A Tale of Two Towers – Utrecht vs. Amersfoort

If you Google “things to do in Utrecht” or “things to do in Amersfoort”, you’ll find that within the top 5 recommendations for each city is to climb the tower.  Utrecht is home to the Dom Tower, the tallest church tower in all of the Netherlands.  This landmark is frequently associated with the city of Utrecht and is often seen in photos.  Amersfoort is home to the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwetoren, another church tower not quite as tall as the Dom Tower in Utrecht, but still very beautiful.  After almost 2 months of living here, I still have no idea how to pronounce the name of this tower, so I just call it the tower.

 

Amersfoort and the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwetoren

The first week we were in Amersfoort, we decided to climb the 346 steps to the top of the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwetoren with the boys.  You can only climb the tower if you sign up for a guided tour, so we paid 14 euros for tickets for our family and entered through the front doors to meet our guide.  The guide we had was a college student who spoke great English.  For our tour, it was just our family of four and some random guy from another city in the Netherlands who was taking the tour on his lunch break while in town for business.

 

 

 

The tour consisted of climbing up to different levels of the tower where we would stop, the guide would talk about the history of the tower a bit, and then we’d climb up more stairs.

Do not attempt this climb if you are claustrophobic or get dizzy easily. The spiral staircase that leads to the top seems to go on and on and it is a very cramped space.  Jack did awesome and climbed all the way to the top without complaining.  Ben hitched a ride on my back and was happy as long as we were climbing the stairs, but was crying and trying to get out of his carrier anytime we stopped moving.  Because of this, I missed the majority of what the guide had to say since all I could hear was Ben’s whining and I was worried the other guy on the tour with us was going to be super annoyed to have been paired up with the family with the screaming kid.

When we reached the top, the views were great!  The weather was beautiful and I loved seeing the city from so many different angles.  We could see the house we’re staying in and Jack claimed he could see Madison.

 

 

 

The climb down made me kind of dizzy, but at least Ben had fallen asleep by this point so I could actually hear myself think.  Despite our screaming child, I really enjoyed this climb/tour.

 

 

Utrecht and the Dom Tower

The Dom Tower in Utrecht is even taller than the tower in Amersfoort – it’s 465 steps to the top.  Thankfully, like the tower in Amersfoort, you get to stop several times on the way up to catch your breath, view rooms within the tower and see the carillon bells.  The staircase in the Dom Tower wasn’t quite as small as it was in Amersfoort.  For about 60-70% of the climb, the staircase was wide enough for two small people to pass each other, but for the remaining climb to the top, it was also a tight, claustrophobic spiral.

 

 

 

 

You need to sign up for a tour in order to climb the Dom Tower.  Tours are offered in English, but only at specific times each day.  When we arrived for our tour, I was surprised to see that the tour group was pretty large – probably 30+ people.   The total cost for this tour was 9 euros for each adult, which was almost double the cost of the tower in Amersfoort.  One nice thing was that there were free lockers available for you to store your bags in prior to the climb.

At the top of the tower, I was disappointed to find that there was netting and other safety features that blocked any opportunity for cool photos.  To me, the whole point of climbing the tower was to take cool pictures from the top, so this was very annoying.  I was glad I had sneaked a few photos on the way up when we stopped quickly at an outdoor landing.  The guide assured us there would be an opportunity for more photos at the top, but I didn’t find this to be the case.

 

 

 

 

My advice to you’re thinking about climbing one of the towers?  Skip the Dom Tower.  Take a trip to Amersfoort and climb up a very similar tower with far less people.  You’ll be rewarded with better views – and it’s cheaper!  After your climb, reward yourself with a drink at one of the many restaurants/bars located on the square surrounding the tower.  This square is one of our favorite spots to relax and will always be one of the scenes etched in my mind after we leave Amersfoort.  At night, when the tower is lit up, it’s especially beautiful.