What to eat, drink, see, and do in Arnhem

A hidden gem of a Dutch day trip destination

Jul 12, 2024

Living in Amsterdam, there are so many destinations for Dutch day trips within easy traveling distance vying for visits—come to Haarlem! don’t forget Utrecht! you haven’t been to Giethoorn yet?!—that unfortunately, other perfectly lovely cities and villages nearby often don’t even end up on our radar.

These hidden gems might not get the same level of recognition as places The Hague, Rotterdam, or Maastricht, but I’d argue that in spite of (or because of?) that, they end up offering a truer sense of the life and culture in the Netherlands, unimpeded as they are by the tsunami of tourists that descend upon Amsterdam each summer.

Just this week, I had the opportunity to check out one such hidden gem: Arnhem, a city about an hour east of Amsterdam near the German border.

My partner was sent there for a work trip and on a whim, I decided to tag along. When I looked the city up on our train ride there, I could only find recycled lists of the same few museums, so I didn’t have high hopes about my entertainment options—but I was pleasantly surprised at what charm awaited me there along the banks of the Rhine.

After spending a few days exploring and chatting with locals, I put together the following guide of the best things to eat, drink, see, and do in Arnhem during a day trip (or weekend trip!) there from Amsterdam.

How we got there

Couldn’t be easier: We took a train from Amsterdam Centraal to Arnhem Centraal. It was just four stops on the NS Intercity to Nijmegen (from platform 4 in the Amsterdam station, if we want to get specific), which took about an hour. Uno reverse on the way back.

Where we stayed

The absolute coolest hotel, directly across the street from Arnhem Centraal (like, we got off the train, walked out the doors of the station, and there was the entrance) called Hotel Haarhuis.

I was shocked to learn that my partner’s company pays for employees to stay here when they work from Arnhem, because truly, it’s luxurious. And given that his company pays for it, you know this isn’t sponsored content—I just genuinely loved everything about our stay at this hotel.

First, the rooms themselves are lovely. After a soak in our room’s jacuzzi tub, I turned on the air conditioning (a luxury, as we don’t have AC in our flat in Amsterdam) and spread out in the king-sized bed for a truly fantastic night’s sleep. But that wasn’t even the best part.

I mean, there’s a spa with three saunas and a rooftop plunge pool that guests can use for free whenever they want! The main restaurant, LOCALS, isn’t just farm-to-table, it’s fresh-from-our-own-vertical-farm-which-is-literally-right-on-the-outside-of-the-building-to-table! The in-house cafe and patisserie HOEK offers Stroopwafel lattes and homemade macarons! You can pour your own wine directly from the barrel in The Storage, a secret speakeasy-style wine cellar and whiskey lounge in the basement! The rooftop bar and restaurant BLOU boasts not just a panoramic view of the Arnhem skyline but also the ROOFDROP, winner of the "Gouden Kraan award" for the most beautiful toilet in the Netherlands!!!

And honestly, even if the hotel didn’t have all of that going for it, I would’ve still loved it just because of the staff. Every person we interacted with was friendly, kind, and absolutely stellar at their job, from the front desk manager who checked us in to the housekeepers to our server at dinner and everyone else in between.

Seriously, if you’re going to stay overnight in Arnhem, you have to stay at Hotel Haarhuis. And when you do, let’s talk about how comfy the leather sofas in the lobby are and let’s try to figure out how they make it smell so good in there.