Cable Car Valkenburg

This tourist chair-lift in Valkenburg takes you to the Wilhelminatoren viewing tower 68 metres above, from where the view extends as far as Belgium and Germany. Shortly prior to the start of the Dutch Mountain Film Festival #14, on 31 oktober (Halloween!), we will be screening the spine-chilling horror film ‘Frozen’ in the caverns below. A few days later, on Saturday 2 November, the same caverns will be hosting the feelgood film, ‘Gondola’.

The chair-lift in Valkenburg was first opened in 1954. Some weeks after its opening however, some serious faults were discovered and the lift had to be dismantled. It turned out that second-hand material had beeen used, including wheels from American tanks. The lift was erected again, this time by Doppelmeyr, a leading Austrian-Swiss company known for its construction of ski-lifts at many resorts in the Alps.

Over the years, many new attractions have been developed, close to and in the Wilhelminagroeve (an old marlstone quarry), including a tobaggan track, a tubing track and a zip-line, which run downhill from the Wilhelminatoren.