Insider’s Guide Haarlem

Settling at last…. sort of….

I moved around quite a lot in The Netherlands. My wanderings brought me to Haarlem about 20 years ago. To the house where I still live in today.

Wow, I never lived anywhere else that long!

Guess I grew me some roots after all;-)!

Sort of…. because I live 6 months per year in Haarlem and 6 months per year in Singapore since almost 7 years now. And before that I did the same with Haarlem and Montreal for 6 years. So far for settling and roots;-)…

Still, long enough to make me an insider and Haarlem expert. Which lead to my Insider’s Guide Haarlem. More about that later on in this article.

Haarlem was initially not my dream city

Now to be honest, Haarlem has never been my dream city. That was and always has been Amsterdam (in the Netherlands at least).

Ofcourse I only want to live in a few specific neighborhoods in Amsterdam. And as to be expected, these are not the cheaper ones. Plus there’s a lack of houses in Holland, for as long as I remember. Long story short: living in Amsterdam is not an option for me, financially.

So Haarlem had ‘to do’ , since at least it’s near Amsterdam. (18 km)

It was (and is) not my dream city, because it is…

1. not Amsterdam;-)
2. quite provincial
3. boring

I prefer cosmopolitan cities, like Amsterdam, London, New York and Buenos Aires, to name a few.

…but Haarlem has grown on me

Having said that, Haarlem has definitely grown on me, because…

1. it’s pretty and charming
   

   Haarlem has tons of heritage architecture in the centre of town.

2. it’s safe - although that seems to be changing rapidly:-(
3. I’m able to afford a nice house with a garden almost in the city centre
4. I made a lot of friends there
   

   I call Greetje my freighbour: she lives a couple doors further in my street and we are good friends since 19 years now.

   

   With friends in my living room in Haarlem. Can you tell it was a warm summer day? It’s mini-skirts day, ladies!!! 40plus or not; here we come! Or is 50plus more accurate? In two months I can refer to myself as being 60plus even. Woa, that sounds so old!

   

   Dancing tango at Haarlem’s river The Spaarne. Yes, I also made tango-friends in Haarlem.

5. it’s near the beach, the dunes and Amsterdam
6. it’s near Schiphol -which comes in handy for my nomad life and for friends that visit from abroad
7. it has a reasonable amount of culture: Toneelschuur/Filmschuur, Caprera, Patronaat, Dolhuys, Teylers Museum, De Hallen and more.
   

   De Verweyhal, one of Haarlem’s museums.

   

   Last year I visited De Verweyhal with a friend. The exhibition was very eclectic and interesting. Which of the three persons in this picture is alive? Can you guess?

   

   Blogger-meet-up at the cafe of museum Dolhuys in Haarlem. Three 40plus fashionbloggers and one 40plus travel-and lifestyle blogger (=me, behind the camera).

   

   The cafe from museum The Dolhuys is an informal, welcoming place.

And now Haarlem’s even becoming hip and -almost- cosmopolitan!

It’s time to add an eigth point to the above list:

8. it’s becoming more hip(-ster)

More trendy, fun shops

Haarlem has many times been declared ‘Best Shopping Town in the Netherlands’. Which I always found a bit overstated.

I understood where the award came from; Haarlem’s centre is compact and has a high density of all sorts of shops per square meter. But for me Amsterdam still had more interesting, cool shops. They are just more spread.

But things are changing. Shops come and go fast, nowadays, which is sad for the entrepreneurs involved.

Luckily, new and hip shops have been added to the mix, recently, and they seem to keep coming. Yay!!!

Especially lifestyle stores are cool. They not only sell stuff, but they also often incorporate nooks where you can sit and relax with an artisanal coffee or enjoy a nice lunch.

For me all those cool, hip, funky, indie shops add spice and colour to a city. So that’s one reason for Haarlem’s growing cool-ness.

More cool and hip places to eat or drink

Then there are the F&B options.

For years, I missed cool places in Haarlem to have a good coffee, or a nice lunch. I longed for Grand Cafes with a big city vibe and audience.

Yes, we had cafes, but they were either filled with day-tourists and had very traditional menus and bad coffee. Or they were filled with groups of teenagers, making me feel out of place. And then there were the traditional beer, bar and barstool cafes. I don’t drink beer and don’t wanna hang in smoky places on uncomfy barstools.

The Haarlem of 2016 though has quite some cool hangouts. With barista lattes, healthy lunches, comfy seats and hipster clientele. Adding to the city’s coolness.

Insider’s Guide Haarlem

I used MyMaps from Google to create a map that has everything on it that’s worthwhile in Haarlem. Sights, shops, museums, restaurants, bars, cafes, BnB’s.

Handy for visitors, tourists and residents alike.

Here is the url: Curly Traveller’s City Guide Haarlem

Do check it out; I hope it’s helpful.

More about Haarlem on the blog

I wrote about Haarlem and the region around it here:

• article about Haarlem
• about nearby Elswout, an estate park
• blog post about the Ruins of Brederode, once a real castle
• The beach and sea are close to Haarlem. I wrote about my favorite beach restaurant there, named San Blas.
• pictures from beautiful flowers in the streets of Haarlem

Interesting links about Haarlem

• Haarlem City Blog (unfortunately only in Dutch)
• Hip Shops Haarlem (also only in Dutch)
• Visit Haarlem
• Haarlem Marketing
• This is what Virtual Tourist says about Haarlem

If you are planning a visit to Haarlem and you have any specific questions, feel free to contact me. I’ll do my best to answer them.

Have you visited Haarlem or do you live in Haarlem? What were/are your favorite things? Anything missing on my City Guide map?