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Haarlem

Golden-Age Squares, Frans Hals and the Beach at Zandvoort

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1 dayIdeal stay₹11,720From / night₹2,980Food / day₹1,860Entry

A compact old city 15 minutes by train from Amsterdam: the Grote Markt and the Great Church of St Bavo, whose organ Mozart played as a boy, the Frans Hals Museum, the Teylers Museum (the oldest museum in the Netherlands, from 1784), hidden almshouse courtyards (hofjes) and the De Adriaan windmill on the Spaarne. Calmer and a little cheaper than Amsterdam as a base, and on the way to the bulb fields and Keukenhof in spring; the beach and dunes at Zandvoort are 10 minutes by train. Haarlem's tourist tax is €6.20 a person a night in 2026, included in the prices here.

Highlights

  • Grote Markt and St Bavo's Church
  • Frans Hals Museum
  • Teylers Museum's fossils and instruments
  • Hidden hofjes courtyards
  • De Adriaan windmill on the Spaarne
  • Zandvoort beach and the dunes

Things to do

  • Grote Markt, St Bavo's Church and the hofjes walkMorning · 2h 30m
  • Frans Hals MuseumAfternoon · 2h
  • Teylers MuseumAfternoon · 1h 30m
  • De Adriaan windmillMorning · 1h
  • Zandvoort beach and the Kennemer dunesAfternoon · 3h 30m

Tours & tickets

Tours & tickets in Haarlemvia GetYourGuideTours & tickets in Haarlemvia Klook

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When to go

Best time: April – September

Heads up

North Sea Winter: Wind, Rain and Short Days

From November to February days are short (dark by about 16:30 in December), wet and windy, and North Sea storms occasionally halt trains and close the beaches and the Scheveningen pier. Pack a waterproof jacket and warm layers; the museums are the best of a winter trip.

  • King's Day (Koningsdag) — The national holiday for the King's birthday: the whole country dresses in orange, every street becomes a flea market (the vrijmarkt, from the evening before), and Amsterdam's canals fill with party boats and its centre with up to a million people. Trains into Amsterdam are packed and hotels cost their most; book months ahead, or watch it in a calmer city such as Utrecht, Haarlem or Delft. Museums open, many shops close.
  • Tulip season and Keukenhof — Keukenhof opens for about eight weeks; crocuses and daffodils flower first, the tulips peak around mid-April, and the bulb fields between Haarlem and Leiden are in colour from late March to early May, then cut. The Bloemencorso flower parade drives from Noordwijk to Haarlem through the bulb district on a Saturday in late April. Weekends and Easter are the busiest days: book Keukenhof's timed tickets early.
  • Remembrance Day and Liberation Day — On 4 May at 8 pm the whole country stops for two minutes' silence for the war dead, with the national ceremony on Dam Square in Amsterdam; trams and trains halt. On 5 May free liberation festivals with music fill parks in Haarlem, Utrecht, The Hague, Rotterdam and other cities.
  • Sinterklaas — St Nicholas "arrives by steamboat from Spain" in mid-November (Amsterdam's parade by boat and horse through the centre is the big one) and families exchange presents and poems on 5 December. Expect crowds on the arrival day; the bakeries fill with pepernoten and chocolate letters.