Mention Assen to a motorcyclist anywhere in the world and the answer is the same: the TT. The Dutch TT has been raced here since 1925, first on public roads around the villages south of town and later on the purpose-built TT Circuit, and it is the only venue that has hosted a round of the world championship every season since the series began in 1949. Riders call it the Cathedral, partly for its history and partly because a fast lap through its long, flowing bends feels like a kind of devotion. If your visit falls on a race weekend, the whole province turns into a campsite and every road in Drenthe fills with bikes.
The rest of the year Assen is a calm, green provincial capital, smaller and quieter than its fame suggests. It grew up around a medieval convent and only became the seat of Drenthe in the early nineteenth century, which is why the centre is more neat than grand. The Drents Museum on the main square holds the province's archaeology, including finds from the bogs and the hunebedden, and it made world news in early 2025 when thieves blew open its doors and took a Dacian gold helmet on loan from Romania. The town has an easy, unhurried feel, with brick streets, a few good terraces and plenty of parks.
For riding, Assen is the doorway to the Drenthe that most visitors miss. South and east of town the land lifts very slightly into the Hondsrug, a long low ridge pushed up during the ice ages, and the roads wander through pine forest, heath and old villages built around a green. Corners are gentle and sightlines long, but the lanes are narrow, often lined with trees close to the tarmac, and the province is full of cyclists, horse riders and the occasional lost deer. Speed limits drop to sixty and thirty in villages and are enforced. It is lovely in late August when the heather is purple, and in a soft autumn rain the forests smell of resin and wet sand.
This is a full-service stop: fuel along the ring and the A28, shops, cafes and somewhere to sit near the Brink in the old centre. If you want to see the circuit itself, it lies just south of the town, and on non-event days there is often a chance to look around the grounds or book a track day. Then head east toward Borger and the stones, which is where the real story of Drenthe begins.