Eindhoven Country: Netherlands Region: Europe More Information: CS Group Wikipedia Wikitravel City-Ambassadors: Konstantin (official) Ronald (unofficial)

Welcome surfing Eindhoven, the major city (210.000 people) of the southern Netherlands, the mechanical engineering capital of Europe and maybe the World. Where Silicon Valley does the software, we do the machines to make the hardware. Philips electronics, DAF trucks and ASML lithography machines are the driving forces behind hundreds of smaller companies in the region.

Next to the companies, Eindhoven is big in high tech research as well. The Eindhoven University of Technology and TNO (a dutch research firm) are big players in the city too.

On the south side of the station is the tourist office, there you can get a map and information.

Fortunately Eindhoven is more than high tech:

Design: With the Design Academy and the faculties of Industrial Design and Building and Architecture at the Eindhoven University of Technology delivers many graduates into the creative business.

Soccer/football: The most successful Dutch soccer-team of the last decade, PSV, plays in Eindhoven at the Philips Stadium, one of the last soccer stadiums not banned from the city centre. Atmosphere on match days is very good, and expect to a lot people to go out after the match to Stratums Eind or De Markt.

Bars: Best in its class in the Netherlands. Check the 'Nightlife' section.

Art: The van Abbe Contemporary Museum of Art is an excellent museum of its type within the Netherlands. You can also enter the restaurant and bookstore from the back using the shortest covered bridge in Europe.

Tips

• Visit the Van Abbe Museum on thursday night: it's free then!
• Go for a walk in the Genneper Parken (dutch only), a park that resembles the ancient Brabant landscape. The park also houses the national swimming centre with in- and outdoor pools, an indoor and outdoor skating rink, a pre-historic/medieval open air museum and an ecological farm/shop.
• Try to see a match by PSV. You better try the less important matches, as it can be hard to see a major one without a club-card.
• Rent a byccle at the trainstation and go for a ride, a nice typical dutch way to explore a bit more then just the citycentre.
• See one of the big works of Cleas Oldemberg : the Bowling Pins. The pins is located in the north side of the train station on the way to the Technical University.
• Eindhoven is the city of Philips so you should at least try to visit the very first Lamp Factory. More info can be found on this website: Philips Fabriek. But you would have to make a reservation in advance.
• Visit the MU museum in a building called "De Witte Dame" (the white lady).

Nightlife

Eindhoven has Stratumseind, a short street with some 50 bars side by side. Dress-code: most girls dress like it's summer, even when it is freezing. Store your wintercoat at one of the bars and hop between them until 4 o'clock. If you like it more easy going and meeting people between 25 - 35 yrs you want to go to De Markt. There are 5 big pubs with an older public. In extension of De Markt you will find an original Iris pub O'Sheas, located in the Jan van Lieshoutstraat. But no matter where you end up, being drunk at 4am, you usually grab a 'Frikandel Speciaal', Döner Kebab or a big Wiener before going home. Major spots: Stratumseind (dutch only), De Markt (central square), Wilhelminaplein, Dommelstraat.

You can see a concert in

• The Effenaar
• The Ramblers
• The Dynamo
• TAC
• PopEI
• or check Music From NL and choose Eindhoven as Regio.

Get around

If you have seen enough of Eindhoven and want to explore more of Holland then it is very easy to take the train to other cities. Many places can be reached within an hour, for example Breda (40 min), Tilburg (25 min), Utrecht (50 min), maastricht (60 min), Amsterdam (1.20 hours).

Get in

• From Schiphol : Best way is by train. There is a trainstation at Schiphol (under the main hall) and every half hour there is a direct train at .14 and .44 from platform 1 (train in the direction of Utrecht). The train takes 1.30 hour and costs 18,90 euro.
• From Eindhoven Airport : take a bus that takes you to the train station directly. It costs 4 Euros and runs every 15 mins.

Here is a link to the Dutch National railway : NS.

Hostels

For some obscur reason you do not want to couchsurf?

• StayOkay : The closest youth hostel is in Valkenswaard, just outside Eindhoven. You can get there by bus in 35 minutes (2 euro). It costs around 18 euro a night but they are booked full a lot of times.

• Budget Hotel might be a cheap hotel: , about 26 euro a night and in the city centre (5 min walk from trainstation).

• Pension Eindhoven (starting at a bit more then 20e for 1 person, or 15e/pp for 2 persons).

An alternative might be one of the Bed&Breakfasts. These are smaller places which are normally much cheaper (around 30 euro) then the hotels (>50 euro) but most of them don't have a website. You can find some on the tourist information website: VVV Eindhoven

For example:

• De Luytelaer : +3140 -2420385

(30 euro per nigt, 3 km from centre)

• B&B van der Mijl: +3140 -2437979 (30 euro per night, 3km)
• A&E Pension: +316 -52015946 (25 euro per night, 3km)
• B&B De Ster: +3140 -2115487 (30 euro per night, 2km)

Of course you can always try to couchsurf with different people for a couple of days.

But hey, you are a member of couchsurfing. I would use that if I were you.

Events

• February : Carnaval
• April : STRP Festival