Top 10 Things to do in Schijndel, The Netherlands

Paaspop is the first music festival of the Netherlands’ festival season, held each year in Schijndel in conjunction with the Easter holiday. There are 12 stages, and more than 175 acts over the three-day weekend, featuring a wide variety of musical and theatrical genres. Paaspop is also well known for its decorations and other side attractions. Visitors who attend more than one day of the festival often choose one of the eclectic campsite options on the festival grounds.

The Museum of Prehistory (Oertijdmuseum) in Boxtel is the Netherlands’ largest geology museum. Here, you will learn all about prehistoric times and can walk among life-size dinosaurs and other extinct species! The remarkable fossils on display take you back ages, while the lovely Prehistory Garden (Oertijdtuin) offers ‘living fossils’ and also plenty of amazing trees and bushes. Add to this the playground and exciting Prehistoric Forest (Oertijdwoud), and this educational museum is a fantastic day out for families with children aged between 4 and 12. As one of our young explorers put it: “We’ve had another great day here, plenty to see and do!” A modern way of experiencing the past Open from 10:00 to 17:00 Tuesdays to Sundays, this museum offers several special packages for children’s parties and also lays on up-to-the-moment themed evenings. Although this is a museum all about things from a very long time ago, visitors can have a surprisingly modern experience here by turning up for a Pokémon Go evening, when they can use the DinohunterBoxtel app to hunt dinosaurs through the village of Boxtel! The museum is the pride and joy of the village and this augmented reality dinosaur hunt is the perfect way to appeal to 21st-century explorers. Something else this museum has to offer is fun scavenger hunts. Country park The museum also houses the visitor centre for Het Groene Woud (The Green Forest), which is a country park in the triangle between ’s-Hertogenbosch, Tilburg and Eindhoven. Here, you can dive into history, hop on a bike for a gorgeous ride through the landscape, enjoy the authentic local produce, strike out on a hot-air balloon adventure or stay for one or more nights locally: there is so much to see and do between these cities. Museum shop and museum café The museum shop offers all kinds of fossils, gemstones, jewellery, books and cuddly toys, but also maps of walking routes and cycle paths through Het Groene Woud country park. Treat yourself to a snack or a drink in the museum café, and if you’ve worked up a real appetite after a day on the trail of the dinosaurs or building your own wooden dinosaur, the multilingual museum staff will be glad to direct you to any of the several atmospheric cafés or pancake restaurants in the locality.

Escape Room Veghel is an exciting real life experience at the Noordkade in Veghel. Step back in time at this historical location, founded in 1915, and you will descend to an old factory chamber. Locked up in this chamber with a maximum of eight participants, you’ll have 60 minutes to solve the mystery that dominates this factory as real detectives...

Camp Vught National Memorial (Nationaal Monument Kamp Vught ) is located on part of the former SS camp Konzentrationslager Herzogenbusch, also known as Camp Vught (January 1943 – September 1944). The combined memorial centre and museum features various Exhibitions, a memorial room and wall of reflection. The museum is spread out over several buildings and outdoor areas. A model of the camp shows the extensive size of the camp and the many buildings it included. The watchtowers, which were built a hundred meters apart, have been reconstructed. The barrack, rebuilt at half the original size, shows how the prisoners lived. The Children’s Memorial lists the names and ages of the 1,269 Jewish children who were deported in June 1943. There is also an authentic crematorium. The texts accompanying the permanent exhibition are in Dutch. However, texts for temporary Exhibitions are often translated, e.g. 'Food in war time'. Audiotour available Dutch/English/German/French (€2,50); free parking.