Utrecht Landmarks and Museums
Utrecht is the fourth-largest city in the Netherlands, with about 370,000 residents, yet its medieval centre is small enough to see on foot. This page follows a sensible order for one day, from the tower in the morning to the canals in the evening. Prices are in euros.
Morning: the tower and the church
Start at Domplein 9, where the Dom Tower guided climbs leave daily from 10:00. At 112.5 m it is the highest church tower in the country, built between 1321 and 1382. A restoration completed on 9 November 2024 cleared the scaffolding. The ascent is on foot, up 465 steps, and tickets cost 13.50 euros for adults and 8.50 for children aged 4 to 12, students and over-65s (domtoren.nl ).
Across the square stands the Domkerk, the surviving part of the cathedral. A storm in 1674 destroyed the nave, which is why the tower now stands apart from the church. The cathedral was built from 1254 to 1517 and has belonged to the Protestant church since 1580. The city’s Catholic cathedral is the Sint-Catharinakathedraal on Lange Nieuwstraat. Visiting times for the Domkerk are on domkerk.nl .
The Pandhof, a cloister garden of the 14th century, lies between the church and the university hall and has medicinal herbs and a fountain of St. Martin.
Midday: Rietveld and the museums
The Rietveld Schröder House (Prins Hendriklaan 50) dates from 1924, was designed by Gerrit Rietveld for Truus Schröder-Schräder, and joined the UNESCO list in 2000. Reservations are compulsory and cost 19 euros for adults, with timed slots on rietveldschroderhuis.nl .
The Centraal Museum (Agnietenstraat 1) opened in 1838 and is the oldest municipal museum in the country. It is closed on Mondays and an adult ticket costs 18 euros. Its collection includes the Red and Blue Chair, works by Gerard van Honthorst and Hendrick ter Brugghen, and the Utrechts Schip.
Museum Catharijneconvent (Lange Nieuwstraat 38) fills a 15th-century monastery with medieval manuscripts, gold and altarpieces, including work by Rembrandt and Jan van Scorel. Current hours and prices are on the museum’s website.
Afternoon: the canals and Paushuize
The Oudegracht is about 2 km long, and its two-level design lets you choose between the shopping street and the water-level wharf. The Nieuwegracht runs parallel and is quieter, with lime trees and 17th-century houses. On Kromme Nieuwegracht, Paushuize was started in 1517 for Adriaan Florenszoon Boeyens, later Pope Adrian VI, though he never lived there.
Places of remembrance
The Resistance Monument on Domplein, a bronze torch-bearing woman of 1949 by Corinne Franzén-Heslenfeld, commemorates those from Utrecht who died in the resistance. Maliebaanstation, now the Spoorwegmuseum at Maliebaanstation 16, was the place from which more than 1,200 Jewish residents of Utrecht were deported in 1942 and 1943. A memorial, the Monument voor het Joods Transport, was unveiled there in 2005. Stolpersteine, small plaques in the old centre’s pavements, remember individual victims. Treat each of these places quietly.
Practical tips
Nearly all desks take cards only. Cyclists own the red lanes, so keep out of them. On the lower wharves there are no railings.
Read more: Walking Tours in Utrecht shows how to link the sights on foot.
Booking help
City tours can be compared on Viator .