Things to do in Eindhoven

Neighborhood · Strijp

The former Philips manufacturing complex — 'the forbidden city' when it was closed to outsiders — now a district of studios, bars, a skatepark and a Sunday market.

Local tip: The Klokgebouw and Anton & Gerard blocks host most of Dutch Design Week. Come on a Sunday for the Rotterdamse-style vintage market on the Ketelhuisplein; the weekday version is mostly people working.

Culture · Centrum, Dommel riverside

A cigar manufacturer's 1936 gift to the city, extended in 2003, holding one of Europe's most serious postwar collections including a deep set of Lissitzky and Beuys.

Local tip: It is free on the last Wednesday evening of the month and it takes the awkward questions about museums seriously — the permanent hang is explicitly re-curated rather than presented as neutral. The riverside terrace behind it is one of the few quiet spots in the centre.

Landmark · Southern edge, off the A2

A closed research park of a couple of hundred companies and thousands of researchers, marketed as the smartest square kilometre in Europe and organised around shared cleanrooms.

Local tip: The Strip — the central building with the restaurants — is open to the public, and lunch there is the fastest way to understand who actually lives in this region. Cycle in from the city along the Dommel rather than driving; parking is for badge-holders.

Landmark · Noord-West, Noord Brabantlaan

A 1966 Philips science pavilion shaped like a landed flying saucer, now the Next Nature museum, and the building on every postcard the city ever printed.

Local tip: It was closed to the public for decades as a conference centre, which is why locals over forty are still slightly surprised you can go in. The Philips Museum in the centre — the original 1891 lamp factory — is the other half of the story and takes an hour.

Nature · South, Genneper Parken

A stretch of park, woodland and river running from the centre out past the open-air museum and the ice rink towards Waalre.

Local tip: The Dommel path is the sane cycle commute from the centre to the High Tech Campus — no traffic lights, and about fifteen minutes. The prehistoric open-air museum next to it is aimed at children and is much better than it needs to be.

Food · Woensel, north of the ring

The city's working market square and the Turkish, Moroccan and Syrian food street running off it — the cheapest and best groceries in Eindhoven.

Local tip: Saturday market for produce, the Kruisstraat any day for bread, spices and grilled meat. This is also where you find the greengrocers who stay open when the centre's shops keep Dutch hours, and it is a five-minute cycle from the station.