You can either start and end this walk from and at the Markt as a stand allone walk or attach it to the Ultimate Maastricht City Walk which links to this walk in the appropriate place in the description. This walk’s text will in the end link back to that walk.

Introduction

How to spend a good time in Maastricht when you think you’ve already seen it all 😉

Well, what certainly helps is following other travellers on social media and a while ago I suddenly saw a bunch of pictures on Instagram whuch were of Maastricht, but the location was completely unrecognizable for me, so I asked about that and @maaike.travellousworld (many thanks for the reply) explained where she had been. It was an area of Maastricht’s center which I had indeed not visited before. So The Wandelgek decided to visit this area which is called the Boschstraatkwartier (=Bosch street Quarter).

Most of Maastricht’s center is divided into medieval Quarters (and some modern areas which also were named according to that same naming convention. The Boschstraatkwartier was one of those latter ones.

Other Quarters are:

• Statenkwartier
• Stokstraatkwartier
• Jekerkwartier
• Kommelkwartier
• Sphinxkwartier

Actually the stokstraat quarter is part of the Jeker quarter and Sphinx quarter is part of the Boschstraat quarter and the Staten quarter. A bit complex? Don’t shoot the messenger😄

It is an industrial heritage area of mainly former plants and factories of The Royal Sphinx that were turned into residential blocks for students, movie theaters, restaurant areas and art & design  studios or galleries. There’s even a dock connected to the river Maas…

From here I’ll start a short city walk description which can be added to the larger city walk of my main Ultimate Maastricht City Walk. It starts at the Boschstraat corner of the Markt.

Turn right from the Markt into the Boschstraat. You’re now entering the:

Boschstraatkwartier

Riverside Boschstraatkwartier is a developing area with former industrial buildings repurposed as cultural spaces like the Lumière Cinema, screening indie and arthouse movies. International bands and tribute acts play at Muziekgieterij, while Landbouwbelang is a mural-covered cultural center with a program ranging from yoga classes to live DJ sets. Pavement cafes and restaurants line the charming Bassin harbor. There’s a mainstream movie theatre and a rooftop café/restaurant too.

History

The neighbourhood got its name after the old Boschpoort (English: Den Bosch Gate), one of the seven former city gates of Maastricht. The Boschpoort gate and the outlying defense works were demolished in the 1860s when Maastricht ceased to be a fortress town.

The Sphinxkwartier, also known as Belvédère Binnensingel, is a former industrial estate in the center of the Dutch city of Maastricht. The area, which includes the northern part of the neighborhoods Statenkwartier and Boschstraatkwartier, is the cradle of Maastricht’s industry. Near the Boschstraat and the inner harbor Bassin are about fifteen 19th and 20th century factory buildings, which in the past were part of the glass and pottery factories of Petrus Regout and its successor, Koninklijke Sphinx. After the sanitary manufacturer left the city center in 2006, the area was transformed into a residential and cultural district. Almost all factory buildings in the Sphinxkwartier are part of Maastricht’s industrial heritage. Some have the status of national monument. Since 2019, the Sphinxkwartier has been a so-called ‘anchor point’ of the European Route for Industrial Heritage.

It is in these industrial heritage buildings that most of the theaters, restaurants, café’s etcetera are nowadays accomodated.

 

Keep following the Boschstraat until you see a dock/ basin on your right side.

 

This is an ideal spot for people who love industrial heritage. Walk around visit some of the buildings or sit on a terrace near the water side…

A lot of these café’s and theatres are open in the evening too.

The Wandelgek went for a movie at the Lumière arthouse ( The Green Knight) and he was stunned by the beauty of the inside of the theatre which was in an old factory building…

Old storage facilities are now e.g. used home furnishings store, like Loods 5…

On top of the Sphinx building is a rooftop restaurant/ café Bold…

…which is an excellent spot to get a birds eye view over Maastricht’s old town and even the surrounding hills, the river Maas and the old city defense walls…

…and it’s a great place for a drink or something to eat. A break 🙂

 

After descending again, you can return to the Markt via the Boschstraat and if this was an deviation from the Ultimate Maastricht City Walk, then continue that walk and return to its description via this link: Ultimate city walk through Maastricht