Where to stay in Kerkrade

Kerkrade is a town and a municipality in the southeast of Limburg, the southernmost province of the Netherlands. It forms part of the Parkstad Limburg agglomeration.

Throughout most of its history, modern day Kerkrade was part of the historic city of Herzogenrath. The South Limburg area was commonly disputed between different duchies and nations around it, and Herzogenrath changed hands repeatedly. It was ruled over time by the Duchy of Brabant, by Spain and later by the French. When the Kingdom of the Netherlands was formed after the French revolutionairy and Napoleonic wars, the area's ownership was determined at the Vienna Congress.

Getting in

There is a train station in Kerkrade, which is served by regional trains and connects the town to Landgraaf and Heerlen. In Heerlen there's a rail connection to the intercity trains to and from the north Heerlen. Bus lines lead to other Dutch towns in the region as well as to Aachen and Herzogenrath in Germany. However, not all of them pass through the main bus station in the city center so check which stop to use. Many buses stop at the Parkstad Limburg stadion or Gaiapark, which is still a good distance from the town center. However, you can easily change there for buses to Kerkrade center.

Getting around

The city center is doable on foot and buses are good to get to specific places a bit further away. The main bus station is on the Rolduckerweg, at the corner of Poststraat. A bike is a fine way to see town and a few villages around, but renting one here can be a bit of a challenge. Ask at the tourist information office in the Continium museum, or rent your bike in a more touristic town in the area. Parking is quite abundantly available but in the center you usually have to pay. Large free parking places can be found at Diepenbrockstraat (near the Rodahal), Einderstraat and Old Hickeryplein.

Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.