Nieuwegein

Despite its sizable population, Nieuwegein can essentially be considered a suburb of Utrecht. It was founded in 1971 mainly to accommodate Utrecht's rapidly growing population. The city was developed around the older villages of Jutphaas and Vreeswijk, whose character has been at least partly preserved. Therefore, somewhat unusually for a planned city, Nieuwegein still features around 100 listed monuments.

Nieuwegein is bounded by three motorways, the A2, A12 and A27, which all have a (different) exit named Nieuwegein. The exits Utrecht-Lunetten and Utrecht-Zuid on the A12 and Nieuwegein Zuid on the A2 also serve the city. All these motorways can get quite congested during rush hour.

Nieuwegein does not have a train station and instead relies on Utrecht for connections to the rest of the country. There are frequent connections to Utrecht's main station, Utrecht Centraal, either by tram (lines 20 and 21) or bus (65, 66, 74, 77). All these buses serve slightly different routes within Nieuwegein, so make sure to double-check where exactly the bus is going when you board it at Utrecht Centraal.

Tram line 21 continues to IJsselstein and bus line 48 connects Nieuwegein with the smaller train stations in Houten and Maarssen. There is also a small ferry (pedestrians/cyclists €1.25/€1.75) across the river Lek to Vianen. Most other destinations are best reached with a change in Utrecht or by car or bike.