Discover Haarlem: A Charming, Underrated Gem Near Amsterdam

Skip the day trip and stay overnight in Haarlem! Just 15 minutes from Amsterdam, Netherlands this charming city boasts beautiful canals, historic sites, cozy cafes, and unique experiences like high tea, brewery visits, and biking to the tulip fields. Discover why Haarlem deserves a spot on your Netherlands itinerary!

Danielle Potere

Discover Haarlem: A Charming, Underrated Gem Near Amsterdam

Nov 05 2024

Why Haarlem?

If you've never heard of Haarlem in the Netherlands, I forgive you. I hadn't either. Haarlem popped up on my radar when I was researching a good base to visit the tulips in Lisse. Now that I know about it though, I want to shout about it from the rooftops. It is such an underrated city.

Haarlem is a delightfully charming city in the Netherlands that is just 15 minutes by train from Amsterdam. It is full of lovely canals and canal houses just like Amsterdam. It boasts beautiful streets and alleyways, sweet little stores, cafes, bars, restaurants, and is very clean and welcoming. There is also a lot of history to be found here if that interests you. Tourists flock every year to Amsterdam to visit the Anne Frank House, and we did a tour in Haarlem that I feel rivaled if not surpassed visiting the Frank house.

Haarlem is often overlooked in favor of Amsterdam by many travelers and I am hopeful that after reading this post you'll see the value in not only making a visit, but in spending a night or two here.

I believe there is so much value to be had in staying overnight in locations that are more commonly considered for a "day trip", and Haarlem in the Netherlands is no exception.

Where to stay:

One of the reasons I highly recommend staying over is that you'll have the opportunity to stay with Ad & Esther at B&B Het van Haarlem. This is one of my most memorable stays in all of our travels. I literally came home from staying here and immediately ordered a chandelier for my bedroom.

Our hosts were so kind and helpful, worked with us on timing, shared with us about the area, and the best part of all is that they wheeled in the most wonderful breakfast each morning on a cart. It was so lovely to be able to sit in our room and enjoy breakfast while sipping coffee and looking out at our lovely courtyard. Haarlem is actually known for having many courtyards, called "hofje", and they are often very beautiful and full of greenery and flowers.

This B&B was also very well located and we could walk to anything we needed or wanted to do in Haarlem. We also found the B&B to be walkable from the train station but if you're not a big walker it would be a short taxi ride away.

Things to do:

Visit Jopenkerk

Jopenkerk is a brewery (or beer hall) located within an old church in Haarlem. They actually brew beer on site and if you're visiting at the right time you can watch this process while enjoying a drink. They also serve food and can host groups or gatherings. They have a nice outdoor area as well. I am not a beer drinker but I thought that it looked like such a beautiful place so we had to stop in. I actually told the bartender that I preferred wine and he responded by giving me a beer that he thought a white wine drinker would like. He actually did quite a good job! This is a nice spot to make a stop at and just admire how beautiful it is and grab a drink!

Have High Tea at Hofje Zonder Zorgen

This was our first ever high tea experience and I must say it did not disappoint! You can go in and eat a la carte and this would be really enjoyable. It is a very charming spot and overlooks their own hofje (courtyard, in case you forgot). Or you can order the high tea, which you must make a reservation for. For 37 dollars per person you get to try a few different teas, a soup, and a LOT of different sweets and snacks. Honestly we were completely full after having high tea so it could easily qualify as a lunch. This was such a nice experience for us and we loved trying everything and spending some time relaxing in such a beautiful place.

Walk around the Grote Markt

This is essentially the main square of Haarlem. When we visited there was some type of Carnival going on and we were able to enjoy a Ferris Wheel ride with views over Haarlem. Regardless of when you visit, this is the area with some of the city's most important buildings, many bars and restaurants, and a lot of great people watching to be had.

Get fondue at In't Goede Uur: The name means "In the Good Hour" which seemed quite fitting. This was the perfect spot for us on a chilly March evening. This is one of the oldest restaurants in Haarlem and it is known for its cheese and wine. It is down the most beautiful street that is decorated so nicely and you should make reservations if you want to eat here. We enjoyed the fondue here immensely and we had a stew as well. I'd love to go back to try the raclette next time!

Visit DeDakkas

This is one of the cooler things going on in Haarlem in my opinion. It is such a neat concept. The creators of this spot turned the rooftop of a working parking garage into a green space with a bar/restaurant/cafe concept. It is really beautiful and looks like a giant greenhouse. They have a restaurant that I would recommend making reservations at if you plan to eat there. If you go mid afternoon you should be able to just walk up and enjoy having a drink and a snack. It is lovely to sit outside and it almost feels like you're in a park! Except that the park has amazing views over all of Haarlem! This place is well worth a visit during your time here.

Explore the Ten Boom House

If you're interested in history, or even just a little more curious, this spot is definitely for you. The Ten Booms were a family who used their home and watch shop to hide and aid Jewish people and resistance members during WW2. You can now tour the house in small groups and learn about the family's work during that time. We absolutely loved this tour as it was so intimate and personal, we also got to spend a great deal of time here and learned a lot from our guide.

I ended up being so interested that I bought the book "The Hiding Place" to read more about it after our trip. This book was written by Corrie Ten Boom who was one of the survivors of the concentration camps. I would also advise reading this before your visit if you're interested, it would be so powerful. Whether or not you choose to read the book, this was a very meaningful experience and we learned so much. It surprises me that so many people travel to the Netherlands to visit the Anne Frank House and do not add this to their itinerary as it is only 15 minutes away by train.

Walk the Canals

Just like its larger neighbor, Amsterdam, Haarlem is full of beautiful canals. I would argue that it can be prettier in some spots as there is a bit more space and the streets are more calm. When you stay overnight in a place, you also get to experience sunrise and sunset there, which is my favorite. I did both while I was in Haarlem and it was so wonderful. Watching the sunrise behind a windmill on the water is one of my favorite memories from spending time in this beautiful place.

Check Out Windmill Molen De Adriaan

You can do a tour of this windmill during your time in Haarlem. We weren't able to do the tour as our timing never matched up with opening times, but it was beautiful to see and photograph. We also found the most charming spot basically right next door called Restaurant Zuidam and we were able to sit outside and have some snacks and drinks overlooking the windmill. This was a very nice experience and I highly recommend a stop here.

Rent a Bike

We rented bikes in Haarlem to ride to Lisse to visit the Keukenhof and tulip fields. It was a bucket list experience that would definitely make for another entire post. I highly recommend this as a way to visit the tulips if you're not sure how to go about it. It was essentially a straight shot along a flat bike path following a main road for less than an hour, with great views of the countryside, little villages, and tulip fields the entire way.

Regardless of tulip season though, biking in the Netherlands feels like a quintessential thing that you should experience. However, in Amsterdam I found it to be way too intimidating. The Dutch have their biking systems down and they know what they are doing! Haarlem is a great place to begin with biking. It is a beautiful and much less chaotic feeling, the streets and bike lanes are SO well marked, and you can see a bit more of the area than you might on foot!

If you're interested in more information about how we visited the tulips from Haarlem you can check out my post How To Visit the Tulips in the Netherlands.

If you're interested in Amsterdam as well you can also check out my Amsterdam Mini Guide

In all honesty Haarlem is one of those places where I kept saying to myself "I think I could live here". We felt so at home wandering the streets and just enjoying the vibe. There was so much more to see and do than I imagined and staying 2 nights didn't feel like enough. I couldn't encourage you more to ditch the day trip and spend at least a night in this city, it deserves it!

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