We sent our writer, Rachel McAlley and her family to Eindhoven for a few days to explore the city. She experienced all it has to offer including, museums, art galleries, restaurants, bars, the city’s football stadium, retailers, and some new Dutch industrial buildings.
The Netherlands is one of the most beautiful countries I have visited, and I’m determined to enlighten others of its quaintness. In the short period that I spent in Eindhoven I fell head over heels in love with everything from the unique cycling paths to the old factories that are now contemporary shopping and dining destinations.
You’ll either know of or have visited other parts of The Netherlands like Amsterdam or Rotterdam, and you’ll be familiar with old Dutch history and tangible elements like the famous tulips and windmills, but Eindhoven is completely different. It is new Dutch, packed with new buildings, technology, art, street art, old buildings that have been rebuilt into new trendy apartments, shops, and attractions. Eindhoven is for the young and young at heart and it is moving forward at a fast rate.
There’s still history, old canals, and industry, it has just changed over recent years to become the technological and creative centre of the Netherlands.
Our host for the trip was Erik van Gerwen from Eindhoven365, he was an absolute pleasure to be around. Erik is Eindhoven through and through, there isn’t anything he didn’t know about the city, and he could answer every question we put his way. It’s with huge thanks to Erik that we accomplished as much as we did in our short time in the Netherlands.
To find out more about Eindhoven365 visit the website.
Accommodation in Eindhoven
We stayed at Hotel Mariënhage Eindhoven, a historic monastery, that has been lovingly transformed into a luxury boutique hotel, event space, brasserie, restaurant, and wellness centre. Art and design is at the core of the Dutch design duo Studio Drift’s redesign of this building. Eindhoven’s oldest wall can be found within Hotel Mariënhage.
Our room, the Epic Eden Extra Large room was on the second floor, and the bathroom overlooked the neo-gothic monastery’s spire. The spire, complete with four-meter-high wooden and copper statue of Jesus with open arms was our daily view from the toilet!
The room was vast, with huge comfy beds, and an internal window looking over the reception desk and foyer. We had a giant TV, in-room safe, desk, storage, robes and slippers. As the room was themed Epic Eden, we had complimentary apples to enjoy.
Breakfast was served in Brasserie Rita and was a mix of continental and hot food, with plenty of cereals, pastries, juices and hot drinks. It was a self-service buffet, where we helped ourselves to various local breads amongst everything else on offer. This was a great way to start each of our mornings.
Located only a stone’s throw from the city centre, we could leisurely stroll into town to visit all the nearby restaurants, museums, and shops. The hotel is the ideal base for a few days in Eindhoven.
To book a hotel room, reserve a restaurant table, or find out more, visit Hotel Mariënhage Eindhoven.
Restaurants & Bars
One of the most wonderful things about Eindhoven is the vast array of dining options. There are international restaurants, Dutch cafés, and global street food offerings around each corner. Equally, there is something to suit every taste, we were truly spoilt for choice!
Whilst in the city we dined at some outstanding places including, Downtown Gourmet Market, Kazerne, FifthNRE, and the Van Abbemuseum Café. Plus, we snacked at Vane Sky Bar, and PSV Endhoven’s Sport Café.
Down Town Gourmet Market in Eindhoven
Down Town Gourmet Market is in the heart of the city, and is the place to be seen. Packed with diners from opening until closing, there are 20 eclectic food stalls to choose from. We experienced the market on a Saturday lunchtime, which was bustling with locals, families, friends, couples, and even tourists like us.
This was such a fabulous place to people watch, and the food was divine. We ordered food from three of the stalls including The Don, Caleo, and Just Say Cheese. Our drinks were from the Down Town bar and we opted for local beer La Trappe to try alongside lunch.
Fun Fact: Furthermore, our lunch was ordered via the on-table App, run by Butlaroo, an Eindhoven software company that is now used across the Netherlands.
Visit Down Town Gourmet Market to find out more.
Kazerne
This restaurant is not only a restaurant but also an exhibition space, a hotel, a design lab, an event space and so much more.
This is a fine dining Italian restaurant with a twist. Possibly the most unusual of all restaurants I have ever visited, Kazerne expects its diners to eat, browse the latest exhibitions, and enjoy the food alongside the art and sculptures.
So, we did just that. We ordered our drinks and food, and took in the art with drink in hand before sitting for our starters. Then we did this again after each course, it was something I have never done before. Dinner was enjoyed over hours, which was a wonderful and relaxing experience.
The artists that showcase their amazing pieces of work are local and are from either Eindhoven, the wider Netherlands, or are new citizens from overseas. This is a great way to get into art, especially of you aren’t a follower. Not only was the food extremely good but everything about Kazerne was immersive and unique.
If you want to find out more or to book a table, visit Kazerne.
FIFTH NRE
Within the industrial and cultural NRE area is Fifth, a bar, restaurant, and music hub. A jazz, soul, and funk venue that plays host to some of the world’s greatest musicians, where we spent an evening in the restaurant sampling some exquisite food.
FIFTH’s strapline, ‘Fine Flavours with a dash of Music’ sums this place up beautifully. We dined on a Sunday evening and had missed the daytime Jazz band, but from what the other diners were saying, it had been a fantastic day.
There are a couple of menus to choose from, the normal restaurant lunch and dinner menus and a surprise menu. We were too nervous to choose the surprise menu, but what an exciting option to throw caution to the wind and let the chef make surprise dishes for you.
The food was very good, and we could see the chefs in the kitchen, which was a nice touch. The bar was busy with locals enjoying a beer, while the restaurant was filled with couples, families, and large parties enjoying dinner.
For more information about music events, or to reserve a table visit FIFTH.
VANE Sky Bar
We popped into VANE Sky Bar, located within the NH Collection Eindhoven Centre Hotel. It was a great opportunity to try their ‘New Dutch Cocktail’ and enjoy a sharing board of Pata Negra and sourdough.
The views are extraordinary from VANE. High above Eindhoven, looking over the streets below, we could see the vibrant lights across the city, the shopping districts, the museums, and thousands of parked bicycles at the train station! It offers the best views of the city bar none, and is open daily from 5pm until late.
To reserve a table or check out the menu, visit VANE.
Sport Café at Philips Stadium
The world-famous football stadium, home of PSV Eindhoven probably doesn’t come to mind as a place to dine, but this is a fantastic hidden gem. Firstly, it is tucked away neatly inside the Philips Stadium is the Sport Café, an excellent place to meet friends and dine.
Secondly, we visited on a day when there wasn’t a football match on, which was good timing as we wouldn’t have had a chance to experience the view. With giant bi-fold doors onto a terrace overlooking the pitch, the café looks directly out to the stadium.
Thirdly, it was amazing to be as close to the pitch as we were, and this isn’t a private members club or VIP area, it’s a café that is open to everyone. Back inside at our table we sampled the Dutch Sausage Roll, an interesting cross between a UK sausage roll and a hot dog. Either sway it was a tasty treat!
Reserve a table at Eetcafé de Verlenging.
Shopping in Eindhoven
Eindhoven is a great city for anything shopping related. Whether you’re into high street shops, designer brands, local independent stores, or something more bespoke, the city has it all.
Piet Hein Eek at Strijp-R
A former ceramic workshop of the engineering, white goods, and tech brand Philips, Strijp-R is now owned by Piet Hein Eek, one of the Netherland’s most famous designers.
Today, Strijp-R hosts Piet Hein Eek’s workshop, design studios, restaurants, shop, exhibition space, hotel and rooftop bar. We visited for a couple of hours to look around the shop and design studios.
To find out more about Piet Hein Eek Strijp-R, visit This is Eindhoven.
Strijp-S
Another of Philips’ old factory buildings, Strijp-S is now a vibrant place to shop, eat, and work. The base for many of Eindhoven’s creatives and innovative entrepreneurs, this is the place to be if you are a trend setter and go getter.
We shopped at independent fashion stores within the Urban Shopper Shopping Centre, and visited the local supermarket. Furthermore, outside we climbed the steps to see the industrial pipes that are still in place from the Philips days.
To find out more about Strijp-S visit This is Eindhoven.
Downtown & Street Art Eindhoven
This is the local shopping district to the hotel where we were staying. A short walk took us to the hustle and bustle of one of Eindhoven’s busiest retail destinations. We shopped until we dropped at a number of high street stores and at De Bijenkorf, the designer department store.
Equally, there are huge pieces of street art dotted around the city on the side of buildings. If you are into art then taking a tour of the city’s street art is a brilliant way to spend some time.
Museums and Attractions
As with most cities in the Netherlands, Eindhoven has a vast selection of museums to visit. Whether you are into contemporary art, new technology, or history you will find a museum or attraction for you.
Philips Museum Eindhoven
There is no better way to find out about the history of Eindhoven than by visiting the Philips Museum. We spent a few hours checking out this great museum and learned that the city grew over time from a small factory town into the exciting city it is today.
Philips was founded by Gerard and Frederick Philips, to make and produce lightbulbs for everyone. Between them they were the most inventive entrepreneurs to come out of Eindhoven in the 1800s. And, today Philips is known across the globe for TV’s, skincare tech, and so much more.
The Philips Museum is situated in the original Philips factory in the heart of the city centre where they started to produce lightbulbs for the rest of the world in 1891.
For more information, opening hours, and ticket bookings, visit Philips Museum.
Van Abbemuseum & Café in Eindhoven
We walked from the hotel to the Van Abbemuseum, a modern and contemporary museum of art. I feel that there’s something quite emotive about being stood in front of a piece artwork by a world-famous artist such as Pablo Picasso and Piet Mondriaan.
There are 5 floors of art for visitors to enjoy, plus over 3,400 pieces of art to experience. What’s more, you’ll find ever-changing exhibitions including the current ‘Eye to Eye with Monet’. Plus, the window artwork by Johan Moorman in the Van Abbe Café.
From the museum we went for some food in the Van Abbe Café where we spent some time looking at all the colourful window art. The food at Van Abbe is wholesome, hearty, colourful, and full of flavour. Moreover, it was a delicious lunch!
Visit Van Abbemuseum to book tickets, check opening times, and find out about the café.
Van Gogh Village Museum
Our final day was spent outside the city, in Nuenen Village, home of the Van Gogh Village Museum. This was a fantastic way to end our trip to Eindhoven. The entire village plays homage to the man himself, with 24 locations including houses, churches, and buildings that are specific to Van Gogh’s history in the village.
We walked around the village, where we shopped, ate and did quite a bit of sightseeing, as there’s so much to do. It was a complete change of pace from being in the city, where everything was fast and busy, we slowed down and enjoyed the relaxed pace in Nuenen.
The Van Gogh Village Museum was a real highlight of being in the Netherlands. The museum curator was kind enough to let us enjoy the entire museum to ourselves. We took in the videos and history, the Potato Eaters, the Nuenen Period, and Vincent’s Light Lab. Of course, I was completely in awe of everything within the museum.
Visit Van Gogh Village Museum to book tickets and check opening times.
Travel To Eindhoven
We took the ferry option to travel to the Netherlands. It’s only an hour and a quarter from where we live to Hull ferry port.
P&O Ferries
We travelled with P&O Ferries from Hull to Rotterdam (return journey), and we took our car as part of the trip. Our room on the ferry was a Club Cabin, which gave us some extra space, flatscreen TV, hot drink facilities, mini bar, and luxury toiletries by The White Company.
Once we had parked the car and taken the luggage to our room, we wanted to explore everything onboard. The ferry itself was the Pride or Rotterdam, and offered plenty of places to eat and drink including The Brasserie, The Kitchen, which is where we ate dinner and breakfast, the Coffee Shop, Show Bar, Sundeck Bar, and Lounge Bar.
There was plenty to choose from entertainment wise, with live music in the Lounge Bar and live music in the Show Bar. Additionally, The Pride of Rotterdam also has a casino, cinema, kids entertainment, and an excellent choice of World Duty Free Shops. It was a fabulous ferry, and very comfortable, which we will be using again to travel from Hull to the Netherlands in the future.
The crossing from Hull to Rotterdam was smooth and calm waters, we couldn’t have asked for anything better. Equally important, the service in The Kitchen was excellent and the food very good with a great choice of dishes. Notably, the Lounge Bar had a fabulous live band and singer, and we played a few board games whilst enjoying the music and drinks.
P&O Ferries The Return Journey
Our return journey wasn’t quite as smooth sailing, as the North Sea was troublesome. It resulted with quite a few passengers being ill (us included), but the staff were extremely helpful, and kept us up to date with news on the delays.
Even though our journey wasn’t as calm on our return to the UK, I would definitely travel with P&O Ferries again in the future. The ferry itself was very comfortable, the facilities excellent, the food very good, and the staff lovely.
Fun Fact: The date we were on the ferry was the Ibiza Weekender Mini Cruise. We had no idea that our sail date was the same date as a live music event. The ferry was filled with clubbers who were out to enjoy a trip with live singers and live DJ’s. Regardless, this resulted in a great atmosphere onboard!
Visit P&O Ferries to book your travel to and from the Netherlands.
Words by Rachel McAlley @LadyRach
