Hengelo (ˈɦɛŋəloː; Tweants: Hengel) is a city in the eastern part of the Netherlands, in the province of Overijssel. The city lies along the motorways A1/E30 and A35 and it has a station for the international Amsterdam – Hannover – Berlin service.
Beckum
Oele
Hengelo
Hengelo is easily reached by train. One can travel from Hengelo railway station, the main station of Hengelo and get directly and regularly to:
Apeldoorn, Amersfoort, Hilversum, Southern Amsterdam, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Utrecht, Gouda, Rotterdam, The Hague, Zwolle, Zutphen, Oldenzaal, Almelo, Deventer, Enschede. There are international trains daily to Bad Bentheim, Rheine, Osnabrück, Hannover, and Berlin.
For information on the train services see Hengelo railway station. One can also plan a journey on the website of Dutch Railways.
For Amsterdam, passengers should use the train to Schiphol and change at Amersfoort, where there are regular trains to Amsterdam Centraal railway station, which is the nearest station to the city.
Hengelo Oost railway station and Hengelo Gezondheidspark railway station are also located in Hengelo. Just beside Hengelo Oost railway station is the football club Juliana '32 and the Groot Driene tennis club.
Within the city limits, the only means of public transport is the bus. Some parts of the route are on bus lanes, specifically built for buses to travel faster.
The A1/E30 from Amsterdam to Moscow goes right through the city.
The A35 from Enschede to Wierden goes along the west side of the city.
Hengelo has a relatively large harbour in the Twentekanaal, a heavily used canal from the Twente region to the IJssel.
Although archeological research indicates the location has been inhabited for thousands of years, the municipality was founded in 1802. At that time it merely consisted of a few hundred farms and agricultural workers' houses.
Hengelo was never granted city rights as it was only a small village that expanded in the 19th century during the industrial revolution. In the late 19th century it rapidly developed after the construction of an important railway junction.