"I groaned with the idea of living all winter in so shocking a place", wrote Boswell in 1763, and UTRECHT , surrounded by shopping centres and industrial developments, Hotels Utrecht, still promises little as you approach. But the centre, with its distinctive sunken canals - whose brick cellar warehouses have been converted into chic cafés and restaurants - is one of the country's most pleasant.

The focal point is the Dom Tower ,built between 1321 and 1382, which at over 110m is the highest church tower in the country.

The Catharijne Convent Museum (Tues-Fri 10am-5pm, Sat & Sun 11am-5pm; ?4.50; www.catharijneconvent.nl ) has a wonderfully exhibited mass of paintings, manuscripts and church ornaments from the ninth century on, including work by Geertgen tot Sint Jans, Rembrandt, Hals and, best of all, a luminously beautiful Virgin and Child by Van Cleve.

Further along, the Centraal Museum , Agnietenstraat 1 (Tues-Sun 11am-5pm; ?6.80; www.centraalmuseum.nl ) features a good collection of paintings by sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Utrecht artists, including the vividly individual portraits of Van Scorel's Jerusalem Brotherhood.