Tilburg is a pilot city of the
Council of Europe and the EU Intercultural Cities programme.
Beverages Schrobbelèr is a local liqueur. It has an alcoholic percentage of 21.5%, slightly lower than most
bitters and has a relatively sweet flavour. The drink is sold in a stone jar and is drunk cold from its own glass, a high and tiny chalice glass, larger than a
Jägermeister glass. The drink originated in 1973 when Tilburgian entrepreneur Jan Wassing started experimenting with a drink with lower
alcoholic percentage that was appropriate for his stomach. The result was successful. The drink is distilled now at Loven industrial area in Tilburg by the
Eindhoven company Schrobbeler Ltd, without the è on the last vowel. The drink is especially consumed at
Carnival. The name is derived from the profession of 'Schrobbelaar', in the textile industry in Tilburg. The profession was unskilled and had a low wage. Another known drink from Tilburg is Peerke's Nat, which has a higher alcoholic percentage than Schrobbelèr (25%) and was introduced at the
beatification of
Peter Donders (locally named Peerke). The drink is sold in bottles of 70 centiliters. The
Koningshoeven Brewery brews
trappist beer. It was founded in 1884 at
Koningshoeven Abbey.
Open air art in Tilburg in Tilburg Tilburg's open air art is mostly supported by KORT (Kunst in Open Ruimte Tilburg, Dutch for Art in Open Space Tilburg). One example is the turning house on the Hasseltrotonde, a roundabout, was erected in 2008. Besides being responsible for newer, modern art, KORT also gives information about older works of art, like the Willem II statue on the Heuvel.
Festival city, music The city of Tilburg hosts many festivals, such as
Incubate,
Festival Mundial (world culture), Stranger Than Paranoia (jazz), Tilburg Students Festival, and
Roadburn Festival.
013 is a modern pop-centre. Paradox is a club for experimental jazz and improvised music. Fontys University of Applied Sciences started a pop academy in the beginning of the 21st century, and students often perform on local stages.
Museums Tilburg has a renowned museum of contemporary art,
De Pont, which houses works from artists such as
Ai Weiwei,
Anish Kapoor and
Richard Serra. The museum, which opened in 1992, is housed in a former wool mill, an important piece of Tilburg's history. Anish Kapoor's artwork
Skymirror is displayed on the square in front of the museum. Also in the field of contemporary arts is the
SEA Foundation Tilburg, an internationally oriented art foundation, exhibition space and artist residence for artists, writers and curators. Tilburg also hosts a significant
textile museum, offering not only a historical view in its former factory, but also a laboratory for design, production and development of textile as a material. It opened in 1958. There is also the
Natuurmuseum Brabant (Brabant Museum of Nature), dedicated to natural history. Originally named the Natural History Museum of Tilburg (
Natuurhistorisch Museum Tilburg), the museum was established in 1935. The museum was originally housed in the former intendant residence of King Willem II, but moved in 1985 to its current location, a former technical school near the railway station. The collection consists of a large variety of stuffed animals, animals kept in formaldehyde, dried plants, stones, minerals, fossils and archaeological artfacts. The Museum Scryption was a former museum in Tilburg with the main theme 'written communication'. It closed in 2011.
Tilburg City Museum The Tilburg City Museum (
Stadsmuseum Tilburg) does not have a fixed location. It manages the city's heritage collection and creates exhibitions at diverse venues. For example, the Peerke Donders Pavilion and Vincent's Drawing Room. • Vincent's drawing room: In Vincent's Drawing Room you will find a museum room where the authentic room of
Vincent van Gogh has been recreated and a modern drawing room with drawing computers. Vincent van Gogh lived and studied several years in Tilburg. The house where he lived can't be visited. The square where the house is located has been redesigned in the Van Gogh style. • Peerke Donders Pavilion: A museum for charity, in honor of
Petrus Donders The collection that
Stadsmuseum Tilburg manages is part of Tilburg City Collection. In addition, it manages the Memory of Tilburg with more than 4400 stories.
Parks and Forests Parks and forests provide inhabitants from the Tilburg area with recreation. The
Leijpark and
Reeshofpark are the largest parks. Leijpark was famous for
Festival Mundial and lies next to St. Elisabeth hospital and a monastery, the Cenakel. Reeshofpark was created in the late 1990s, including some restaurants opened in 2011. Some older parks include Wilhelminapark in Oud-Noord, are built on the square of the former herd place Veldhoven. Tilburg offers, in comparison to other top-ten cities in the Netherlands, the most forest area. In the municipality, Tilburg has the Wandelbos, a forest south of the similarly named neighbourhood in Tilburg-West, the Oude Warande, the Kaaistoep, a forest of 4.5 km2, and partially, Huis Ter Heide in the northwest of Tilburg, a 6.5 km2-sized natural redevelopment area. Out of the municipality, there's a national park called
Loonse en Drunense Duinen which includes dunes of drift sand from the west coast.
Sports The local football team is
Willem II, named in remembrance of King William II.
Tilburg Ten Miles is an annual road running competition held in Tilburg. Students' sports like rowing and hockey are popular as well. Tilburg hosts three field hockey clubs that play in top national leagues. Tilburg has the ice skating complex
IJssportcentrum Tilburg, including the
indoor 400 m speed skating rink Ireen Wüst IJsbaan. Within the speed skating rink there's an
ice hockey field. Adjacent is the ice hockey arena where
Tilburg Trappers plays its home games. Tilburg Trappers dominated the
Eredivisie (Dutch Premier League) for years before moving to the
Oberliga, the third tier of ice hockey in Germany. In 2024
bandy was introduced, including the founding of a new club,
Bandy Vereniging Tilburg. At the
Women's Bandy World Championship in 2025, three players from Tilburg were part of the
Dutch team.
Attractions Tilburg is the closest major settlement to
The Efteling, with the amusement park made famous by
Python being located only 11km away from the city centre. A small fan owned miniature attraction called
Mini Efteling can be found a short distance away from the actual park. Located within the city itself is
Zoo De Oliemeulen, a small family run animal attraction housing over 1,000 different animals. ==Transport==