I had been wanting to explore more of the Netherlands, so I asked Jacob if I could plan us a weekend trip to a surprise destination. After I confirmed Jacob was down for the adventure, I set about researching potential destinations in the Netherlands that might be fun to visit. Major cities like Den Haag, Utrecht, or Rotterdam, or the car-free city of Giethoorn, all seemed like good options, but I was drawn to Vught due to its proximity to the Loonse en Drunense Duinen National Park. Jacob and I have missed weekend trips to the wilderness since moving to Amsterdam from the United States, so Vught seemed like a promising choice!

Saturday August 19th

Arrival in Vught

We arrived at the Landgoed Huize Bergen hotel early in the afternoon after traveling for about two hours by transit. Luckily, we were able to check in early before heading out for our lunch reservation at the Brasserie Catharina van Maurick in Kasteel Maurick.

The weather was pleasant, so we sat outside and enjoyed avocado toast and a veggie burger. The outdoor patio of the castle was beautiful and the food was also nice.

Afterwards, we went on a walk through Vught to the Ommetje Vughtse Heide loop. The loop was heavily forested in some places and opened out to these beautiful fields of purple flowers in other segments. The loop also took us past the Camp Vught National Monument, where we learned a bit about the town during World War II. Apparently, Camp Vught became the only SS concentration camp outside Nazi Germany while Vught was occupied during the war.

Night out in ’s-Hertogenbosch

After our walk, we took a train up to the nearby town of ’s-Hertogenbosch, also known as Den Bosch. We wandered through this charming town a little before heading to dinner at Noemme. The food there was creative, and they offered many vegetarian options. We would definitely go back to Noemme if we find ourselves in Den Bosch again!

The town was surprisingly lively with many fun bars and friendly servers. There was also some sort of pop-up summer fair going on, which was fun to walk through.

Sunday August 20th

Loonse en Drunense Duinen National Park

After fueling up on possibly one of the best ever hotel breakfasts, we set out to visit the place that had drawn us to Vught in the first place: Loonse en Drunense Duinen National Park. However, there was no quick way to get to the park using public transit, so we instead rented bikes from the hotel. Although I am notoriously accident-prone on a bike, I was able to manage the ~14km ride out to the park since there was a dedicated bike path that was extremely flat and straight (thanks Netherlands!).

The park itself was nice, and it was interesting to see the sand dunes. It reminded us both a bit of the dunes in Michigan. Actually, we were getting strong Michigan vibes from our entire stay in Vught. Maybe it was the climate and all the trees.

After walking around the dunes a bit, we stopped at the Cafe Landgoed Bosch & Duin on the outskirts of the park for a light lunch. On the bike ride back to the hotel, we stopped at a stand for soft serve icecream that was along the bike path. Jacob has said this was some of his favorite icecream ever (but maybe it just tasted so good after biking in the sun for a long while).

Utrecht on the way home

On the way home, we had a train transfer in Utrecht, so we decided to see the town and get dinner. We ended up trying a vegetarian Italian place called Vegitalian, which ended up have some pretty delicious pizza! The town of Utrecht seemed charming, and we will hopefully get to visit it again in the future :)

Last modified on 2024-06-15