Haarlem: Home Base in Central Holland

We chose to make charming Haarlem our home base for five nights while we explore central Holland. From Haarlem, there are easy train or bus rides to Amsterdam and other destinations. Our stay began with dropping off our luggage at our AirBnB and the returning our rental car to Schiphol Airport, then taking the big red #300 bus to the Haarlem train station.

It was an easy fifteen minute walk to the city center where you find the Grote Kerk and Grote Markt. Having gotten our bearings, we made our way to our room for the night, checked the weather forecast, and made our plan for the next few days.

Exploring Haarlem

Haarlem is a charming city with interesting streets and pretty canals. We had arrived late in the day on Sunday. The weather was supposed to be good and we had read that they had an open air market at Grote Markt on Mondays. We love a good market day so that’s where we headed first.

Unfortunately, the Monday market is not very large. There were only a handful of stalls selling an unexciting assortment of merchandise. So after a quick walk through, we went into the tourist information office to see what they might recommend. I should note that in the Netherlands, many museums are closed on Mondays. Having limited options, we moved on to explore some of the back streets and canals.

Haarlem’s charms unfolded for us at every turn. We meandered in the general direction of De Adrian Windmill.

Haarlem’s Grote Kerk

As pretty as Haarlem itself is, we found its Grote Kerk impressive. There is a lot to see inside (cost €5). There are nods to the Dutch merchant class in the Brewer’s Chapel and in the gift of three ships from the ship builders’ guild. There are nods to history in the cannonball embedded in the wall near the baptistry commemorating the attack by the Spanish in 1573. But the crowning glory is the organ, said to have been played by Mozart. It was playing as we toured inside and the music was incredible!