about 20 miles), meaning it attracts plenty of international visitors, and cross-cultural influences add to its allure. <\/p>\n According to its tourist board, the peak month is July when Dutch violinist and conductor Andr\u00e9 Rieu<\/a> performs his summer concerts on the Vrijthof square \u2013 last July, 66,000 international visitors flocked to the city. For comparison, Amsterdam\u2019s peak monthly tourism numbers are around a million.<\/p>\n Maastricht\u2019s position also\u202fmade it a fitting spot for\u202fthe signing of the treaty\u202fof the European Union,\u202fwhich set in\u202fmotion\u202fthe launch of the Euro, and is more often known as the\u202fMaastricht\u202fTreaty.\u202f <\/p>\n At the Maastricht Museum, you can sit at the table where the foreign and finance ministers from member states signed the agreement in 1992. Or visitors can seek out the Stars of Europe memorial, near the Governorate, where 12 large stars stand alongside smaller stars on aluminium poles. The memorial symbolises the unification of Europe<\/a> by the 12 countries that formed the original European Economic Community. <\/p>\n Historic ties with other European countries are also evident in Maastricht\u2019s food scene. \u201cThere\u2019s an influence of French culture with many restaurants and bars bearing French names,\u201d say Jos. The province of\u202fLimburg\u202fwas under French control from 1795\u20131815, following the French Revolution.\u202f\u202f <\/p>\n It\u2019s\u202falso\u202fa\u202fpopular\u202funiversity city.\u202fMaastricht\u202fUniversity was\u202festablished\u202fin the 1970s, and student\u202fnumbers have\u202fgrown to now comprise about 20 per cent of its population during term time.<\/p>\n There\u2019s\u202fplenty of\u202fculture to keep\u202fMaastricht\u2019s students \u2013 and visitors \u2013 occupied. <\/p>\n I swing by the\u202fFotomuseum\u202faan\u202fhet\u202fVrijthof (which holds revolving photography exhibitions in a building that dates to the 1300s) and the Bonnefanten\u202fMuseum (where there are recreations of saints and religious figures by Jan van Steffeswert, a sculptor from Maastricht, alongside contemporary art, such as a Grayson Perry tapestry named Walthamstow).<\/p>\n I also try the Theater\u202faan\u202fhet\u202fVrijthof, which holds regular opera nights, and the Lumi\u00e8re Cinema, in a former power station. \u202f<\/p>\n There are more stories to be revealed underground. I take a tour of the North\u202fCaves\u202fin the southern part of Maastricht;\u202fa man-made\u202flabyrinth created during around 700 years of limestone extraction. Aided by lamps, I pass through a tunnel of about 200 metres \u2013 only a tiny fragment of the 22,000 underground tunnels built to help keep up with the demand for limestone (used for buildings). While the extraction stopped in the 20th\u202fcentury, the caves became a tourist attraction in the 1950s, helped by the lure of the charcoal drawings created by artists on the tunnel walls.\u202f <\/p>\n Once I\u2019ve had my fix of culture and history, I\u2019m keen to experience\u202fthe surrounding countryside. <\/p>\n As its name implies, the Netherlands (meaning low-lying) is known for its flatness. Yet\u202fMaastricht\u202fand the wider\u202fLimburg\u202fprovince are unlike the rest of the country and have plenty of hills, making\u202fthis a popular area with\u202fhikers. \u202f<\/p>\n I pull on my walking boots and head on a one-hour walk out of the city\u202fto Sint\u202fPietersberg\u202fMount, a quarry-turned-nature reserve. The limestone extraction stopped in 2018,\u202fbut\u202fthere\u2019s\u202fa platform to view the quarry and deep azure-coloured lakes. From here you can follow a walking trail into the forest and open fields before coming across the Fort Sint Pieter, built in 1701. \u202fIt takes around an hour.<\/p>\n Of course, you could be like the Dutch and explore by bike.\u202fI\u202fhire one to cycle about 15 minutes southwest of the city centre to Apolstelhoeve. <\/p>\n It\u2019s perched on\u202fLouwberg\u202fhill\u202fand is a family owned business that produces\u202fabout 110,000 bottles of wine every year, including Riesling and Pinot Gris. <\/p>\n Walking,\u202fcycling\u202fand wine tasting is tough work,\u202fbut fortunately\u202fMaastricht\u202fhas an abundance of restaurants. Among them is De Brandweerkantine, a modern space with high ceilings and huge plants where\u202fdishes include eggplant with miso, cashew cream and pickled mushrooms; Marres, with its Mediterranean and Middle Eastern dishes, such as chickpea and fava bean balls; Scandinavian-influenced options such as\u202fsmorrebrod\u202f(Danish rye bread) at\u202fBikke, and vegan-friendly Preps where I try spicy tempeh with avocado and kimchi.<\/p>\n \t\tYour next read<\/p>\n After filling up at the city\u2019s restaurants, I spend a night at\u00a0\u202fKruisherenhotel.\u00a0Its past is clear\u00a0from its\u00a0huge, arched windows and\u00a0central,\u00a0open-air\u00a0courtyard, but the\u00a0d\u00e9cor\u00a0is modern with\u00a0white satellite installations hanging from the ceilings and work by local\u00a0artists. Dining at its mezzanine restaurant\u00a0Spencer\u2019s is\u00a0memorable. \u00a0<\/p>\n Its sister hotel, Ch\u00e2teau St. Gerlach, a 10-minute train or taxi ride from the city on the edge of the\u202fIngendael\u202fNature Reserve, offers a different proposition. Expect an exquisite tasting menu of mainly local and seasonal produce (from \u20ac95pp) at its Les Salons restaurant, as well as a spa, and sculpture-filled gardens. It\u2019s also surrounded by hikes in nearby forests and fields.\u202f<\/p>\n My break to the south of the Netherlands has whet my appetite to explore the wider province of hilly Limburg, which proved a fuss-free, no-fly escape from the UK. <\/p>\n Getting there<\/p>\n The writer was a guest of the hotels and restaurants mentioned and\u202fOmio<\/a>, the online travel booking platform.\u202fEurostar trains from\u00a0London\u00a0St Pancras\u00a0International to\u00a0Brussels starts from \u00a339. Change there to take the train to\u202fLiege-Guillemins\u202f(45 minutes) and change there for the next train to\u202fMaastricht\u202f(35 minutes)\u00a0<\/p>\n Staying there<\/p>\n \u202fCh\u00e2teau St. Gerlach<\/a> has rooms from\u00a0\u20ac227, including breakfast.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n Kruisherenhotel<\/a>\u00a0has rooms from\u00a0\u20ac235, including breakfast.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n Maison\u202fMaastricht<\/a>\u00a0has rooms from\u00a0\u20ac200\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"Maastricht,](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/SEI_285393578.jpg\")
There\u2019s plenty of culture among the city\u2019s converted churches (Photo: Jan Bijl Fotografie\/Getty)<\/p>\n![\"Maastricht,](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/SEI_285393582_67c4d2.jpg\")
Bakeries serve regional treats (Photo: Aranka Sinnema)<\/p>\n
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