Chet Baker streams from a Bluetooth speaker as I step into de Cornelia, Skipper Jeroen Hagen’s open sloop. Jeroen, owner of Haarlem Canal Tours, is a lifelong Harlemmer who knows the city inside and out.
“I feel very privileged to run my company where boating, love for the city, and my personal interest in art history all come together,” he says.
Just 15 minutes by train from Amsterdam, the charming city of Haarlem offers medieval architecture, rich culture, and scenic canals, all without the capital’s tourist crowds.
Haarlem’s canals shaped the city, fuelling its brewing, textile, cultural, and tulip industries at the height of the Dutch Golden Age.
(a traditional Dutch alcoholic spirit). Photo by Sher Hackwell
De Cornelia glides along the Spaarne River, which snakes through Haarlem’s historic centre, revealing merchant houses, churches, and museums built on Golden Age wealth. The ornate gables of the iconic canal houses showcased the owners’ prosperity. Gables often had a hoist beam or hook for lifting bulky goods to the upper floors. The building’s forward tilt helped keep those items from banging against the exterior wall, while the occasional crookedness is due to wooden pilings slowly decaying in the marsh underneath.
Beyond the Spaarne, Haarlem’s idyllic canals tell their own stories, like the Bakenessergracht, where wealthy merchants built their homes, and the Nieuwe Gracht, whose warehouses buzzed with activity at the peak of Holland’s tulip mania, before the famous crash of 1637. Today, these waterways are mainly used for tourism and recreation.
From de Cornelia, I spot Teylers Museum’s neoclassical façade. Pieter Teyler van der Hulst made his fortune in textiles and finance and founded the Netherlands’ oldest museum. It exhibits fossils, scientific instruments, rare books, and old master drawings.
Jeroen points out that Teyler donated large sums to social welfare, including a hofje for elderly women. Teylershofje is one of Haarlem’s 20-plus almshouses still in use today. The oldest, Hofje De Bakenesser, along the historic Bakenessergracht, dates to 1395. Most hofjes open their courtyards daily for self-guided visits.
Steps from the museum, the imposing Waag weigh house, a former 15th-century city gate and now Taverne de Waag, once weighed cargo and assessed taxes for goods arriving via the Spaarne. It’s an ideal stop for a bite under the massive 16th-century iron scales before heading to Teylers.
windmill on the Spaarne’s east bank
Photo by Sher Hackwell
Another landmark visible from the water is the Molen de Adriaan windmill on the Spaarne’s east bank. Built in 1778 to mill mortar, it later ground tobacco, hops, and grain. Regular tours involve some light climbing, but the reward is in the upper-deck views. In high season, Smidtje Canal Cruises offers a mill-to-mill tour that passes the Adriaan and floats by houseboats on the short journey to affluent Heemstede to view De Eenhoorn windmill, a working sawmill.
The canal tour companies offer options such as private and group tours, evening tours, photography tours, and tours with food and beverages.
Brewing was one of Haarlem’s key Golden Age industries. According to Alison Van Houten, “By the peak of Haarlem’s brewing production, the city produced 18 million gallons of beer, with up to 80 breweries working simultaneously.” These breweries shipped beer to markets across Europe.
Wealthy brewers like Mayor Nicolaes Woutersz van der Meer—whose family was linked by marriage to the prominent Olycan brewing family—were among the major players. Many of these families turned their wealth into social status.
That brewing legacy lives on at Jopenkerk, a late Gothic church transformed into a working brewery and restaurant.
Amid a buzzy, welcoming atmosphere, we snagged seats at the long bar, where the bartender tempted us with a flight of samples. I settled on their Koyt ale, a 14th-century-style beer brewed with gruit— foraged herbs and botanicals instead of hops. They also served a crisp Adriaan wit beer, an ode to Haarlem’s prized windmill.
For a more traditional experience, bruin café, Café Koops blends centuries of tobacco-stained walls, beer-soaked floors, and authentic Dutch gezelligheid (comfort).
Brown bars aren’t dive bars; they’re cultural institutions where people seal business deals over pilsner, and friends gather for drinking rituals.
A Dutch favourite? Deep-fried bar snacks like crispy bitterballen (meatballs with ragout centres), a fixture on bar menus. Just steps from the Spaarne, it’s easy to imagine bargemen stopping by for a beer after unloading cargo.
Near Koops, the 80-metre Gothic tower of De Grote of St. Bavokerk dominates the skyline, anchoring the Grote Markt. Inside, the ornately gilded 5,000-pipe Müller organ—“the most depicted instrument in the world” (bavo.nl)—was famously played by both Händel and Mozart in the mid-18th century and is still featured in summer concerts today.
On Saturdays, the Grote Markt square transforms into a bustling old-world market, with shoppers browsing for fresh stroopwafels, flowers, and cheese against a backdrop of Golden Age guild houses.
From the Grote Markt, the Warmoesstraat leads to the Gouden Straatjes (Golden Streets), a maze of lively lanes where historic architecture contrasts with indie boutiques, name-brand designers, and cafés. It’s easy to lose an afternoon here; the upscale quarter even draws Amsterdam day-trippers seeking shopping therapy without the crowds.
On the way, I made like a Haarlemmer and stopped at Friethuis La Petit for some loaded fries topped with mayonnaise, curry ketchup, and satay sauce. Did I mention poutine?
A short walk from the Golden Streets is the Frans Hals Museum, housed in a 17th-century former men’s almshouse. Enjoy coffee and cake at Museum Café Cleeff, then enter through a charming vestibule lined with antique Delft-tiled wainscoting. While Rembrandt and Vermeer are household names, Frans Hals was Haarlem’s master. The wealthy merchant class—including brewing families like the van der Meers and Olycans—commissioned Hals to capture their success.
The Banquet of the Officers of the St. George Militia Company in 1616 depicts civic guards, including van der Meer, revelling in the high life. Each member chipped in to cover Hals’ fee, and those with deeper pockets landed prime placement on the canvas. In a similar painting, Hals even slipped in a self-portrait to flaunt his place among the elite.
The Frans Hals Museum not only shows the largest collection of works by Frans Hals—fourteen!—in the world, but also houses an impressive collection of old, modern, and contemporary art.
But Dutch life isn’t limited to gallery walls, and you can’t visit Holland without the tulip experience. In early spring, Keukenhof Gardens bursts with blooms. It’s a 45-minute bike ride away, and you can rent Batavus Dutch-style e-bikes from Rent a Bike Haarlem, or join their half-day guided tour. Fair warning: locals zip around with impressive skill. While Haarlem’s canals have shaped centuries, they won’t get you to Amsterdam or Schiphol Airport. Fortunately, there’s a convenient train system, and Haarlem’s Stationsplein is a ten-minute walk from the historic centre. I always stop by Oscar Café on the way because their coffee and appelflappen (turnovers) are outstanding.
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