The city of Leeuwarden is the best city trip destination in the Netherlands. It was awarded the Zoover Award on Thursday.
Aside from the Frisian capital, Groningen (third) and Assen (fifth) were also in the top echelons of the ranking list. The mayor of Leeuwarden, Sybrand van Haersma Buma, received the audience prize this week.
With an average of 8.64, the Frisian city was just ahead of cities such as Vlissingen (8.55), Groningen (8.51), Amsterdam (8.51) and Assen (8.49). Maastricht, the winner of the previous three editions, dropped to tenth with a rating of 8.14. The election is based on 15,000 city trip reviews.
Leeuwarden is particularly praised for its cozy atmosphere, the extensive range of catering establishments and the beautiful historic city center. Mayor van Haersma Buma is pleased with the increased popularity of the city, noting in the Leeuwarder Courant that he is proud of the election of Leeuwarden as the best city trip. “In this city, people are welcoming to visitors and I think it’s great that this, like the range of culture, hospitality and shops, is so appreciated”, says Van Haersma Buma.
Fun facts
Zoover listed a number of fun factoids about Leeuwarden. For example, it is stated that the city was the European Capital of Culture in 2018, and that the Oldehove (1529) leans more than the tower of Pisa. The history of Leeuwarden goes back to Roman times and the first mention of the city was in the eighth century. The city has more than 90,000 inhabitants, and together with surrounding villages the municipality has 123,000 inhabitants. There are more than 600 national monuments such as De Waag, the NS Station, the St. Boniface Church; and the Fryslân Nature Museum.
Top hotels
According to the reviews site, those interested in a city trip should go to Hotel Oranje Leeuwarden, which comes out well with a 9.4 rating. Hotel Stadhouderlijk Hof (8.7) and Hotel Post-Plaza (8.3) are also rated well by Zoover’s users.
Zoover
Zoover is a website for holiday reviews for and by travelers. Travelers give reviews of hotels, apartments, campsites, holiday parks, cruises, holiday homes and more.