It’s been a while ago, and I was not even sure if I wanted to post the travel diary up on the blog – but in December, I spent one day in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands. The reason to hesitate was mostly that, frankly, I didn’t do anything special there. I visited friends and went to the city center for some shopping and coffee, but that’s about it. No walks through the surrounding nature, no visit to the Apenheul or Julianatoren. But then I realized that this might just be what most people want to do when visiting a city for just one day. So here we go, with a pretty unspectacular travel diary from Apeldoorn – enjoy!
One Day in Apeldoorn
The main reason for me to travel to Apeldoorn was not the surrounding nature or any of the other things it is famous for – but to visit friends. After having lived in Munich for the past years, it feels as if we are now living super close to all our friends in the Netherlands, although it’s still one and a half hours by car or train. However, I felt that it was time to finally see them again, and therefore decided that we would spend the day with them in Apeldoorn. We started off with a homemade breakfast at their house, which was perfect to catch up on each others lives – because even with the best intentions to keep in touch when you move abroad, for some reason it is never the same as just spending a day together and talk. We stayed in most of the morning and our breakfast slowly turned into an early lunch, which was perfect. It was only after that we decided that it might be a good idea to take a walk after so much eating and drove to the city center.
The city of Apeldoorn is located in the Dutch province Gelderland, and with 160,000 inhabitants, it is the 11th biggest city of the country. Yes, seriously, we do not have many bigger cities. Although this might seem pretty small to anyone from a bigger country, Apeldoorn certainly is very ‘gezellig’, as I also could experience earlier, when partying here. We parked our car in a residential area close to the city center and walked from there. The center is very pretty, with old houses and small cafés. It is also perfect when going shopping, as there are no cars allowed in the city center and you can find some smaller shops that are not part of the big chains that you can find everywhere. We took our time to walk through the city center, went into some shops and just enjoyed each others company – a perfect, relaxed afternoon with friends!
Later on, we decided to conclude the day in a café with some beer and coffee for everyone, before heading back to The Hague. We went to Café Paris, which had a great atmosphere and just enough room for us – and a good beer selection. We even considered to get some dinner there, as our friends said that they had some pretty good dishes, but unfortunately, the table was reserved for later so we had to leave after finishing our drinks.
Although I haven’t yet seen a lot except for the city center of Apeldoorn, I am sure I will be back soon – not only to see my friends, but also to explore more of this beautiful city. Have you ever been to Apeldoorn and surroundings?
Find more travel diaries and tips for (weekend) trips to the Netherlands here.