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Valkenburg aan de Geul in the Netherlands

Wednesday, 12 March 2025 - 11:00 am (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: European Union / Europäische Union
Category/Kategorie: General Reading Time:  4 minutes

🔊 Listen to this Post Valkenburg aan de Geul (Limburgish: Valkeberg) is a municipality situated in the southeastern Dutch province of Limburg. The name refers to the central town in the municipality, Valkenburg, and the small river Geul passing through it.

Valkenburg is no longer a fortified town but it has largely retained its historical charm, although the town suffered heavily from mass tourism in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. The municipality of Valkenburg aan de Geul still hosts more than 1 million overnight stays a year. The present aim of the council of Valkenburg is to move away from mass tourism and emphasize “the natural and historical beauty of the town”. In order to attract more “quality tourism” a plan was made called Vestingstad Valkenburg (“Fortification Town Valkenburg”). Included in the plan were the restoration of two surviving city gates, the rebuilding of Geulpoort, a 14th-century city gate that was demolished along with the castle in the 17th century, and the reconstruction of the defensive moat along the Medieval wall in Halderpark. More or less simultaneously initiated was the redevelopment of the town’s shopping district, finished around 2017.

These days Valkenburg is known for its tourist attractions, chalk houses (locally called mergel or marl) and the hilly countryside. The main sight are:

• Valkenburg castle, of which only a ruin remains;
• several other castles, castle farms and stately homes, mostly situated along the Geul river;
• Oud-Valkenburg, a small village along the Geul with a particularly picturesque ensemble of a gothic church, two castles (Genhoes and Schaloen) and several historic farmsteads, all in local marlstone;
• several watermills, two in the old town;
• parts of the city walls and two of three city gates survived (Berkelpoort and Grendelpoort; the third gate, Geulpoort was rebuilt in 2014);
• old court building (Spaans Leenhof);
• Saint Nicolas church, a Gothic church in Valkenburg with some late Medieval wood carvings;
• Saint Gerlachus church in nearby Houthem Sint-Gerlach, with Baroque frescos by Johann Adam Schöpf, painted on marl;
• several former marl quarries (locally called ‘caves’, although they are largely man-made), offering guided tours; some have interesting charcoal drawings and marl sculptures, one has been recreated as the catacombs of Rome (designed by Pierre Cuypers), another one as a coal mine; in the winter Christmas markets are held in some quarries;
• a 30-metre-high (98-foot) viewing tower (Wilhelminatoren) atop a hill, connected to the town below by aerial lift;
• Thermae 2000, a sauna and wellness resort;
• a Holland Casino branch, as well as a large park around it (Kuurpark);
• two amusement parks; one focusing on popular fairy tales (Sprookjesbos);

Valkenburg is situated in a part of the Netherlands that is known for its natural environment and historical buildings. The area, although quite hilly, is perfectly suited for walks or (mountain) bike tours.

Read more on Wikivoyage Valkenburg aan de Geul and Wikipedia Valkenburg aan de Geul (Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State - Weather report by weather.com - Global Passport Power Rank - Travel Risk Map - Democracy Index - GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank - Global Competitiveness Report - Corruption Perceptions Index - Press Freedom Index - World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index - UN Human Development Index - Global Peace Index - Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index). Photos by Wikimedia Commons. If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at comment@wingsch.net. Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.

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