Groningen
Where do
locals go.
Restaurants, bars, parks and hidden corners that people who live here actually use.
Not the top ten.
Nobody who lives here has ever been asked for a top ten. They get asked where to go on a Tuesday, where it is quiet, where the good one is.
A city at a time.
Every city is its own guide: its own list, its own map, its own routes. Amsterdam we walked ourselves. Where we have not been yet, the page says so.
Nothing here is for sale.
No rankings, no sponsored rows, no affiliate links. A venue can pay to look after its own page. It can never pay to be on this list.
Groningen has just started. The places here were found through research and haven't been checked by us yet. Know this city better than a search engine does? Send us what's missing.
26 places in Groningen
Simplon
Korrewegwijk
A music venue in the north of the city with two halls and a program ranging from punk to drum 'n' bass.
Der Witz
Binnenstad
A café with an extensive beer menu and a terrace located on the Zuiderdiep.
De Oosterpoort
Oosterpoort
The main hall of Groningen, where everything that is too big for Vera and Simplon comes together.
Reitdiephaven
Reitdiep
A marina on the edge of the city with colorful facades that resemble a Scandinavian village.
Forum Groningen
Binnenstad
A building with a library, cinema, exhibitions, and a rooftop terrace at the very top where you can look out over the entire city.
Hoornseplas
Hoornsemeer
A beach on Lake Paterswold on the south side of the city, where Groningers cycle to swim.
Vera
Binnenstad
The stage that booked U2, Nirvana, and Sonic Youth before anyone knew them, and that still primarily programs for what is to come.
Land van Kokanje
Binnenstad
A brasserie with a large terrace on Oude Boteringestraat, where you feel right at home at three in the afternoon as well as eleven at night.
Noorderzon
Binnenstad
Every year in August, the Noorderplantsoen transforms into a festival site for eleven days, featuring theater, music, and food from around the world.
Het Paleis
Binnenstad
An old school building full of workshops, studios, and a café, where makers from the city work side by side.
Ons Moeke
Binnenstad
A diner with Dutch dishes and a kitchen that keeps going late.
Prinsentuin
Hortusbuurt
A secluded 17th-century Renaissance garden behind a gate in the Hortusbuurt, with a tea house and neatly trimmed hedges.
Ebbingekwartier
Ebbingekwartier
A part of the city that lay fallow for years and was filled with temporary structures, a portion of which remains.
Café Mulder
Binnenstad
A traditional pub that has been around for as long as anyone can remember, with a clientele ranging from students to retirees.
Vismarkt
Binnenstad
The Groningen market, several days a week, with fish, cheese, flowers, and fabric under the Korenbeurs.
Bistro 't Gerecht
Binnenstad
A small, bistro-style restaurant in the old courthouse quarter, with a short menu that changes with the seasons.
Groninger Museum
Binnenstad
The museum in the water in front of the station, a building by Mendini that people still find beautiful or terrible.
Godert Walter
Binnenstad
A bookstore with taste, where the staff recommends something you wouldn't have found yourself.
Noorderplantsoen
Binnenstad
The park on the old ramparts, with a winding pond, old trees, and hills where half the city lies at the first sign of sunshine.
Grand Theatre
Binnenstad
An old theater on the Grote Markt with a program of dance, theater, and music that searches more often than it confirms.
Black & Bloom
Binnenstad
The roastery that put Groningen on the coffee map, with its own beans and staff who really know their stuff.
Folkingestraat
Binnenstad
The most beautiful shopping street in the city and once the Jewish quarter, with small shops, a bookstore, and commemorative art in the facades.
Warhol
Binnenstad
A club on Oosterstraat with dance floors on multiple floors and a crowd that is largely student.
Café de Spieghel
Binnenstad
A narrow, tall café with three floors and live jazz or blues on the ground floor almost every evening.
Browse by neighbourhood
Where the places are, and how many of them.
By kind
Added by hand
Every spot comes in through a form and gets read by a person before it appears.
Written, not scraped
No star ratings copied off a map. If we cannot say something true about a place, it does not go on.
No paid positions
A venue can pay to look after its own page. It can never pay to be on this list, or to sit higher in it.
For locals
Where do you go?
One place you would send a friend to, and one sentence about why. That is the whole form.
Add a spotFor venues
Is this your place?
Claim your page and it becomes yours: your own photography, your own words, a booking link. Your position stays exactly where it was.
Claim your page