Willemstad, tourist information

The Lower Quay in Willemstad

Willemstad in the Netherlands is a small cozy fortified town with a nice story. The small fortified town is named after Willem de Zwijger (Prince William of Orange), it was Willem himself who gave the order to build this fortified town. Willem unfortunately did not see the completion of the city, he was murdered a year earlier in Delft, this was on July 10 in the year 1584. We will certainly come back to this later in the story.

Willemstad The Netherlands is a fortified town where time has actually stood still for a long time, the city has not changed since 1585. This makes it definitely worth stopping in Willemstad.

The Mauritshuis in Willemstad

As mentioned earlier, Willemstad in the Netherlands is a city with a rich history.

it all started in 1564, when Willemstad was a small farming village called Ruigenhill, when in the year 1568 the revolt against the Spaniards started when Ruigenhil turned out to be very strategically located. The farming village was located on an important waterway between Holland, Zeeland and North Brabant. In the year 1583 Willem van Oranje van Ruigenhil decided to make a strong fortress, around the buildings a beautiful classical defense belt was constructed with 7 Bastions, called: Bastion Groningen, Bastion Gelderland, Bastion Zeeland, Bastion Utrecht Bastion Holland and finally the bastions Friesland. and Overijssel.

Many soldiers were present in the fortress, the first years there were only 100 to 150, they lived in simple rooms. Several soldiers have also moved to live with the population of Willemstad. There were often disagreements between the soldiers and the civilians, in the year 1748 two defenses were built at the church ring and barracks, this provided shelter for more than 800 people.

In 1940 Willemstad literally became a fortress again, the Germans used the city as a fortified town and several bunkers were built. Most of these bunkers are still intact, most bunkers can be found at Bastion Gelderland.

The Old Town Hall of Willemstad, Netherlands

Of course, a tourist town like Willemstad has plenty of sights, what must you see? Well! The Heilige Mariakerk, this church dates from the year 1875, this was a Catholic church of Willemstad. Another attraction is Het Arsenaal, an arsenal should of course not be missing from a fortified city. The current arsenal was not the first, that was the Arctionaelhuys. This house was replaced by the current Arsenal and the current arsenal dates from the year 1792.

A number of other sights of Willemstad are Het Oude Raadhuis (1587), which was renovated in 1620, then the Koepelkerk in Willemstad is also worth a visit, this church was specially built for the Protestant faith and dates from 1607.
We are not there yet, Willemstad has more sights, namely the Mauritshuis (1623) Willemstad will not be a fortified city without fortifications, that is the next attraction that you should definitely see. Finally, you must have the dÓrangemolen brooks. These are the biggest sights of Willemstad, but there are many more do you want to know which? then visit the Willemstad itself it is really worth it.

The d'Orange Mill in Willemstad

You certainly don't have to go to Willemstad for the shops because there are none. There are a few for basic necessities, but not for shopping. If you really want to shop, then you have to turn to:
Rotterdam  (>35km) of Breda (>38km)

You can shop very well in these cities.

The Arsenal of Willemstad

Do you want a day out, that is also possible in Willemstad. You can, for example, visit a museum or a beautiful fortress because that is also possible.

An old bunker in Willemsatd

Nature is also hard to find in Willemstad, there are fields with trees here and there, but no forest. Of course there are Fortifications, these are green. for the large greenery you can go and have a look at the Biesbosch.

The Benedekade in Willemstad

Willemstad is also not a step city, there are a total of 4 entertainment venues, including about 1 cafes under 3 club.

for better step opportunities you can move to Rotterdam of Breda