Sightseeing

Utrecht City Center

Dom tower

Tickets are sold at the VVV-shop on the Domplein, located on your left if you are standing with you back to the Dom tower facing the Cathedral. The office hours of the VVV-shop are as follows,

Monday, Sunday

12:00 -- 17:00

All other days

10:00 -- 17:00

You are advised to make a reservation for the tours: +3130-2360010.

Starting times of tours are as follows,

11:00

12:00

13:00

14:00

15:00

16:00

Monday

Tuesday -- Friday

Saturday

Sunday

12:45

The tour costs € 9,- per person. There is also an option for a combined ticket of € 13,50 with access to either the treasure room or museum Speelklok ( clockwork museum ). These combined tickets are valid for up to 7 days.

Utrecht Underground

If you are a looking for a slightly different viewpoint of Utrecht, the tour company Utrecht underground offers tours run by former homeless and addicts. They will give you a rundown of the back alleys and the seedier sides of our city.

Groups for the tour have to be $\geq 3$. The tour costs € 7.50 per person. It is necessary to call at least 2 days in advance, +31 63 15 88 411. The tour starts from the VVV-shop at the Domplein.

Musea

  • Central museum

  • Rietveld-Schroder house

  • Dick Bruna house

Near Utrecht Science Park (the ‘Uithof’)

Canoeing

As an alternative to biking or walking through Utrecht, rent a canoe and explore the waters near the Uithof or head for the canals of Utrecht. The rental is located at the Weg naar Rhijnauwen 2, five minutes biking from the conference venue. For public transport, take bus line 12 up to Kromme Rijn.

The rental is open from 9:30 until 22:00 from Monday through Saturday, and until 20:00 on Sunday. The rental costs are € 6.50 per hour (2 person canoe) and a guarantee of € 25.-. Contact: +31 30 25 21 311.

Botanical garden

Just across the Math department, Budapestlaan 17 on Utrecht Science Park, is the botanical garden of Utrecht. For € 6.50 p.p. one can walk around and view the variety of pretty flowers, plants, and trees. It’s open, daily, from 10:00 to 16:30.

Fort Rhijnauwen (or a nice walk in nature)

The largest fort of the Netherlands, located in a beautiful landscape just a half hour walk or 10 minutes bike trip from the conference venue (A). To actually enter the fort (B), one must partake in a 2.5 hour guided tour at one of the following time slots,

* Wednesday at 10:30;

* Saturday at 13:30;

* Sunday at 10:30 and 13:30.

The costs for this are € 5.- p.p. No reservations are necessary, you just have to show up at the right time.

But if you’re only interested in having a relaxing walk in nature, this area is still very much recommended. Continuing along the Midden Nederland Route (C), you would get a good perception of the Dutch landscape.


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Festivals

Festival in vervoering (Website in Dutch only)

`Vervoering’ is the Dutch word for `rapture’ and bears much similarity to `vervoer’, meaning `transport’. This expresses itself in the mobile nature of the festival, and the large variety of different arts. From music to poetry, prose, theater, and film. In a shameless attempt to promote a friend’s band, Roy Wang particularly encourages you to attend the performance of Sideditch.

Festival information:

  • Date: August 4 and 5.
  • Price: Free, for a change.
  • Location: on Saturday at the Korte Minrebroederstraat (near Neude), and on Sunday at Park Lepelenburg. Both locations are within a short walking distance of the central station. There is free parking with surveillance if you are by bike, and you might get a free bike bell.

Outside Utrecht

Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and the Hague

The Netherlands is a small country. Rotterdam and Den Haag are 40 minutes by train, and Amsterdam only 30 minutes, from Utrecht central station.