The Maastricht Region is easy to reach. Traffic jams are almost unheard of. Fast public transportation and direct highways connect the region to major European cities. A choice of seven different airports in the area cater to business or leisure travelers.

With high frequencies of 15 minute departures between buses and trains, and travel times of 25 minutes at most, traveling between the three urban centers within the Region (Maastricht, Parkstad and Sittard-Geleen) is fast. Regularly scheduled express trains run to Eindhoven and Venlo (1 hour), Brussels and Cologne (1.5 hours), Amsterdam and Utrecht (2 hours), Paris and Frankfurt (3 hours) and London (4 hours). The Maastricht Region has its own local airport (Maastricht-Aachen Airport) with interesting holiday destinations, two intercontinental (Brussels, Düsseldorf) and four continental (Cologne, Eindhoven, Weeze, Charleroi) airports are just an hour’s drive away.

Four trains every hour

Four trains run every hour between the major towns in the Maastricht Region (Maastricht, Heerlen, Sittard-Geleen). These trains stop at Meerssen, Beek, Geleen, Valkenburg, Voerendaal, Schinnen, Nuth, Hoensbroek, Landgraaf and Kerkrade. See www.ns.nl or www.veolia-transport.nl (in Dutch).

A dense bus network

Small and large towns, and all districts and villages have a reliable and rapid bus service once or twice every hour. Bus and train timetables are coordinated, which makes changing easy and reliable. The best option for public transportation between Maastricht and Aachen is a 30 minute bus service. View the timetable at www.veolia-transport.nl (in Dutch).

Rapid connections with the Randstad urban conurbation

Direct trains depart every hour from Heerlen, Maastricht and Sittard-Geleen to Roermond (change for Venlo, Nijmegen), Weert, Eindhoven (change for Rotterdam, The Hague), ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Utrecht (change for Zwolle, Groningen) and Amsterdam. See www.ns.nl.

Paris within 3 hours, London within 4 hours

A train to Belgium leaves Maastricht every hour with easy connections to Paris and London from Liège (30 minutes from Maastricht) or Brussels (1 hour and 30 minutes from Maastricht).

To Cologne within 1.5 hours, to Frankfurt within 3.5 hours

From Heerlen, the most important German destinations can be reached easily: see www.db.de (also available in English). Travel via Aachen, or change in Cologne, for high-speed trains.

Airports

The regional airport is Maastricht-Aachen airport. A number of other airports can be reached in about one hour. For intercontinental flights, your best option is Brussels or Düsseldorf. Within Europe, Cologne, Eindhoven, Weeze and Charleroi airports are ideal.

Schiphol by train

Every half an hour you can catch a train for Schiphol Airport. You have to switch trains once, unless you check the schedule for direct trains, which run several times a day. Trains to Schiphol stop right beneath the departure terminal.

By road

The Maastricht Region is connected by highways with several large European economic portals. Brussels, Cologne, Antwerp, Eindhoven and Düsseldorf can be reached in one hour. Luxembourg can be reached in 1.5 hours. Metz and Saarbrücken in 3 hours. The Randstad urban conurbation can be reached in 2.5 hours. Paris and Strasbourg in 4 hours. Basel can be reached in 5 hours.

Fluid traffic, important projects

Traffic jams are almost non-existent in the Maastricht Region. But in order to guarantee accessibility, plans are being made for the future. Large projects are the A2 motorway tunnel (in English) in Maastricht, the Parkstad outer ring road  and improving public transport links with Aachen and other German cities (both in Dutch).