Fun things to do in Provincie Noord-Brabant

When you stay at Beekse bergen you can go to 6 themeparks for free

There is a special playground for special and ofcourse Safaripark Beekse Bergen
and
De Efteling, a fairy tale atraction park
if more questions you can ask me

have a great time:-)

Willemstad is an old city where the citywalls are still visible.

Willem's Stad (Willems city), is one of the fortress cities of Willem of Orange. He built the fortress around the village Ruigenhil in 1583 to stop the Spanish. His son Maurits finished the job.

In 1603 Willemstad was formed like a sevenpoint star. The seven bastions are named after the seven provinciën (In that time we only had 7 provinces).

Willemstad is located at the Volkerak and the Hollandsch Diep (two waterways) and is very populair with watersportfans. In summer there are boattrips availlable. Just outside of Willemstad are the Volkeraksluizen. One of the biggest locks in european rivers.

In 1926 the wartask of Willemstad officially ended. But the city was the site of war once again:
30 may 1940 the Rhenus 127 hit a mine. On board of this ship were Belgian soldiers they were transported to Germany as prisoners of war. Over 200 of them died. A monument can be found on the riverbank.

A charming little fortified town that originally belonged to Holland but became part of the province of Noord-Brabant in 1813. The town doesn't look like Brabant at all, and is much more similar to places like Heusden and Willemstad, both of which used to be in Holland too.
The eyecatcher of the town is this church, but there's a lot more to see.

This is probably one of the nicest villages of this province. It's also one of the most interesting for tourists. Besides this wonderful St. Petrus' church there's a working windmill, a liqueur museum and a brewery museum with working brewery. Add to that a choice of restaurants and bars, the many Summer activities, the nearby forests and safari park 'De Beekse Bergen' and you can imagine why this place attracts so many visitors. Best time to visit is perhaps the last weekend of May, when there's a free open-air musicfestival, with performances by famous as well as unknown bands and artists.

You'd think that The Netherlands is a rich country that takes good care of its heritage, wouldn't you? This picture might change your mind. This is the protestant church of Dongen. Officially the protestants should have left this church some 200 years ago and given it back to the catholics. But they refused, and after a while the government, who considered catholics as inferior creatures anyway, gave up on the idea. As there were only a handful of protestants in the village the church was much too big for them, and so they only used the transept and choir. The tower was state property, so that was safe too, but the nave fell into decay. It's an intriguing site, and I sincerely hope plans to fully restore the church will not be executed. I think it would be much nicer if the current state could be preserved. We have lots of well-preserved churches (thankfully, don't get me wrong!) but very few ruins. It's also a striking reminder of a period in our history when religious intolerance was the norm. The church only needs a plaque that explains why it's in such a state.

Oh, the catholics built another church elsewhere in town. It's an impressive dome-church that's well worth a look too, and its size gives reason to believe that the old church would not have survived altogether in catholic hands as for them it would have been far too small. The rest of Dongen isn't very impressive, but there are a few nice spots. A former tannery, of a type typical for this region, is now a museum of local history. It's located near the old church.

Is it irony? Or sarcasm? Anyway, first let me point out that Helmond translates to 'hell mouth'. Funny, eh? Of course that's not the actual meaning of the name. Actually Helmond must be one of the ugliest cities of this province, but it's also one of only a few with a real castle in its centre. Which is one advantage it has over Eindhoven. This castle was built starting in ca. 1400. With its square ground-plan and its four corner towers it is probably the archetypal medieval castle. Today it serves as a museum. Shame about the highway that practically runs next to it and which divides the centre in two. Without it Helmond would be a much nicer place.

The Vatican of the north! Not one, but TWO copies of the St. Peter's church in Rome. A seminary, monasteries, convents. If there's one place that evidences catholic megalomania of the 19th century, this is it. Today's Oudenbosch is not a very picturesque place, there are too many modern buildings, but it has a few impressive sights. I made a seperate page about this place with more info.

St. Michielsgestel has a few nice old buildings, but the most interesting is probably this tower, which is all that remains of the medieval St. Michael's church. This tower dates from the 15th century and is in Campine Gothic style. The church itself was demolished in 1836.