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The Best Things About Utrecht | Netherlands

Forever Explorers

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Utrecht is a beautiful city in the heart of the Netherlands. It is rich in history and medieval architecture, is the central public transportation hub of the Netherlands, has a large student population with Utrecht University, is extremely bike friendly, and has many great green spaces, shopping areas and restaurants.

All of these make Utrecht an amazing place to visit, but there are a few things that we believe really make Utrecht special. One of those is the two-tiered canal system running through the heart of the city, another is the rich history going all the way back to Roman times, and the third is the iconic Dom tower in the city center, the tallest church tower in the Netherlands. We are going to check out all of these in this episode, so let’s head to the city!

Correction:
00:32 Actually by train it takes 40 minutes from Schiphol Airport and only 20 minutes from Amsterdam Centraal station to Utrecht Centraal.

#utrecht #netherlands #domkerk #foreverexplorers #travel #travelvlog #europe #europetravel #dutch #amsterdam #medieval #history #historyvlog #history #historyvlog

Link for our video visiting the Anne Frank House: Amsterdam | Anne Frank House, Autumn Color...

We are Scott and Cassandra, and we call ourselves the forever explorers because we have been traveling for our entire lives and plan to continue traveling for many years to come. In our videos, we bring you beautiful, immersive travel experiences from our travels around the globe, with the goals of bringing you calmness and relaxation, positive inspiration for your day, and to motivate you to pursue your own beautiful travel experiences. If our travel and nature videos help you to relax or inspire you in some way, please feel free to reach out and let us know that we had a positive effect on your day.

Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
01:49 Utrecht Canals and Wharfs
03:24 Kayaking the Utrecht Canals
04:33 Janskerkhof Flower Market and Anne Frank Statue
05:09 Roman History and Castellum Traiectum
06:21 The Traiectum Walls
08:59 Climbing the Dom | The Beginning
09:53 Climbing the Dom | St. Michael's Chapel
10:49 Climbing the Dom | Egmond's Chapel
12:08 Climbing the Dom | Belfry
13:28 Climbing the Dom | Lantern and Carillon
14:47 Climbing the Dom | The Top! (Spire)
16:25 Thank You and Please Subscribe!

20 Comments

@ForeverExplorers Creator 2 months ago Pinned

Thank you for coming along with us to the amazing city of Utrecht! Leave a comment if you love this city as much as we do! -Scott & Cassandra

@mfierst7326 2 months ago (edited)

I think a compliment is due here: I am impressed with how well you pronounce Utrecht, Gracht, etc.. I know these are difficult sounds for English speaking people, but you nailed it. Thanks for making the effort. I appreciate it. Your daughter might have helped, perhaps, and if she did, she did well. 👍

@Travelsheesh 2 months ago

What a gorgeous city! We travelled Netherlands several times but never seen Utrecht. Looks like an amazing place Thanks for the wonderful travel inspiration

@Rebellenclub426 2 months ago

Utrecht is the most beautiful city I have visited in the Netherlands. If you are traveling to the Netherlands or Amsterdam, visiting this city and its surrounding area is an absolute must. To put Utrecht's history into perspective: the Oudegracht already existed before Amsterdam even came into being.

@PetertenBrinke-b2n 2 months ago

Fun little fact about the stairs at the canals: they're all situated next to alleys that lead to streets further from the canals, for fighting fires in the old days.

@ronvonk1118 2 months ago

I was raised very near to Utrecht, and went there for high school (middelbare school) and University. I visited (and climbed) the Dom tower several times but since some years I am afraid of heights. This video is a good second best.

I am very proud of my city.

@JoyVE709 2 months ago

I am lucky enough to live in this beautiful city ❤ If you're ever here on the third Saturday of the month, please come to Dom Church between 20:15 and 22:00 for our Night of Light where the church is lit by candles and everyone can just walk in for a moment of stillness, light a candle and enjoy live music. It's really special!

@Blackadder75 2 months ago

I was born in Utrecht and when I was 6 years old I climbed all the way to the top of the tower together with my dad and somebody who let us in. the next year we moved to another province so this was my only chance, I think that is why I was allowed to go at that age.

@aimeek9384 2 months ago

Great to see you enjoyed my home town. Museumkwartier is one of the best parts of Utrecht imo

@AmazingOracleThird72 2 months ago

Utrecht, my home town!.. Thanks for covering this underrated city.. But don't make it too popular!
Also.. the history of the Dom toren (tower) and the building behind, is very interesting. Read about it. Cheers!

@petronellajames8656 2 months ago

Of course I still love my old city! Greetings from New Zealand.

@rebeccaalbrecht771 1 month ago

I climbed to the top of the Domtoren in 2019. I met a man at the top who had climbed to the top on crutches. Even more impressive is he climbed back down again which I think must be even more challenging!

@HPC4 2 months ago

I came to Utrecht in 1987 from a small town in the East of The Netherlands. I was 19 and started my study. Classes, back then, were at 'Trans' (the red marker at the bottom at 6:26 in your video). I found a place (room) to live in at 'Lijnmarkt' (on the left at 6:26) and met my girl (now wife 🙂) in a café ('De Vriendschap') at 'Wed' (between the red marker and 'Lijnmarkt' at 6:26).
Thank you very much for this nice video about 'my city'. Also, Yes: When climbing the Dom tower, the groups are too big; too many people at once. It's a known complaint that will become as legendary as the tower itself. But people only complain afterwards - when they have already paid and gone up there - so it's never going to be smaller groups 😏)

@t.voyager3968 2 months ago

Hallo, here greetings from Utrecht.
We live in the near of Utrecht.
Nice vieuw from my birthtown.
Gr. Theo

@Thepinklion-s1W 2 months ago

Maybe some fourty years ago I climbed the Dom tower together with the two sons of a friend of mine (13 and 14 years young). It was just as impressive as your ascent and view, but even a little more so. Our country only has five truly completely clear days and this was one of those days1. From the tower we could really see both Amsterdam and Rotterdam far away. I don't know if this is still possible. The old rule that no building in the city could ever be higher than the Dom tower has (alas!) been abandoned. Nice detailed video on Utrecht, as a historian I really appreciated it. It took 82 years to build the tower (1300-1382) So it stood for 110 years before America was discovered.

@matthiasholzwarth9592 2 months ago (edited)

There is a museum where a roman ship is shown , which was excavated . The meern ships were large Roman river vessels , which obviously were used by the Romans to secure the river banks in a hurry when the rhine did threaten their roads . Highly recommanded. And you are in less than 20 minutes at Amsterdam main station if you go by train , what has the advantage , that you won't have to look for a parking place in Amsterdam , a search , that can get annoying to say the least .

@unionmoon 2 months ago

My birthplace ❤

@paulwilke3112 2 months ago

We ❤UTRECHT because it is so unique historical and vibrant innovative city too with UNESCO objects like the famouse Rietveld house, the Dutch water fortification, and Roman limes. You need absolute more dan a day even to see a part of the old city and many museums. Like the famous ONLY Dutch Organ museum in the world.
UTRECHT is not for Mass Tourism.

@JoostPronk 2 months ago

Great video.

If you are going to do the Dom climb and have children, do the children climb. You'll still go to the top as in this video, but at one point the children get the chance to hit the bells with a hammer. That will make their day. You'll still climb to the top, which is easier for them (the children) and they will also find that hilarious. Because you will be asking by your child, who is going up no problem, how much further? The last part is a challenge, with a big pay off.

@weiareinboud6990 2 months ago

And we have much more! Utrecht and Maastricht are the cities with most buildings in romanesque style of the country, that's from around 11th and 12th century. There also are remains of a palace of the 11th century, Paleis Lofen. I the middle ages Utrecht was the biggest city of the country and that old city still is visible as the old centre of today's city.