Bicycles outside Maastricht University Library

Maastricht (and Maastricht University) in the Netherlands

The city of Maastricht is cute, and if you ever get a chance to see it, you should.

My son and I visited Maastricht for just one day in May 2019, during out whirlwind tour of European colleges, and I wish we had planned better and had more time, because I really liked this old city.

Take a look….

According to visitmaastricht.com “the heart of the city” is Vrijthof Square with the red spires of Sint Jans church in the background, and the oldest in the Netherlands Basilica of St. Servatius to the right of it.

The city is also full of cobblestone streets like this one …

Unfortunately, I didn’t mark where I took the photo above.

The building at the end of the street in the photo below was built in 1470 and now houses the Maastricht Visitor Center.

As you’re wandering around, you might end up on Nieuwenhofwal and the second medieval city walls…

Then, if you venture beyond those city walls, you’ll find a charming Monseigneur Nolenspark stretching along the Jeker canal (river) with a bird house

and a very interesting sculpture

Dominicanen bookshop

The place I found most interesting was a bookstore in a 13th-century church. Yes, 13th century – the cathedral was built in 1294!

It’s hard to tell from outside that there’s a bookstore inside, isn’t it?

This is what you see, once you’re inside.

If I lived in Maastricht, I’d likely spend HOURS at that place!

Take this 3D virtual tour of the Dominicanen bookstore to see more of this place.

Maastricht University

This beautiful medieval town is where Maastricht University is located, and compared to the age of the town, the university is just a baby, since it was founded in 1976.

Despite being relatively young, the university is ranked #10 Best Global University in the Netherlands and #79 in Europe by U.S. News and World Report.

The World University Rankings places it at #9 in Young University category.

The university offers Bachelor, Master, and PhD programs.

Bachelor Programs at Maastricht University

Maastricht University offers 20 Bachelor programs in English.

Maastricht Science Programme

One of the programs at Maastricht University is their very interesting Maastricht Science Programme, where students are required to take courses in several science disciplines – Biology, Chemistry, and Physics.

EU citizens pay €3,655 (roughly $4,100) tuition per year for this program. “International” students pay €14,217 (roughly $16,000). That does not include room and board, and the university does not guarantee housing; students have to find housing on their own.

We visited the Maastricht Science Programme in 2019, but they moved to a new location since then, and we don’t have photos from the new location.

Here’s a link to a page about the new building.

University College Maastricht

University College Maastricht is similar to American liberal arts colleges.

As their website says – “During your first year at UCM, you explore which concentration you would like to choose by taking courses in academic disciplines of your interest. Once you decide on a concentration, you can start taking more advanced, in-depth courses. You may focus on a particular discipline (e.g. psychology, economics, history, biology) or instead opt for courses around a combination of themes or disciplines.”

Tuition for University College Maaastricht is the same as for Maastricht Science Programme.

When we visited, UCM was located in a white-painted building on a cobble-stone street.

What I really liked about a lot of buildings in Maastricht were the courtyards, some left open to the sky above and some covered with glass roofs.

Here’s a photo of the UCR courtyard. Looks like a nice, relaxing place in between classes, doesn’t it?

University College Venlo

University College Venlo is similar to University College Maastricht in that it’s also a liberal arts program, but focusing only on Social Sciences and Life Sciences (so excluding Humanities courses).

The program is also based not in Maastricht, but in Venlo, a satellite location of the university opened in 2015.

The tuition for University College Venlo is €2,209 (about $2,500) for EU citizens, and €12,800 ($14,400) for “international” students.

We didn’t visit Venlo, so I don’t have any photos to share from that place.

Where to have lunch?

There are plenty of cafes and restaurants in Maastricht, but I would highly recommend the place where we stopped – Pieke Potloed.

Looking at their menu I’m not sure if I had the Patty Filled With Chickenragout, but it sure was good. My son had the meatballs.

Have you been to Maastricht? If you have, feel free to post a link to your blog post below! I’d love to see more photos from this pretty city!

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