Things to do in Eindhoven
In 1815 Eindhoven had about 2,300 inhabitants; by 1935, more than 100,000, largely thanks to one light-bulb company. It is now the fifth-largest city in the Netherlands, and the one to visit for design, industrial history and modern art rather than canals.
- About an hour and a half from Amsterdam
A city built by a light bulb
Eindhoven was a small town until 1891, when Gerard Philips set up a light-bulb factory in an old building in the centre. In 1815 it had about 2,300 inhabitants. By 1935 it had more than 100,000, largely because of the company that grew out of that factory, and the factories, the laboratories, the stadium and the football club all began with the same name. Its nickname, the City of Light, is Philips’s too.
It is not pretty in the way Delft or Utrecht are, and it does not pretend to be. The bombing of 1944 left very little of the old centre, and what replaced it is mostly functional. What Eindhoven has instead is what made it: engineering, and a habit of taking design seriously. The Technical University is here, and so, in neighbouring Veldhoven, is ASML, which builds the machines that print microchips. Neither is a sight, but they explain the confidence. The old factory district is now a creative quarter, and the city hosts a design festival that calls itself the largest in northern Europe.
Getting your bearings
The centre is compact. The station, the Philips Museum, the Van Abbemuseum and the stadium are all within a twenty-minute walk of one another. Stratumseind, a 225-metre street with more than fifty bars, is where the evenings go, and it starts a couple of minutes from the Van Abbemuseum.
Strijp-S and the Evoluon are the exceptions. They sit about two kilometres west of the station, close to each other, and are best done together by car, taxi or bike.
Planning the visit
Check the calendar before you come. Dutch Design Week fills the city for nine days in the second half of October — the best week to be here if you care about design, and the worst if you want an easy table. GLOW, a light festival that uses Strijp-S among its locations, is the other date worth looking up.
From Amsterdam it is about an hour and a half by road. We are based in Amsterdam and drive private day trips and fixed-price transfers. Message us on WhatsApp with your date and where you are starting, and we will tell you the price before you commit to anything.
What to see
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Strijp-S
Philips's old industrial quarter: 27 hectares that for decades only company employees could enter, known locally as the Forbidden City. Since about 2000 its factory halls have filled with design studios, workshops, restaurants and event spaces, and the old research laboratory and the clock building are still standing.
Driver’s tip: Walk it rather than drive it: it is big, and the interesting buildings are scattered between the old halls. Piet Hein Eek's showroom of scrapwood furniture, in a former Philips factory, is open to wander through, and there is a food hall in an old warehouse for lunch.
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Dutch Design Week
For nine days in the second half of October, Eindhoven turns into an exhibition: more than 2,600 designers show work at over a hundred locations, and the Design Academy Eindhoven's graduate show is part of it. The festival calls itself the largest design event in northern Europe.
Driver’s tip: If your trip falls in that week, book a room early and expect crowds at Strijp-S, where much of it is centred. If it does not, the showrooms and restaurants there are open all year.
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The Philips Museum
The museum sits in the Old Lamp Factory on the Emmasingel, the building Gerard Philips bought in 1891 to start making light bulbs, now wrapped in a glass gallery. It tells how a small lamp maker became the company that built a city.
Driver’s tip: Go here first. It explains why the rest of the city is the way it is: Strijp-S, the stadium, the football club and the Evoluon all came out of the same company. The Van Abbemuseum is a ten-minute walk away.
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The Van Abbemuseum
A museum of modern and contemporary art beside the Dommel, given to the city in 1936 by the cigar manufacturer Henri van Abbe. The collection runs from Picasso, Chagall, Kandinsky and Mondriaan to Beuys, and includes one of the largest groups of work by El Lissitzky anywhere.
Driver’s tip: Check the opening days first — it is closed on Mondays. Stratumseind, Eindhoven's long street of bars, starts two minutes away, which takes care of the evening.
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PSV and the Philips Stadion
PSV began in 1913 as the works team of Philips — the name stands for Philips Sport Vereniging — and the Philips Stadion still stands in the middle of the city on the same ground. The club won the European Cup in 1988.
Driver’s tip: Match tickets go first to season-ticket holders and club members, so they are the hard part. On a quiet day the stadium tour and the club museum are the realistic way in, and the ground is about ten minutes' walk from the station.
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The Evoluon
A UFO-shaped building that Philips opened in 1966 as a science museum. It looks like a flying saucer that landed and stayed. After years as a conference centre it reopened to the public in 2022 as the Next Nature Museum.
Driver’s tip: It is about a kilometre from Strijp-S, so do the two together. The museum has been closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, so check the days before you go.
Where is it?
Getting there from the nearest airport
The Netherlands Eindhoven Airport (EIN) Get a priceFrequently asked questions
Is Eindhoven worth visiting?
If you care about design, modern art or the story of how one company built a city, it is well worth a day. If you want canals and gabled houses, it is not that city: it was a small town until Philips arrived, and the bombing of 1944 left very little of the old centre.
When is Dutch Design Week?
Nine days in the second half of October, from a Saturday to the Sunday a week later. The dates change each year, so check them before you plan, and book rooms early: it is a busy week for the whole city.
How long do I need in Eindhoven?
A day covers the Philips Museum, the Van Abbemuseum and Strijp-S. The first two are a ten-minute walk apart in the centre; Strijp-S and the Evoluon are about two kilometres west of the station, close to each other, so do them as one trip.
Can you drive us to Eindhoven?
Yes. We are based in Amsterdam and drive private day trips and fixed-price transfers, and Eindhoven is about an hour and a half away. Message us on WhatsApp with your date and where you are starting, and we will tell you the price before you commit to anything.