Assen

The history of the capital of Drenthe can be traced back to at least 1258. Assen has been designated a city since 1809. After Coevorden, Assen became the second place in Drenthe with city rights, granted by King Louis Napoleon, who had big plans for the village. Around 1900 Assen began to play a more prominent industrial role. After the Second World War, Assen did not have more than 20,000 inhabitants. The Assen TT made the city more widely known. But it was not until the 1950s, with the development of an industrial core, did Assen begin to grow more quickly. The Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij (Dutch Oil Company) established itself in the city and with that, a trend was set. Nowadays, Assen is a city with 65,000 inhabitants and part of the metropolitan area of Groningen. Although Assen is the capital of Drenthe, the city of Emmen is slightly bigger.

The city centre of Assen is small enough to get around on foot.

Assen is the capital of the cycling province of Drenthe. It is a wonderful place to cycle. Hire a bicycle and travel around. Various companies provide tours of the area, some English speaking.

• Fietspoint Grootjans, Stationsplein 1, ☏ +31 592 310424. This bike shop at the train station rents out bikes too. 

• 🌍 Drents Museum, Brink 1, ☏ +31 592 377773. Tu-Su 11:00-17:00. During public holidays also on Mondays. The Drents Museum is one of the best ways to spend your time in town, with good and varied historic collections in archaeology and arts. Highlights include several displays of bog bodies and what's believed to be the world's oldest boat, a prehistoric canoe built around 8000BC. It's art section has some excellent works and includes a Vincent van Gogh. €15 for adults. 
• 🌍 Landgoed Overcingel, Oostersingel 27. A monumental mansion in the centre of town. It was built in 1778 and has beautiful English gardens. 
• 🌍 TT Circuit Assen. Famous for motorsports fans in all the world, the TT circuit was built in 1955 and, although it used to be longer, the track is now 4,555 m long. The sports arena can host some 100,000 spectators, and in fact does when the DutchTT in running. Usually held in June, this is the largest single day sports event in the country, drawing visitors from far and wide. Check the websites for any upcoming events, as there are events some 250 days of the year. After the track was shortened, a large area of land became available to develop the circuit into a more full-fledged tourist attraction in Assen. Heavy investments are being made to create a large scale leisure park around the circuit, including shopping and amusement opportunities. From €10 for tickets to see a race. 

There are enough restaurants to choose from, especially on and around the market square.

• 🌍 Touché Lunch en Diner, Markt 20, ☏ +31 592 769069. This place has the looks and atmosphere of a simple bistro or pub, but its dishes are restaurant quality stuff. If you're not too picky, try the surprise menu. €33 for a menu. 
• 🌍 De Gulle Gans, Markt 18, ☏ +31 592 302667. Nice place with international style dishes. When in season, they sell a pretty good pan full of mussels. €25 for a menu. 
• 🌍 Bella Italia, Markt 4-6. This Italian place gets a bit noisy when it's busy and the service is not the fastest around, but the pizzas and pastas are good. €15 for main course. 
• 🌍 Restaurant New Delhi, Brink 23, ☏ +31 592 312112. The most popular Indian restaurant in town, with friendly service and a very extensive menu. If you want to be sure of a table, it's best to call ahead. 

• 🌍 Pingo, Brink 4, ☏ +31 592 377741. Nice cafe in the museum, but open for all. Has some Drenthe specialties. €8. (updated Jul 2021)

As the provincial capital, Assen has the full range of common stores, including many large chain companies. The main shopping streets include the Forum, Gedempte Singel, the renovated Mercuriusplein, the Kleuvenstee, Koopmansplein and Kruisstraat. A large restructure plan for the city centre includes the establishment of a new, covered shopping mall called Cité Assen. Although the full centre plan is still being carried out, the shopping area has opened with several large stores including a supermarket and a large electronics store. Despite its wide choice of shops however, Assen is generally not considered the most "cosy" or fun shopping city around.

On Wednesday and Saturday there is a market. In 2008 this market won the award of "gezelligste markt" in the Netherlands. i.e. the most friendly and pleasant in the country.

• 🌍 Mercuriuscentrum, Mercuriusplein 96 (inbetween the Ceressplein and the Koopmansplein). Open-air shopping centre with 30 shops. (updated Jan 2019)
• 🌍 Triade, Triade. Partially covered shopping centre with 17 shops, including an Albert Heijn XL, a larger supermarket with a larger product range. (updated Jan 2019)
• 🌍 Cité, Kroonwerk. Shopping center with a Jumbo supermarket, a Lidl, a Media Markt. (updated Jan 2019)

The tourist office tries to market Assen as the regional place to be for a night out. It's not entirely true, but there are a number of pleasant bars in the town centre where you can enjoy a beer and a good conversation, and on a warm summer's night join the locals and kick back on one of the outdoor terraces. The Rolderstraat has a few bars, as well as a shisha lounge. Other good streets to start are the Nieuwe Huizen and the Brinkstraat. On weekends, many of the young people in Assen jump on a late night train to the more trendy university city Groningen, where bars and clubs are open 24/7 and which is a 15-minute train ride. They take the first train back in the morning. If you're not up for staying awake till daylight, there are a few clubs in town.

• 🌍 Hotel De Jonge (Best Western Hotel De Jonge), Brinkstraat 85, ☏ +31 592 312023. Check-in: 14:00, check-out: 12:00. Although the interior is a bit outdated, this hotel offers spacious rooms with all the basic facilities right in the city centre. On weekends, rooms in the front can be a bit noisy. €110. 
• 🌍 Hotel Assen (Van der Valk Assen), Balkenweg 1, ☏ +31 592 851515. Check-in: 16:00, check-out: 11:00. Convenient location for a visit to the TT, with spacious, well-equipped rooms. It's outside of the city centre, though. €75. 
• 🌍 De Bonte Wever, Stadsbroek 17, ☏ +31 592 356000. This place is on the edge of Assen, near the Asserbos, but has good facilities including indoor and outdoor pools, an extensive spa, and bowling alley, most of them for free. 

Post Office points providing all basic postal services can be found in most supermarkets and several bookshops. They follow the host stores opening hours, which typically means till 18:00 for bookshop and 8pm for supermarkets. The most convenient examples in the city centre are:

• 🌍 Library, Weiersstraat 1C (De Nieuwe Kolk), info@bibliotheekassen.nl. M 13:00-18:00, Tu 10:00-20:00, W 10:00-18:00, Th 10:00-20:00, F 10:00-20:00, Sa 10:00-17:00, Su 13:00-17:00. The library has free internet and outlet for your computer. 
• Bruna bookshop, Kruisstraat 7. 
• Primera book shop, Triade 9. 
• 🌍 Jumbo supermarket, Nijlandstraat 141, ☏ +31 592 361160. 

• Visit Groningen, a lively university city and the largest city in northern Netherlands.
• The star fort of Bourtange is less than an hour away by car.
• The nearby village of Westerbork is inseparably linked to the horrors of World War II, as the Germans ran a large transit camp just a few kilometres out of the village centre.
• Veenhuizen is a former penal colony, now it has museums, cafes, markets and its own brewery, "Maallust"
• Norg and Roden are pleasant villages.