Sep 22, 2026
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Groningen, Netherlands Guide
Discover the canal-lined city beyond Amsterdam, from medieval towers to world-class museums and legendary cycling culture.
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Love Netherlands
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Dear Netherlands,
There’s an old saying in the Netherlands: God made the world, but the Dutch made Holland. Drive across Zeeland, past the Delta Works, and you start to understand. Or stand at Kinderdijk at sunrise, when the windmills catch the first light and the canals are mirror-flat, and you can feel 800 years of stubbornness built into the landscape.
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Photo: Shutterstock
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In today’s email:
- Groningen, Netherlands: The Complete City Guide (2026)
- At The Café — Café Olivier — The Church That Became Utrecht’s Favourite Bar
- Around The Web — The Love Netherlands Guide № 005: Dutch Cycling Culture, Discover Your Dutch Roots in New Zealand: A Heritage Guide for Dutch-New Zealanders, Volendam Day Trip from Amsterdam: Your Complete 2026 Guide + more
- From Love Netherlands — How to Plan a Dutch Heritage Trip to Your Ancestral Town
- Dutch Food You Will Love — Pannenkoeken — The Dutch Pancake That Eats Like a Meal
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Groningen, Netherlands: The Complete City Guide (2026)
👉 Read the full story
Groningen, Netherlands, is one of those cities that rewards every visitor who makes the effort to reach it. While most travellers to the country settle for Amsterdam and a handful of well-signposted day trips, this northern city carries a personality entirely its own — a sweeping medieval market square, a world-famous museum that looks like nothing else on earth, the strongest cycling culture in a country already obsessed with bikes, and a student population that keeps the streets lively all year round. If you are planning a trip to Groningen, Netherlands , this guide covers everything you need: what to see, where to eat, when to go, and how to get there. Love the Netherlands? Join our free newsletter for hidden Dutch gems → inlovewithnetherlands.com/subscribe Why Groningen Deserves Your Attention With around 235,000 inhabitants, Groningen ranks as the sixth-largest city in the…
👉 Read the full story
Have you been there? Do you have a memory of this corner of the Netherlands? Hit reply and tell us — we’d love to hear your story.
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At The Café
Café Olivier — The Church That Became Utrecht’s Favourite Bar
Café Olivier in Utrecht is a working Belgian bar inside a deconsecrated 19th-century church. The pulpit is still there. The stained glass is still there. The pews have been replaced with long wooden tables where students, workers, and retired professors all somehow end up sharing a Trappist beer. It’s the kind of place that makes you understand why the Dutch are so comfortable with the quiet strangeness of their country — nothing here is trying to impress you, but everything is worth looking at twice.
👉 Visit the café
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Around The Web
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From Love Netherlands
Your great-grandmother left a small Dutch town in the 1890s. She packed a single trunk and sailed to a new world. She never went back. You have her photograph. You have her name. You have the name of the town she left behind. Now you want to go. A Dutch heritage trip connects you with something larger than travel. You are not just visiting a country. You are returning to a place that shaped who you are. This guide walks you through every step —…
👉 Read the full story
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Photo via Love Netherlands
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Dutch Food You Will Love
Pannenkoeken — The Dutch Pancake That Eats Like a Meal
A Dutch pannenkoek is the size of a dinner plate, thinner than an American pancake but thicker than a French crêpe, and it’s served as a full meal — savoury or sweet, never both. The classic order is a pannenkoek met spek (with bacon) drizzled in stroop. Children get them with apple and cinnamon. The pannenkoekenhuis tradition runs in old farmhouses and converted mills across the countryside, where you can sit at long tables and order a pancake the size of your face for the price of a sandwich. It’s the Sunday family lunch you’ll wish your grandmother had known about.
👉 Read the full story
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