Understand
The town is a good mix between students (mostly medical and business, a lot of them from abroad) and locals. This keeps the town alive and fresh.
Information
The VVV is the local tourist agency, and in fact, the tourist agency throughout the entire country. If ever you're lost in the Netherlands, just look for a VVV. They'll help straighten you out, and sell you a map too!
For information about all (cultural) events in Maastricht, try to find a copy of the 'Week in Week uit'. They are distributed all around the city.
Talk
Maybe even more than in other parts of the Netherlands, people know how to speak foreign languages. So don't worry if you don't speak Dutch, many Maastrichtenaars are happy to converse with you in English, German or even French.
Get in
By air
There is an airport near Maastricht, the Maastricht Aachen Airport, which you can reach by the local bus system, or by taxi. Flights to Maastricht are more expensive, but more convenient than flying into another city, such as Amsterdam, and travelling to Maastricht by train.
Airports
By train
There is an extensive rail system in the Netherlands. From Maastricht, there is an hourly link to Liege (30 min) & Brussels (1:30h), Belgium . In addition there is a direct train to Eindhoven (1 hour), Utrecht, Amsterdam (2½ hours) and Alkmaar, twice an hour.
Local trains will take you to Valkenburg, Heerlen & Kerkrade, four times every hour.
Train stations
Train information
By car
There a two motorways from and to Maastricht: A2 (Amsterdam, Eindhoven, Sittard, Belgium and France - "Route du Soleil") and A79 (Heerlen, Aachen).
By bus
Get around
By car
By bus
The city has a bus system called the Stadsbus ("City Bus") that travels over most of the city and to surrounding areas. Tickets can be bought on the bus, or in advance with a pass called a Strippenkaart "Strip-card".
You can purchase the Strippenkaart at the train station, or any post office or newsagent. There are two denominations, € 6.80 and € 20.10. The lesser of the two has 15 strips on it, and the larger 45. So, each strip costs about € 0.45, and each trip on the bus takes at least 2 strips. So a ride on the bus might cost...
