Sometimes, the best things happen when unplanned. True enough, this happened to me when I took an unplanned afternoon visit to Utrecht, Netherlands last October. Yesterday, I shared with you details about my few days around Amsterdam. In those 5 days, I took trips to different cities & towns outside the center – Utrecht being one of them.
I messaged my Europe-based friends weeks before the trip & tried to set-up meet-ups during the trip. As mentioned in yesterday’s post, I caught up with my Amsterdam-based friend Tobias on my 2nd day in Amsterdam. I also got a reply from Megan, another Dutch friend I met in Krabi in 2015. Megan & I didn’t plan out where & when we’ll meet until when I was already in the Netherlands. We then decided to meet in Utrecht, the city where she’s based. This resulted into an unplanned afternoon in another canal city; perhaps a more beautiful & authentic one than Amsterdam.
PS. Did you know that I applied for my own Schengen visa? Yes! The Embassy of The Netherlands gave me a multiple entry visa valid for 45 days. Know more about this DIY Schengen Visa application process here.
utrecht
Utrecht a city found in the very center of Netherlands. This populous city used to be the city center of Netherlands during the Middle Ages. The city lost its center to Amsterdam during the Dutch Golden Age in the 17th century. Currently, Utrecht houses Utrecht University, the largest university in the Netherlands. The city has other academic institutions making it an important city for Dutch education. People normally come & live in Utrecht to study & finish school.
Utrecht is 25 to 30 minutes away from Amsterdam via train. I took the intercity train from Amsterdam Centraal & arrived at Utrecht’s main station, Utrecht Centraal. Tickets cost €19 return. From there, I walked around the city, went in & out of different shops & passed by the Oudegracht, the city’s old canal. I met up with Megan after 2 hours of exploring & enjoyed some Dutch snacks over beers.
Let me share with you photos I took during the walk around the city & meet-up with my lovely friend, Megan. This entry will be more of a photo blog – don’t forget to check out the captions to know about the sightings.
Oudaen Restaurant 
On my way to Oudegracht.
Holland Tulips!!! 
View from a random alley.
St. Martin’s Cathedral, Utrecht is under renovation during my visit last October. 
Dom Tower of Utrecht: One of the city’s main sights is also under renovation.
That ends my short but enjoyable visit to the city of Utrecht. It was not in the plan but I didn’t regret any time or money spent in this beautiful city. Amsterdam’s canals are beautiful; but from what I saw in this brief visit, Utrecht’s canals are way better. The canals give a certain local & unique Dutch vibe than that of Amsterdam’s. For sure there were other nice sightings or places to visit in the city but I had to go back to Amsterdam before the dark.
Hold it right there. In case you missed it, I also shared details about my flights to Europe from Manila to Singapore & Singapore to Amsterdam on board 5-star carrier Singapore Airlines. Check out these posts (MNL-SIN & SIN-AMS) to know about my flight experiences.
Have you been to Utrecht before? What do you think of the city & its canals? Which one do you prefer? Share your thoughts & experiences in the comments section below. Do you have any question about Utrecht? Feel free to shoot an email to contact@thewkndtravel.com. Don’t forget to follow me & please please please also help me in promoting my social media channels – Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.
Thanks for reading up to this part. I hope you enjoyed the beautiful photos of Utrecht. Watch out for the next post on this Going Solo In Europe Series. I’ll take you to the Dutch countryside next time.
PS. Photos were taken using my HTC U11.