While visiting Haarlem, I always go to the beach in the afternoon and in the morning I stroll around town, have breakfast, and hop into the Teylers Museum to see what is going on there. This Museum is the oldest in the Netherlands and one of the most intriguing museums in Holland. It is located in the charming city center on the banks of the romantic river Spaarne. Close to the museum, you can rent a boat or a bike and explore the waters and the extensive dune landscapes on your way to the beach. I do love biking around Haarlem. Indeed, “Harlem” in New York is named after this city.
Teylers Museum is the Oldest Museum in the Netherlands
The Teylers Museum is located in a monumental building in Haarlem’s city center. I like to walk along the River Spaarne to get to the museum. The museum’s facade invites you to a quite impressive, eye-catching building. The Museum was founded in 1778. Pieter Teyler van der Hulst, a very wealthy cloth merchant and banker with a passion for the arts and sciences, left his estate and collections to a foundation for the advancement of religion, the arts, and science. Thus, the creation of the museum became a fact.
The museum’s original building, the Oval Room, is a masterpiece of 18th-century architecture. This room was designed to display scientific instruments, fossils, minerals, and books, and it has remained virtually unchanged since it opened almost 250 years ago. The historic ambiance of the museum gives me a strong sense of stepping back in time. The neoclassical design with the modern exhibits creates this unique experience.
Collections of the Teylers Museum
Scientific Instruments: The museum boasts an impressive collection of scientific instruments from the 18th and 19th centuries, including devices used by renowned scientists like Alessandro Volta and Albert Einstein
Fossils and Minerals: The natural history collection includes remarkable fossils, such as the famous Mosasaurus skeleton, and a wide variety of minerals.
→ READ MORE – Make a boat trip to Teylers Museum
Visiting Haarlem can bring you to Festivals or Formula One Races.
Haarlem is like Amsterdam, but without the many, many tourists and packed with charming secrets! Lose yourself in the narrow streets lined with monumental buildings, where you might stumble upon the oldest courtyards in the Netherlands. I do love Haarlem, visiting this almost eight centuries old city is like stepping into a time machine. For art lovers, Haarlem boasts the brilliance of the Frans Hals Museum and the Teylers Museum, which feels like a mix of Harry Potter and Da Vinci. Don’t miss the “Grote Markt”, where you can stimulate your dopamine level by enjoying stroopwafels and visiting the majestic St. Bavo Cathedral. Here, Mozart once played the organ. This church hosts a fantastic choir that even increases my heart rate during a rehearsal. The Market Square around the Cathedral, surrounded by enchanting cafes, restaurants, and bars, will certainly bring you back to earth after returning from the celestial spheres in the cathedral.
Best Tips for Visiting Haarlem
Haarlem is very close to the beach. Amidst the dunes, you find the National Dutch Formula One Car Racing Circuit. This could be a point of interest. If you are not so crazy about car racing, you might be interested in events leaving smaller ecological footprints, like high-quality music festivals, the best baseball in the world, comic books, or jazz music. Do not miss the following tips for events while visiting Haarlem!
Formula One Racing
The Racing Circuit Zandvoort is an ‘Old School’ circuit, with fast, rolling and challenging corners formed by natural dunes. This fantastic circuit will host the Dutch Grand Prix over the weekend of 29 to 31 August 2025.
If you want to experience the speed and excitement of a car race yourself, come to the race track with your car. And after the race, understand when it is too late to brake. Or rent a Lamborghini from the circuit and learn to cut the corners sharply and go full throttle as soon as possible.
National Comic Days
Stripdagen Haarlem is the largest comic festival in the Netherlands and Flanders. On 24 and 25 May 2025, the former Koepel Prison and the city centre of Haarlem will be buzzing with adventurous experiences. The National Comic Days are a yearly returning event.
Liberation Festival
The annual liberation festival on the 5th of May in Haarlem is the best-known and oldest in the Netherlands. This festival commemorates the end of the occupation of the Netherlands by fascist Nazi Germany.
National and international artists are given a stage for 140,000 spectators. The program offers a mix of contemporary pop music, alternative music, street theater, and children’s entertainment.
Baseball Week Haarlem
The Baseball Week is a biennial international tournament in Haarlem. The next edition of the tournament will be played in the second week of July 2026. The tournament, accredited by the WBSC, generally involves the six best teams from different countries. Since 1961, the Baseball Week has offered the National Dutch team a platform to compete with the world’s best in each edition. The Pim Mulier Stadium hosts this Royal Dutch Baseball Event.
Haarlem Jazz
Haarlem Jazz & More! is going to shake the City on August 15, 16 & 17, 2024.
Go to “De Grote Markt”, “Het Klokhuisplein”, “De Oude Groenmarkt” or “De Riviervismarkt”! This annual event is usually held on the third weekend of August. Alongside the vibrant Haarlem Jazz Days, you can also enjoy stunning classical concerts at the Rosenstock-Huessy Chapel in a beautifully atmospheric setting.
➔ READ MORE – Haarlem: Classical Concerts in Rosenstock-Huessy Chapel
➔ READ MORE – From Amsterdam to Haarlem, a private guided tour by GetYourGuide.
Shopping and Drinking in Haarlem
And what about shopping? The “Golden Streets” are an ample collection of unique boutiques and quirky treasures. And if you do get thirsty while shopping, pop into a cozy brown cafe and try the local pride: Jopen beer, brewed in a repurposed church. It is crazy. Indeed. In Haarlem, a church is transformed into a brewery. Do visit this Heavenly Jopen Brewery and praise the beer. Right, Haarlem is simply a city that winks at you and invites you to linger a little longer.
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