Tilburg

Tilburg
Tilburg is a city located in the south of the Netherlands, near the Belgian border. It is the sixth biggest city with approximately 200,000 inhabitants, including 13,500 students. Tilburg has city rights since 1809 and became famous for its wool industries.

Couch Searching & Surfing
Tilburg has its own CouchSurf group. There are over 200 CS-members in Tilburg. Since many people decide to just visit the big cities in the Netherlands there are not many CouchSurfers looking for a couch in Tilburg. Therefore it's relatively easy to find a host. However, you should still select the hosts you find most interesting and make an effort in requesting a couch. Please note that during some events, e.g. Roadburn Festival, there is a huge number of visitors. It's recommended to request early (well, not too early).

Since September 2009 there's a 100% CouchSurfing-loving house, called 'Casa Merode'. It has an official sub-group of the Tilburg CS-group. It's one of the places in Tilburg with a big amount of couches.

By train
Tilburg is easy to reach by train Direct trains from
 * Roosendaal - coming from Belgium
 * Den Haag, Delft, Rotterdam or Breda
 * Eindhoven, Venlo
 * Den Bosch, Utrecht

and just 1,5 hours from Amsterdam or Schiphol

By car
There are 7 public car parks in Tilburg, but if your CouchSurfer doesn't live in the middle of the city center there are probably some free parking lots in the direct neighborhood.
 * A58 from Eindhoven
 * A27-A58 or N282 from Breda
 * N65 from 's-Hertogenbosch

The city is also easy to reach for hitchhikers, since Tilburg's ring roads are linked to high ways.

By bus
Busses are easy to use. Just buy a prepaid ticket (a 'strippenkaart') in the kiosk on the station and GO! If you just need one bus ride it might be smart to buy a single ticket in the bus though. To check out routes and timetables check out www.9292ov.nl

''Strippenkaart: A paper ticket with strips which gets a stamp every time you travel. The amount of 'stamped off strips' depends on the length of your journey. You can buy a 'strippenkaart' with 15 strips for 7,60. You can use your 'strippenkaart' in busses, trams and metros.''

''OV Chipkaart: this is the new way to pay in buses and trains. You can get an anonymous card at the railway station''

By bike
A bike is great. You can ride it everywhere and you just park it close to other bikes. Remember to bring a strong lock and to lock your bike to something that isn't movable.

If you don't have a bike and still want to cruise around in Tilburg you have two (legal) options:
 * Rent a bike at the main train station. It'll cost you €6,50 a day and a €50,- warranty
 * Ask your CouchSurfer (maybe in advance) if he/she could burrow you a bike.

There are lots of cycling lanes within Tilburg and even more (beautiful ones) just outside of Tilburg.

By foot
And of course you can.. walk! Tilburg is relatively small, all the cool bars and shops are in walking distance of each other. If you arrive by train you can get a free street map at the blue machine just outside the train station. It can also guide you to your CS-address, since it can print you a route.

Old catholic churches

 * Heuvelse Kerk (Heuvelring)
 * Broekhovense Kerk (Broekhovense weg)
 * Kerk Dionysius (Stadhuisstraat)

Touristic attractions in Tilburg
Over 10 thousand objects collected about nature, so a big museum with a lot of information. Open: Thursday till Friday from 10.00 to 17.00. Saturday and Sunday from 12.00 till 17.00. Entrance: € 6,00
 * Natuurmuseum Brabant ( Spoorlaan 434 / 5038 CH Tilburg / 013-5353935 / www.natuurmuseumbrabant.nl )

Reptiles, amfibies, predators and falconry (demonstration). You can hold a real snake and a tarantula. Open: daily from 10.00-18.00 hour. / Entrance: adults € 8,00, children 3 till 12 year € 7,00, 65+ € 6,00.
 * Dierenpark De Oliemeulen (Reitse Hoevenstraat 30 / 5042 EH Tilburg / 013-4630026 / www.oliemeulen.nl )

Touristic attractions around Tilburg
Beekse Bergen 31 / 5081 NJ Hilvarenbeek / 0900-2335732 / www.beeksebergen.nl Animal park with over a 1000 animals and 125 different species. You can walk through the park, use the Safaribus or boat, or drive through the park with your own car. Open: January 10.00-16.00 hour, February 10.00-16.30 hour, march till June 10.00-17.00 hour, July and august 10.00-18.00 hour, September en October 10.00-17.00 hour, November 10.00-16.30 hour, December 10.00-16.00 hour. The pay desk and the car safari are closing 30min earlier.
 * Loonse en Drunense Duinen A unique nature residence within the Netherlands. Sand dunes surrounded by forest and ‘venne’ but without any sea or lake.
 * Safaripark Beekse Bergen


 * De Efteling ( A Theme Park about Fairytales. )

Lunettenlaan 600 / 5263 NT, Vught / 073-6566764 / www.nmkampvught.nl This was one of the three concentration camps in The Netherlands during WO II. These days are exhibits telling personal stories, but you also can walk through the barracks and the watchtower. The barrack is build again and shows how the prisoners were living. The execution site was a shooting place from the army before the war. Here were 329 men killed. On the model you can see how big the place was and how many buildings there were. On the monument for the children are the names and ages of the 1.269 Jewish children who died in 1943. Entrance: free (but a donation is always welcome) Open: all year from 10:00 till 17:00. Saturday, Sunday and holidays from 12:00 till 18:00
 * Nationaal Monument Kamp Vught

Parks

 * Oude Warande
 * Het Wandelbos
 * Leijpark: Leypark (in the south) is a beautiful transition area between town and country. It is the venue for several special events each year, including the Festival Mundial.
 * Reeshofpark
 * Stadspark Oudedijk
 * Tivolipark
 * Wilhelminapark
 * Quirijnstokpark
 * Midden Brabant Park
 * Kromhoutpark

Forest

 * Oude Warande
 * Dongevallei: info about the Dongevallei ( only Dutch )
 * Reeshofbos
 * Mussersbos
 * Noorderbos
 * Drijflanen: This area got a marked route named Reeshofroute (5,8 km) Information and Pictures ( only Dutch )
 * Wilmabos

Special Events
February:
 * Carnaval (four days of drinking and partying; big parade)

April:
 * the Roadburn Festival (metal, progressive rock, stoner;)

May:
 * Meimarkt (May market: 24 hour flea market all over the city)

June:
 * Festival Mundial (world music)

July:
 * T-Parade (intercultural fest with a parade through the city)
 * Tilburgse Kermis (biggest carnival/fair of the Benelux and one of the biggest of Europe)

September:
 * Incubate (independent culture festival)

Others

 * Casa Merode

Arts and museums

 * Audax Textiel Museum (textile/wool museum)
 * De Pont (modern arts)
 * Theaters Tilburg (all sorts of theater)
 * De NWE Vorst (independent theater)

(music) Stages

 * 013 Tilburg (pop, rock, metal)
 * Paradox (independent, jazz, experimental)
 * Hall of Fame (independent, urban, electronic, rock, free concerts)
 * Cul de Sac (every thursday night live music, rock, free concerts)

Food & Drinks
In August 2009 the University Magazine, Univers, tested a lot of bars and restaurants in Tilburg.

Food
Food-wise.. Well.. You can go for a nice pub meal in Korte Heuvel, or come to Casa Merode! Or take our advice on these places:
 * De Imme (vegetarian & organic)
 * Grass Company (ok, it's a coffee shop, but they've got great food!)
 * Breexz (location -at the Central Station- is perfect and their food is great)
 * Intermezzo (Only ice cream, but the best ice cream shop ever)
 * .. Whatever you do, do NOT go to MacDonalds/KFC!

Drinks
Typical Tilburg booze
 * Schrobbelèr - herb liqueur
 * La Trappe - trappist beer

But, to be honest. The best drink in town is plain old BEER. There's a little street in the center, called Korte Heuvel, that has a few cool bars. A small summary.
 * Het Buitenbeentje Small pub, cheap beer, dart boards and cool interior design.
 * Cul de Sac Live rock music, open late, smoking allowed inside.
 * Clancy's Irish pub. Has pool tables, a smoking area and an international crowd.

Not in Korte Heuvel but a very nice place is Kandinsky. They have the largest amount of special beers in Tilburg.

Cities around

 * Den Bosch / 's-Hertogenbosch
 * Eindhoven
 * Breda

Links

 * Community of Tilburg: General information about the city Tilburg

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