Wijk bij Duurstede

Utrecht Province


Wijk's delightful canal-ringed antique core includes a street of cafes and galleries (Peperstraat) behind the distinctive church (on Markt) and a very romantic castle, shattered into two remnant towers. Though the castle is private and used as a wedding venue, its semiwild wooded park is freely accessible to visitors who can gaze at the structure from various angles across the moat and drawbridge.

Wijk is accessible by bus 41 from Utrecht Centraal (€4.30, 35 minutes) or bus 56 from Amersfoort via Doorn. To find the old centre, walk down Zandweg beside the Gouden Leeuw hotel-restaurant and cross the canal bridge.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Utrecht Province attractions

1. Huis Doorn

4.28 MILES

Set in beautifully tended parkland in otherwise forgettable Doorn, this refined, art-filled manor house had numerous owners, but none more infamous than…

2. Kasteel Amerongen

5.22 MILES

Kasteel Amerongen is a moated, rectilinear castle-mansion whose sumptuous salons can be perused by joining an hourly guided tour (in Dutch). If you just…

3. Pyramide van Austerlitz

8.34 MILES

One of the oddest rural landmarks south of Amersfoort is a 36m-high pyramid-shaped hill that was originally built in 1804 to keep some 18,000 French…

4. Utrechtse Heuvelrug National Park

8.36 MILES

Cycling and hiking is ideal in this 65km green arc east of Utrecht city. The national park has the Netherlands' second-largest sweep of wildlife-rich…

5. Rietveld-Schröderhuis

11.58 MILES

Years ahead of its time, this small but uniquely conceived house was built in 1924 by celebrated Utrecht designer Gerrit Rietveld. He'd be amazed to find…

6. Sonnenborgh Museum & Observatory

12.16 MILES

The Sonnenborgh is actually two museums in one: upstairs has an exhibit on the history of astronomy in an 1850 building that was once among the foremost…

7. Centraal Museum

12.19 MILES

More than half the museum's 10 gallery-rooms feature temporary exhibitions (so check the schedules). Meanwhile the core collection takes a thought…

8. Spoorweg Museum

12.21 MILES

Entered through a gloriously restored 1874 station with magnificent art-nouveau chandeliers, the national railway museum offers countless historic locos,…