Frozen Fingers and Cheap Coffee: A Budget Student's Frantic Weekend in Some Random Dutch Town
ok so i didn't plan this trip at all. my mate told me about this place weeks ago and i only booked the flixbus thursday night because i had £12 left on my card and thought why not. the weather data said 7.68 degrees which in celsius sounds almost decent but trust me it's not. the humidity was 86% which basically means rain is always lurking, waiting to ruin your life.
i arrived at 6am saturday and the first thing i noticed was the wind. it wasn't normal wind. it was that aggressive northern european wind that cuts through your jacket and your will to live. the feels-like temperature was 7.2 which is basically a lie because it felt like negative infinity. the pressure was 1023 hPa which someone told me means stable weather but stable just meant grey and miserable for twelve hours straight.
Quick Answers
Q: Is this place worth visiting?
A: if you like small dutch towns with zero tourists and cheap beer then yeah. if you need wifi and actual heating then maybe not.
Q: Is it expensive?
A: cheapest place i've been in the netherlands. hostel was £18, beer was €2.50, food was fine if you stick to the aldi.
Q: Who would hate it here?
A: anyone who needs things to be open on time. everything closes at 6pm. i literally couldn't buy groceries at 7pm on a saturday.
Q: Best time to visit?
A: summer. obviously. but if you want empty streets and that moody atmospheric vibe then january is actually sick.
the train station was tiny. like genuinely tiny. three platforms, one cafe that only sold bitterballen and coffee. a local warned me that the cafe closes at 2pm so if you want food you'd better plan ahead. i didn't plan ahead. i learned this the hard way.
the architecture here is weirdly beautiful. you've got these old brick buildings that look like they've been bombed in ww2 and then just... never fixed properly. but then there's these modern houses that look like they're from the future. it's like two different cities got stitched together. a guy at the hostel said it's because the city invested in art installations in the 90s and some locals hated it but the younger generation loves it.
there are no real tourist attractions here which is either the best or worst thing depending on what you're looking for. i just walked around for hours. i found this abandoned train track behind the main station that someone told me used to go to germany but got closed in 1998. it was covered in graffiti and honestly looked better than anything in the guidebook.
i heard from another backpacker at the hostel that the best view is from this random hill on the east side of town. it's not marked on any map but if you walk east for about twenty minutes you'll see it. i went at sunset and honestly it was incredible. the whole town looked tiny and the sky was this orange-pink color that you only get when it's cold enough for the moisture to do weird things to the light.
*the coffee situation deserves its own paragraph because as a budget student i need caffeine to function. there are exactly two coffee shops that aren't chains. one is in the main square and charges €3.50 for a flat white which is criminal. the other is this tiny place near the university that charges €2 and the guy who runs it doesn't smile but he gives you extra espresso shots if you look tired. i went there four times in two days.
food-wise, the aldi is your best friend. i spent about €8 per day on groceries which is fine. there are also these small kebab shops that do wraps for €4.50 which honestly hit different at 2am when you're lost and cold. a local told me the best one is the one with the blue awning near the bus station but honestly i couldn't tell the difference between any of them.
safety wise i felt completely fine. it's one of those places where everyone knows everyone so you don't get that weird city vibe. i walked alone at night and the most threatening thing that happened was a dog barking at me. the crime rate is apparently really low according to some stats i found online.
nearby cities - groningen is about 30 minutes by train and that's where you go if you want actual nightlife. i didn't go because i ran out of money but someone told me it's worth it. you can also get to amsterdam in about 2.5 hours which is convenient if you want to compare expensive vs cheap netherlands.
pro tips from my chaotic experience:
download the ns app before you come because the ticket machines are always broken. bring waterproof everything - not water resistant, waterproof. the humidity here will ruin your day if you're not prepared. learn at least "dank u" and "alstublieft" because locals appreciate it even if your accent is terrible. don't bother with the museum - i went and it was closed for renovation until march.
the hostel i stayed at was called something like "the sleep well" or "good night" or whatever. it was fine. €18 for a dorm bed, shared bathroom, free breakfast that was just bread and coffee but honestly that was enough. the wifi was trash but that's fine because i was outside freezing my extremities off anyway.
overall - would i come back? maybe in summer when it's not actively trying to kill me with weather. would i recommend it? only if you like places that don't try to be anything. this town doesn't care about being tourist friendly and honestly that's what i liked about it. it's just there, being itself, not giving a damn.
check tripadvisor for more "official" reviews but honestly they're all from people who came in summer and complained about nothing being open.
if you want more honest messy travel content from a broke student who makes bad decisions, follow along. or don't. whatever.
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