Netherlands · Provincie Noord-Holland
Where to Stay in Hilversum, Provincie Noord-Holland
Hilversum is a town of the central Netherlands, the heart of Dutch broadcasting, a leafy villa town on the wooded heath of the Gooi.
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Where to stay in Hilversum
Each area has its own feel; here's who each one suits.
Where you stay in Hilversum turns on the town or the heath. The streets around the centre keep the shops, the studios, and the town hall within a walk, and staying downtown suits anyone here for the media town. The brick tower stands tall.
Woods edge the streets. Out toward the Gooi and the villas, the town gives way to the leafy lanes, the grand houses, and the open heath. A room among the woods trades the streets for the villa gardens, the heath and forest, and the quiet green Gooi.
The heath runs wide and still. Stay downtown for the studios, or in the woods for the heath. From the villa lanes of the Gooi, Hilversum's centre is only a short ride back.
About Hilversum
Hilversum is the broadcasting town of the Gooi.
What is Hilversum known for?
In the wooded heathland east of Amsterdam, it grew as the seat of Dutch radio and television, and it keeps the studios and archives of the airwaves, a famous modern town hall of yellow brick, the villas and gardens of the well-to-do among the woods, and the open heath and forest of the Gooi around. The woods ring the town. The heath lies open and wide.
What are the main landmarks in Hilversum?
The town hall is the pride of Hilversum. The long low building of yellow brick, with its tall clock tower and still reflecting pool, is a landmark of modern building, the emblem of the town, at its heart. A great archive holds the airwaves.
The institute of sound and vision keeps the nation's radio and television nearby, while the villas, the old church tower, and the Gooi heath mark the country around Hilversum.
What is the history of Hilversum?
Hilversum grew from a heath village. For ages it was a poor village of farmers and weavers on the sandy Gooi, until the railway from Amsterdam reached it and changed everything. The rich came for the air.
Merchants and bankers built grand villas among the woods, glad of the clean dry heath so near the city, and the village swelled into a leafy town. The airwaves made its name. When Dutch radio began in the years between the wars, the young broadcasting trade settled in Hilversum, and studios, masts, and record firms rose in the town.
A great architect left his mark. The builder Willem Dudok raised a famous town hall of yellow brick, long and low and modern, that drew students of building from around the world, while Hilversum grew into the media town of the country, keeping its studios, its villas, and its heath. The airwaves still hum from the town.
Hilversum keeps its studios and its woods on the Gooi.
Where is Hilversum?
Hilversum lies in the middle of the Netherlands, on the sandy heath of the Gooi east of Amsterdam. The town spreads through woods and heathland on higher, drier ground than the flat polders around, a green island of forest and villas between the cities, with heath and farms beyond. Woods fill the town.
The heath rolls away green.
What is the climate of Hilversum?
Hilversum has a mild, damp oceanic climate. Cool cloudy weather crosses the heath all year, with mild wet summers and soft grey winters, and rain spread through the seasons. The skies hang grey and low.
Frost comes light in winter.
How do you get to Hilversum?
Hilversum lies in the central Netherlands, on the heath east of Amsterdam. Trains and the motorway run to it from the city in half an hour, and roads cross the Gooi. Bikes cross the wooded heath.
Amsterdam lies west by rail.
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Updated August 2026