What to do in Eindhoven, the largest city in the south of the Netherlands? This is the place to be for design, art and modern architectur
What to do in Eindhoven, the largest city in the south of the Netherlands? This is the place to be for design, art and modern architecture, but a city trip to Eindhoven will also appeal to foodies. Sink your teeth into a Brabant sausage roll, taste the best carrot cake in the region and immerse yourself in the world cuisines of this metropolis.
Eindhoven has reinvented itself this century, as an innovative and creative hotspot with an international face. Once a simple village in Brabant, until Philips started a light bulb factory here in 1891. Eindhoven became known as the 'City of Light', and at one point was home to the largest electronics company in the world. Every Dutch person had a Philips TV or radio in their living room. Eindhoven was Philips, and vice versa.
However, if you’ve had your share of Eindhoven's adventures, you may wish to explore more of the Netherlands. For instance, consider a trip to the vibrant city of Enschede offering a unique blend of cultural heritage and modern ambiance. And don't worry about accommodations because we've got you covered. Check out the hotel deals in Enschede on www.hotels-in-netherlands.com to find the perfect place for your stay. This site offers an array of options matching different budgets and preferences.
Additionally, if you're seeking expert opinions or have some specific requirements, tophotels.com is an excellent platform to research and compare the best hotels in Enschede. Remember, thorough research ensures a comfortable stay and a memorable experience in the charming city of Enschede.
as been transformed into Strijp-S, one of the coolest parts of the city to visit for vintage, the latest designs, experimental art, coffee and cocktails. But Eindhoven is also the city of PSV, DAF and some monuments that suddenly seem very old ???? We have visited the best spots for you in the design capital of the Netherlands. Here are 20 tips on what to do in Eindhoven!
Philips Museum
Without Philips, Eindhoven would never have become so big, so a tribute to the electronics manufacturer is only logical. The Philips Museum shows you how it all began, from the moment Gerard Philips turned his first light bulb into the socket in 1891. The wire in the bulb was then still made of cotton. After that, you can see all the inventions that brought Philips worldwide fame, from the hoover and the transistor radio to the cassette tape and the compact disc.
Funny are the furnished living room, bedroom and kitchen full of Philips equipment, from oak black-and-white televisions to household appliances with a retro seventies look. It's like taking a nostalgic trip through your own childhood (at least, for millennials and the generations before...).
The museum is located in the very first Philips factory in the centre of Eindhoven. Volunteers are mostly former employees of Philips who are only too happy to talk about the electronics company's glory years. Address: Emmasingel 31, 5611 AZ Eindhoven. Website: www.philips.nl
Strijp-S
VisitingStrijp-S is something you should definitely do in Eindhoven. The former industrial district is now the creative heart of the city, a vibrant area with hip coffee shops, vintage clothing shops, exhibition spaces, quirky restaurants and promising start-ups. This used to be a no-go area known as 'The Forbidden City'. It was home to Philips' factories and industrial buildings where products were invented and devices were put together. Strictly secret, in other words, and only accessible to Philips employees. The company was terrified that competitors would make off with its ideas.
After Philips' departure in the 1990s, it was briefly feared that Eindhoven would become the 'Detroit' of the Netherlands. Soon the municipality decided to develop Strijp-S into a cultural hotspot, an epicentre of design and innovative ideas. Some of the factories have been demolished, while another part of the industrial heritage has been converted for catering outlets, shops and luxury flats. Thankfully, it doesn't look so slick yet; the raw industrial edge has remained. Even the original porter's lodge is still there.
You can easily spend half a day (or a whole day) in Strijp-S. Start with coffee at Coffeelab(www.coffeelab.nl), or satisfy your hunger with an organic or vegan lunch. Another good lunch spot is Stories(www.stories-eindhoven.nl), located on the ground floor of the former Philips building 'De Apparatenfabriek'.
To fill your wardrobe and beautify your living room, head to the Urban Shopper(www.urbanshopper.nl), with 20 shops under one roof. Last but not least, check out the exhibitions at Yksi(www.yksiexpo.nl) and MU(www.mu.nl). These can be quite surprising!
Van Abbemuseum
For art lovers, the Van Abbemuseum is an absolute must during your trip to Eindhoven. The museum has an impressive collection of modern and contemporary art, by well-known artists such as Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró, Karel Appel, Marlene Dumas and Marc Chagall. Temporary exhibitions showcasing contemporary and experimental art take place regularly.
The original collection was brought together by Henri van Abbe, a tobacco manufacturer and collector who made his fortune thanks to the colonial plantations in the Dutch East Indies. The old museum building dates from 1936, but a modern new building in the form of a large grey cube was added in 2003. Have a cup of coffee in the pleasant museum café, with a terrace by an inland lake. Fun fact: you enter the terrace via the world's shortest covered bridge :-). Address: Stratumsedijk 2, 5611 ND Eindhoven. Website: www.vanabbemuseum.nl
Sausage roll from Houben
Den Bosch has its Bossche Bollen and Amsterdam has its Van Dobben croquettes, but Eindhoven has its sausage rolls! A visit to the city of lights is not complete without tasting a sausage roll from Houben, now a household name among Eindhoven residents. The sausage roll shop was opened in 2013 by Bart Houben, son of a baker and a clever marketer who came up with the Brabant answer to the sausage roll 'from above the rivers'.
He quickly made a name for himself with his sausage rolls, which are very tasty indeed! Due to the corona crisis, the business went bust, but by the end of 2020 it managed to restart. Houben is even already thinking of opening a branch in Amsterdam. The sausage rolls come in several varieties. You can choose a 'deluxe' version with truffle and Parmesan cheese, as well as a vegetarian sausage roll. Address: Willemstraat 39, 5611 HC Eindhoven. Website: www.houbenworstenbrood.nl
Design Walhalla by Piet Hein Eek
One of the Netherlands' most successful designers is Piet Hein Eek, known for furniture made of scrap wood. From a former Philips factory in Eindhoven, he has built an entire design empire that now encompasses much more than just furniture. A hall where radios and televisions used to be made is now a workshop for furniture making and Dutch design.
Next door is a large shop where you can score old & new design, from vases and glasses to sofas and beds. It comes with a hefty price tag, but then you have something from a top designer in your home. You can have an excellent lunch in Piet Hein Eek's restaurant, of course decorated by the famous designer himself. The space is decorated with old cars from the French brand Simca and modern chandeliers that were clearly not made by an intern.
And recently you can also sleep there in the Piet Hein Eek Hotel. The design mecca can be found in the Strijp-R district, just a bit further from Strijp-S. This old factory site is now a modern residential area where some old buildings have been given a new life. Address: Halvemaanstraat 30, 5651 BP Eindhoven. Website: www.pietheineek.nl
Down Town Gourmet Market
Scents of exotic food and city buzz come together at the Down Town Gourmet Market. This trendy food market is the ideal place for lunch, drinks and tasting street food from around the world. This indoor market hall houses 21 eateries under one roof. You can choose from all world cuisines, from Japanese sushi and Mexican burritos to Vietnamese spring rolls and Italian pizzas. There is always a cosy vibe here with a nice mix of students, families, expats and tourists. Address: Smalle Haven 2-14, 5611 EJ Eindhoven. Website: www.downtowngourmetmarket.com
DAF Museum
Not only Philips is the great pride of Eindhoven. For years, the city was also home to the only car manufacturer in the Netherlands. Only sometimes you still see them on the road, those cute little Dafs (of which a total of 800,000 were made). In the DAF Museum, you can learn all about Van Doorne's Automobielfabriek, which was founded by Hub van Doorne in 1928.
You will of course see the biscuit tins that drove on Dutch roads. These passenger cars were known for their "revolutionary stepless drive". But you will also see trucks, commercial vehicles, army vehicles, buses and racing cars produced by DAF. By the way, DAF still exists, but now only makes trucks. Address: Tongelresestraat 27, 5613 DA Eindhoven. Website: www.dafmuseum.nl
Motion Experience
For a hallucinatory experience in Eindhoven, buy a ticket for the Motion Experience. With light installations and digital art, an 'experience spectacle' has been created here, where you can get carried away by huge floor projections and tantalising light shows. Swing among the clouds or let your imagination run wild in a flickering light tunnel. It is a digital and colourful playground with lots of special effects and dexterity that can sometimes make you dizzy - but in a pleasant way. Motion Experience is on the second floor of the Piazza shopping centre in the centre of Eindhoven. Address: Piazza 64, 2nd floor, 5611 AE Eindhoven. Website: www.motionexperience.nl
Chocolate from Pinkie
Hardcore chocoholics walk in at Pinkie Patisserie, one of Eindhoven's best chocolatiers. Pick up a box of chocolates in flavours like hazelnut lemon or honey bergamot, or treat yourself to chocolate skulls filled with rum... Pinkie's chocolate is hard to resist!
By the way, you can also go there for coffee and cake or high tea with sweets. We haven't tasted it ourselves, but they say the carrot cake is famous far beyond Eindhoven. The quality is good, as Pinkie's owner cooked in Michelin-starred restaurants for years. As you would expect, the place is decorated in a sweet-pink style. Address: Stratumsedijk 6, 5611 ND Eindhoven. Website: www.pinkiepatisserie.nl
Dutch Design Week
Want to do something in Eindhoven in autumn? Then don't think twice! Every October, the city is the scene of Dutch Design Week, Northern Europe's biggest design event. Spread across more than 120 locations throughout the city, more than 2,600 designers present their works and ideas to hundreds of thousands of visitors at home and abroad. The focus is on Dutch design, but also on experimental designs, sustainability, young talent and designs for the future. For nine days, Eindhoven is brimming with design, with exhibitions, lectures, debates, workshops and parties. Be sure to arrange accommodation in time, as the spectacle attracts some 350,000 visitors. Check the website for the programme: www.ddw.nl
St Catherine's Church
It's not all design and high-tech that beats the clock in Eindhoven. The city centre still has a few monuments that have stood the test of time, including the Sint Catharinakerk. The eye-catcher are the two 73-metre-high towers, known as 'David' (the male tower) and 'Maria' (the female tower). Built between 1861 and 1867 in neo-Gothic style, the Catholic church was designed by the famous architect Pierre Cuypers, who also has the Central Station and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam to his credit. Even then, Eindhoven managed to attract top designers!
The church came in place of a medieval prayer house that had fallen into disrepair. During World War II, the church was badly damaged by bombing, but careful restoration took place in the following years. Highlights inside are the stained-glass windows and the two organs, one with 5723 pipes. This makes it one of the largest organs in the Netherlands. The Catharinakerk regularly hosts concerts. Address: Catharinaplein 1, 5611 DE Eindhoven. Website: www.muziekindecathrien.nl
Cycle through Eindhoven
When you have finished strolling through Eindhoven (which is quite vast!) you can take a public transport bike or rent one, but it's even more fun to make a bike tour through Eindhoven. At Baja Bikes, you can book a 2-hour bike tour where a local takes you along the city's most beautiful spots.
During a relaxed bike tour, you will pass all the highlights of the city of lights, such as the DAF factory, the Lichttoren, Strijp-S and the futuristic-looking Evoluon. The guide also takes you to lesser-known parts of the city.
PSV stadium and museum
Purebred Eindhoven residents don't miss anything from PSV, one of the top three football clubs in the Netherlands together with Ajax and Feyenoord. If you come from outside the city, you won't miss it either, as PSV 's stadium is right in the centre of Eindhoven. When the Philips Sports Association was founded in 1913, this was still a field where Philips employees could kick a ball around after work.
The modern Philips Stadium is now where the professional club plays its matches in front of a crowd of 35,000 spectators. During a stadium tour, you will see the pitch yourself, as well as the players' tunnel, the dressing rooms, the press centre and the boardroom. Real fans also visit the PSV Museum about the club's history, with trophies, photos, videos and memorabilia. Do you prefer the music of Guus Meeuwis? Every year, the singer manages to fill up the stadium for his 'Groots met een zachte G' concerts. Address: Frederiklaan 10A, 5616 NH Eindhoven. Website: www.psv.nl
Stroll through Philipsdorp
Just past the stadium, you can immediately take a stroll through Philipsdorp. This village within Eindhoven was established in 1910 by Philips to house its workers. You'll see rows of neat workers' houses, many of which have been refurbished and renovated. The houses have protected status, so not much is allowed to change.
Remarkably, there are no front gardens. It seems that Philips employees were mostly farmers in the beginning, so there was a vegetable garden at the back. They are now rental flats for ordinary Eindhoven residents. Philips had also set up numerous facilities for staff in the area, such as schools, shops, a bathhouse and a bread factory. One of those shops now houses the Coffee House(www.koffiehuisjeeindhoven.nl), the ideal place to boost your caffeine cravings.
Blob and Bubble
On 18 Septemberplein in the centre of Eindhoven, you can see the city's funniest structure: the Blob. It is a futuristic and transparent 'drop' of glass and steel that rather stands out among the straightforward buildings around it. The Blob was designed by Italian architect Massimiliano Fuksas to boost Eindhoven's reputation as a quirky design city. Blob literally stands for Binary Large Object. This term comes from the computer world and refers to a mush of data.
Through the Blob, you gain access to the shopping centre the Admirant and at the top is the lunchroom Sissy-Boy Daily where you have a nice view of the shopping people on the square. On the other side of the square, you can marvel at the Bubble, also made of glass and steel and designed by the same architect. The Bubble is a lot smaller than its bigger brother, though. It houses an America Today clothing shop. And don't think Eindhoven suddenly has a metro. What looks like a metro station turns out to be the entrance to an underground bicycle garage.
Eindhoven city brewery
Does walking around make you thirsty? Then pop in for a beer tasting at the 100 Watt Brewery, or Eindhoven's one and only city brewery. This brewery revived the brewing of craft speciality beers in 2015, with varieties like 'Extase' and 'Circus Citrus'. In previous years, Eindhoven no longer had its own brewery, as the last one closed its doors in 1953.
The city brewery is located in an old factory on the banks of the river Dommel, with an oak bar, a wooden floor and an industrial touch. During the tasting you will be served 5 speciality beers, with matching snacks. You can also join a tour of the brewery to hear all about the brewing process from A to Z. Address: Bleekweg 1, 5611 EZ Eindhoven. Website: www.cafe100watt.nl
Evoluon
In the west of Eindhoven you will find its most striking building: the Evoluon. Built in the 1960s, this flying saucer housed a Philips technology museum in its early years. You could do all sorts of experiments and tests there, so it was a real family attraction.
Nowadays, this 'ufo' houses a conference centre. During a fair or conference, you can take a look inside the dome. There is also a restaurant overlooking the saucer. In 2021, plans came up to turn the Evoluon into a museum again. This should house 'a museum about the future of the Earth'. Address: Noord Brabantlaan 1A, 5652 LA Eindhoven. Website: www.evoluon.com
Street art in Eindhoven
Eindhoven appears to have made quite a name for itself with street art - perhaps to compensate for the lack of historical buildings? Walking around the city, you will come across beautiful graffiti and murals in several places. This really makes the city more colourful! Since the 1980s, artists have been brightening up walls, buildings and tunnels with their spray paint.
Admire, for example, the 'dancing skeleton' behind the Nieuwe Emmasingel. And take a look at the Berenkuil. This is a collection of bicycle tunnels where artists are legally allowed to leave their creations. If you really want to do some artsy stuff in Eindhoven, book a Street Art Tour of 3 hours.
Prehistoric Village
Learn to shoot with a bow and arrow, take a trip in a tree canoe or bake bread on a homemade fire: it's all possible at the Prehistoric Village. This a recreated village from prehistoric and medieval times on the south side of Eindhoven, where you can explore the past. The open-air museum shows what life was like in the Brabant countryside, long before electronics companies, car manufacturers and textile magnates ruled the roost.
You walk among replicas of old houses and huts and see demonstrations of old crafts. Optionally, you can also dress yourself in period clothing if you feel like playing dress-up. This is a great outing if you want to do something with the kids in Eindhoven! Address: Boutenslaan 161B, 5644 TV Eindhoven. Website: www.prehistorischdorp.nl
Ton Smits House
If you are absolutely crazy about cartoons, the Ton Smits House is for you. This museum in the south of Eindhoven is dedicated to the life and work of Brabant cartoonist and painter Ton Smits (1921-1981). He received numerous awards and created a furore mainly with his cartoons in US newspapers and magazines.
The museum collection contains 20,000 cartoons and pencil sketches, as well as several hundred paintings. Besides the works of Smits himself, there are regular exhibitions on other cartoonists. The museum is located in Smits' former studio home, an unusual blue villa built in the so-called 'Bossche School style'. Address: Jacob Reviuslaan 25, 5644 TP Eindhoven. Website: www.tonsmitshuis.nl
What to do in Eindhoven: practical tips
Sleeping in Eindhoven
There is plenty of choice of places to sleep during your city trip to Eindhoven. You can stay in hotels, bed & breakfasts, flats and hostels. The city is quite large, but most attractions are within walking distance in and around the centre. If you are looking for a hotel in the city centre, you are always in the right place. It is advisable to book well in advance if you are looking for accommodation during Dutch Design Week. Here we have listed some great addresses for you in Eindhoven.
Hotel The Match
We ourselves slept in The Match, a trendy hotel in an ideal location in the centre of Eindhoven. It is close to bars, restaurants and shops. The hotel is decorated in street art style, so you wake up with a view of a graffiti wall. The Match calls itself 'Eindhoven's least welcome hotel': you are encouraged to stay in your hotel room as little as possible and explore the city. There is no breakfast, but nearby you can start the day superbly at DENF Coffee. You check in yourself via an iPad and there is a minimarket for basic necessities. ► Book an overnight stay at Hotel The Match from €69
Barracks Hotel
Luxury design boutique hotel in the city centre with 8 rooms, suites and lofts. The largest loft is even 140 square metres! The rooms and suites are decorated with furniture by different designers, all for sale. If you sleep here, you have immediate access to the exclusive private members' club, where designers come together to network and relax. The Kazerne also includes a restaurant and exhibition space. ► Book an overnight stay at Design Hotel Kazerne from €264
Blue Collar Hotel
Budget hotel located in an old Philips factory in the Strijp-S district, with an edgy industrial atmosphere. Here you will find yourself in a mix of nostalgia, blues and rock 'n roll. Several rooms are themed around a well-known brand, such as Jack Daniels whisky or Warsteiner beer. The hotel also has a (soundproofed) theatre where concerts and performances are held and a restaurant on the top floor with nice views over Eindhoven. ► Book an overnight stay at Blue Collar Hotel from €66
Travelling to Eindhoven
Eindhoven is located in the south of the Netherlands in the province of North Brabant. The city is easy to reach by car and public transport. From Amsterdam, it is about 1½ to 2 hours' drive, on the A2 via Den Bosch. From the south, drive to Eindhoven via the A67 and from the west take the A58 (via Tilburg). In and around the city centre, there are several car parks and parking garages where you can pay to park (every day from 09.00 to 21.00).
It's also easy to take the train. From Eindhoven Central Station, it's a few minutes' walk to the city centre and the main shopping streets. There are direct intercity trains to Eindhoven from Amsterdam (1 hour and 20 minutes), The Hague (1½ hours) and Maastricht (1 hour), among others. Sprinters run from Tilburg, Den Bosch and Weert.
Incidentally, Eindhoven has its own international airport to the west of the city, Eindhoven Airport (EIN) (www.eindhovenairport.nl). From here, mainly regional flights and charter flights depart to cities and holiday destinations in Europe. It is a hub for low-cost flights by low-budget airlines Ryanair and Wizz Air.
From Eindhoven Central Station, take airport shuttle bus 401 or scheduled bus 400 to the stop just in front of the terminal. The bus journey with transport company Hermes takes about 20 minutes. If you come by car, the airport has several parking spaces.
For more information on what to do in Eindhoven, visit the official website of the tourist office: www.thisiseindhoven.com. We collaborated with citymarketing Eindhoven for this article, thanks for the fun trip!