Hilvarenbeek

Hilvarenbeek is a municipality and a town in the south of the Netherlands, along the border with Belgium.

The biggest tourist attraction is called Beekse Bergen, consisting of a safari park, amusement park/playground, holiday bungalow park, and camping parks.

In the centre of the town the Sint-Petrus'-Banden is a Gothic church from the 14th and 15th centuries. The tower is a highlight of the Kempen Gothic.

Population centres
The municipality of Hilvarenbeek also includes the following villages with their own churches: • Baarschot (village-like hamlet without church but a Maria cave)

• Biest-Houtakker

• Diessen

• Esbeek

• Haghorst In addition, the following parts were historically separate, but are nowadays more like neighbourhoods: • Beerten

• Driehuizen

• Dun

• Gorp

• Groenstraat

• Groot Loo

• Grote Voort

• Hoog Spul

• Hoogeind

• Klein Loo

• Kleine Voort

• Laag Spul

• Rovert

• Slibbroek

• Westerwijk

Topography


Dutch Topographic map of the municipality of Hilvarenbeek, June 2015.

Notable people

 * Johannes Goropius Becanus (1519 in Gorp – 1573) a Dutch physician, linguist, and humanist
 * Martinus Becanus (1563 in Hilvarenbeek – 1624) a Jesuit priest, theologian and controversialist.
 * Jacques Thomassen (born 1945 in Diessen) a Dutch organizational theorist and academic
 * Henny Vrienten (born 1948 in Hilvarenbeek – 2022) a Dutch composer of TV and film scores
 * Annie Abrahams (born 1954 in Hilvarenbeek) a Dutch performance artist in video installations and the internet
 * Henk Baars (born 1960 in Diessen) a former professional Dutch cyclo-cross cyclist
 * Ronald van Raak (born 1969 in Hilvarenbeek) a Dutch politician, non-fiction writer and former academic