My trip to Eindhoven got off to a bit of a bad start. We had bought tickets to a PSV Eindhoven football game which got rescheduled last minute until the end of September, and I fell ill with the cold. I was still excited to go away, but I was beginning to feel this particular trip was cursed.
I had a look at other Dutch football teams located in North Brabant and e-mailed Willem II from the nearby city of Tilburg, who told me it’d be fine to purchase tickets on the day of the game, I just needed ID.
It was easy to get from the airport to the centre of Eindhoven (simply get on the 400 bus). Upon arriving we still had 2 hours to kill before we were able to check into the hotel, so we explored the area around the bus/train station whilst tottering towards Queens Hotel – our roof for the weekend.
After a little exploration we visited Barney’s Bar, which was about halfway between our hotel and the central station.
I ate a lovely honey, bacon and goats cheese panini whilst Amy had a wrap (and we both dove into as much of the Dutch/Belgian beer on offer as we could).
Eindhoven’s most well known exports are Philips electronics and the aforementioned football club. There was a statue outside our Hotel dedicated to Frits Philips, the 4th Chairman of Philips who saved hundreds of Jews throughout the Nazi occupation during World War II.
After checking our bags into the hotel, we returned to the train station to catch our train to Tilburg – it was football time!
We caught an Uber from the bus station to the Tilburg stadium, but were there an hour and a bit before the ticket office opened (and 2.5+ hours until kick off). 
We looked up bars nearby and ended up walking to a swimming pool (pesky google maps). Though there was a shop beside the pool for us to grab drinks to kill a little time before buying tickets.
We were unsure about the logistics of drinking in public, so subtly drank our drinks on the walk back to the stadium. €15 later and we had our game tickets. We went into the team supporters club, and grabbed a beer and a cone of chips (with mayonnaise). It was go time!
The game finished with Willem II getting the better of the visitors (FC Emmen) by 2 goals to 1. The atmosphere at the game was very welcoming and it was a pleasure to be able to have a beer or 2 in the stands, like we could in Germany.
On the walk back to the train station we came across this lovely Van Gogh mural on a run down house. Our time in Tilburg was short and sweet, and we embarked on our train home after the match.
Upon arriving back in Eindhoven, we quickly changed clothes and checked out a few bars. O’Shea’s Irish Bar was recommended to us by locals who told us they love it just as much as the Irish and there’s good live music. Here we met 2 very hospitable students living in Eindhoven; Pius, a German lad, and Rachel, from South London. Our hotel was in such a great location for the local nightlife, situated right within the main strip area – ensuring it was difficult for us to get lost on our way back.
The next morning, we had a bit of a nosy around the city. Checking out the local church, and some local shops.
We had a look around the church at the ornate stained glass, and at the end I lit a candle (you get a wish for doing so right?)
After the church, we did a little souvenir shopping and then embarked on a quiet pub crawl.
The first place we went to was the ‘Tipsy Duck’ facing St. Catharinakerk. They mainly served Grolsch beer (who do a delicious wheat beer).
Afterwards we headed further up the street, and went to the Tipsy Duck, a really nice, spacious bar – where I got chatting to Roland, originally from Ghana but who grew up in Ireland, and another man, Ryan from Carrickmacross (not too far from where I grew up). For such a small city, I was surprised by how many Irish I came across, but I suppose I did meet them all in pubs…
We had a few drinks with Roland and Ryan before heading to Hubble bar to meet Pius and Rachel whom we befriend the night before.
The Hubble was a nice student bar, but not too lively as teen time hadn’t started yet, here Rachel introduced us to her friend Muriel, a Brazilian student.
We ventured back into the city centre with Pius and Muriel for a few more drinks and called it a night early enough as we were quite tired.
Eindhoven is a very chill, friendly, modern European city and I was shocked how welcoming the locals and students there were, and would recommend it to anybody looking for a brief, relaxing weekend away.
Last but not least, a big thank you to fellow travel blogger Nele, who runs The Navigatio, for all her tips whilst we visited Eindhoven, (and her subsequent recommendations when we visited Manchester).