r/enschede • u/Informal_Roll3004 • 22d ago
Things to do as a tourist?
My wife and I are visiting Enschede in April as we are attending an event, we are staying in the Twekkelerveld area, we are looking for suggestions of things to do as a young couple to cover 1 evening and 1 full day, what’s good to see, good to eat?
We aren’t really into Art, but we enjoy learning history.
We both like visiting new cities and seeing what they have to offer so look forward to some suggestions.
Thanks 😄
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u/OhLongJohnson84 22d ago
Grab lunch or breakfast at Frank & Charlie, enjoy the city center, it’s not big but charming, especially “de oude markt”
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u/Worldly-Cherry9631 22d ago
Enschede has two histories, one that of the ancient and medieval farmer marches, claiming the wilderness and causing the epic bocage landscape of Twente. The region around Enschede is quite popular for nature tourism. although in the Netherlands, the undisturbed nature only exists in the Waddensee and North Sea, almost everything else, every moor, water feature, and forest has been planted. The only river to have never been canalized is the Dinkel north east of Enschede. Very wonderful area. The heathers on the High Moorlands are also very pretty. If you feel like a little excursion on bike, perhaps visit the Amstsvenn and cross into Germany to the Haarmühle.
The other history of Enschede is that of industry and modernity. The city got burned down a lot over history (to the point where the traditional nickname for someone from the city is "brandstichter", pyromaniac) so besides some old farms here and there, and the Old Church, there's scarcily any medieval history in Enschede. If you want that sort of deep history, do a trip to Oldenzaal, or castle Het Twikkel, or even better a daytrip by train to Münster.
The industrial era is where Enschede and the other settlements of the The Textielstraat started, t here's the Museumfabriek in one of Roombeek's few surviving factory buildings that goes in to great detail about this, and in Hengelo the Oyfo Techniekmuseum that's more about the mechanical and technical aspect.
To eat or drink, the city center had a lot of restaurants around Zuiderhagen and Walstraat. I particularly like the Indonesian kitchen of Nyonya Meneer (do not go if you don't like ginger), also Indian Summer, and the south american (Uruguay?) Carlina's, and traditional Turkish Turquaas. Het Gouden Randje theahouse is excellent for during the day, but lunch on an Old Market terrace is pretty neat too
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u/Ok_Conversation1713 22d ago
If you have a car to your disposal, I’d like to recommend Castle Bentheim, just across the border in Bad Bentheim, Germany. It’s a 30 min drive.
Otherwise, the neighbourhood of Roombeek has a lot of history (fireworks disaster) which has the Museumfabriek, local history on the textile industry of the 1900’s.
City centre is good for shopping and grabbing lunch etc.
There is a movie theatre close to Twekkerveld as well as an ice skating rink.
Other than that, we have a lot of parks with impressive layouts and nature in general.
Lastly, a short bike ride will get you at the Lonneker Molen (typical Dutch windmill that is operational)
Anyways, enjoy your stay! 👍
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u/Nidfymrenin 22d ago
There’s a great self-guided tour on Questo, takes a couple of hours max if you do it in one go. Great fun and a really accessible take on Enschede’s industrial history
https://questoapp.com/enschede/ghosts-of-enschede-echoes-from-the-mill-
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u/Iljoesjin 22d ago
Depending on your interests you could book a guided tour for Roombeek, the Synagogue, the FC Twente football stadium or a city (center) walk.
Museumfabriek is also interesting if you want to learn about history of the area (and is in Roombeek).
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u/Redwig16 22d ago
If you're interested in history, you could do a city walk. They have walks you can do by yourself: https://www.uitinenschede.nl/routes/stadswandeling
Or walks with a guide: https://www.enschedestadswandeling.nl/
The guides are very knowledgeable about history and interesting sights
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u/R3ddit053 22d ago
At least for the evening, I would simply head out to city center, wander around and grab a bite somewhere close to the Oude Markt (central square around the big church). If it's a Thursday evening, most shops will also be opened till 21:00h.
Twekkelerveld itself does not offer much, but you're close to the FC Twente football stadium (with tours and museum) and also Go Planet (kinepolis movie theatre, bowling, diving, e-karting, ice skating, etc). Also has it's own train station, which takes you (back) to the center in 5-6 minutes.
Besides that, Roombeek and the parks are mentioned here a lot already, good tips. All of which is more or less in walking distance from the center, or maybe rent a bike to see a bit more, as you're only staying 1 full day.
If you like beer, you could also pay a visit to the Grolsch factory and/or visit Craft District Enschede brewpub in a small church.
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u/Substantial_Let_8784 21d ago
Ice cream at Van der Poel, Bagels & Beans is a great lunch/breakfast option.
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u/Confident_Poem229 19d ago
Read up on the fireworks disaster and visit Roombeek if you are into modern history, architecture and (modern) cityscapes.
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u/Confident-Ad-2788 22d ago
Rijksmuseum is cool
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u/Informal_Roll3004 22d ago
Not really into art but thanks
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u/maybe_I_am_a_bot 22d ago
They have some variety, though most of it is art, but sometimes it's more related to stuff like democracy, propaganda, etc. it's worth taking a quick look at what they have when you're there but it is indeed mostly art.
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u/worldpwn 22d ago
Fabric Museum - for history
Abraham Park - beautiful park that also has bee farm and you can see inside the hive
City center it has plenty of old churches to visit
Frank and Charlie - cafe for breakfast