Valkenburg and Its Caves

It's quite a drive to the south, so take a little break to see some astonishing architecture. These houses were designed by Dries Kreijkamp in the 70s and built in the early 80s. There are 50 houses like this in total, and these were the last houses that were built from the subsidies for experimental construction.

You can park your car here.

There are many caves to visit in the surroundings, but you are going to explore the caves of MergelRijk. You can do the exploring yourself, you don't need a guide. The self-guided tour will take you a million years back in time, to the forming of Marl. After that, you will see how the 'Block breakers' took the Marl out of the mountain, which created the 'caves of Valkenburg'. One of the highlights is a life-size statue of Marl from Rembrandt's famous painting 'the Nightwatch'. More info and tickets here.

Time for lunch! If you like pancakes, you will find yourself in paradise here, because it's named exactly that. 'Pannenkoekenparadijs' is Dutch for Pancake Paradise. You can find normal pancakes here, but also very exotic ones. How about a pancake with sea fruit, tuna, cheese and oregano? If you are not a pancake lover don't worry, you can also order other dishes, like pizza or soup.

After lunch, it is time to visit the Gemeentegrot. You can do tours here by foot or by train! Another cave? Well, not exactly. De gemeentegrot is actually a quarry, where until the 50s marl was contracted from the mountain. If you look closer, you will see a lot of shells in the marl. That's because marl originated from the time Limburg was still a part of the ocean.
Open hours: Monday - Sunday: 11:00 - 16:00 (tour by train) Monday - Sunday: 11:00 - 15:30 (tour by foot)
Last tour leaves at 15:30.

Pick up your car to drive to the next point.

Park your car here.

You have arrived in a little town called Gulpen. This town is famous for its beer. The brewery is open every day for beer enthusiasts. You can book a special tour here, or just go and have a look around when you arrive. If you like what you see, you can buy your favourite beer in the beer shop. Don't go anywhere yet, because the kitchen of the dining is open until 20:00 every day. You can have great meals here, and with 16 draught beers, it's a good thing to know that you can enjoy this place every day until 22:00.

After all that beer it’s not an option to drive to your hotel. Thankfully there is a hotel within a 5-minute walk. Time to tumble down in a nice deep sleep, and dream about the time when Limburg was part of the sea. Sweet dreams!