I'm making a trip to Amsterdam sometime around March. As much good things as I've heard about about Willie Wortels, it seems that I would have to make a stop in Haarlem and mess around for a day or two. I was wondering what your experiences with the city were [if any] and what sites there are to see. I know there is the Teyler's Science Museum [the oldest Dutch museum] But I was wondering what else you guys have done there.
Thanks for the help.

I stayed in Haarlem on one trip because of a big convention in AMS that drove up all the hotel prices. I couldn't find any fairly priced rooms in The Hague or Utrecht and was fortunate to find one so close to AMS.

I stayed at the Hotel Carillon located in the Grote Markt. It was the typical small Dutch hotel with very, very steep stairs. And, as I had a single room, I was located at the top of the hotel. Breakfast was fine and the hotel has a restaurant and bar.

The hotel was an easy 10-minute walk from the rail station and Haarlem is about 20 minutes from the Centraal station by rail. There are many connections each hour.

I found the Teylers Museum to be worth the entrance fee. It has a varied collection of rocks and minerals to fossils, paintings and scientific instruments.

The other museum is the Frans Hals Museum. I recall that it was spendy, but I like 17th century paintings so it was a worthwhile expenditure. The new modern art wing was not worth the time and several exhibits were just silly.

Haarlem is a good base because of its proximity to AMS but you can easily see all the sights in one day.

let me guess? someone's been reading Channels LOL

meh...whatever. WW is OK, Haarlem is nice and definitely worth a trip though...

-paniked

HaH! (Think Ms. Crabapple here). Nice use of the word Meh, Paniked. It was just added to the dictionary... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meh

hi

been to haarlem a few times, a nice small city approx 20 mins by train from central station. Indeed WW seems to be the main player for coffee shops haarlem but their is others such as High times, easy going to name but a few. I stayed in the Amadeus hotel before, located on the grote Market, a comfortable and fairly priced (mind you the steps up to it are a bit of a bugger). I have had a few pints in Willie O Briens pub ( which conveniantly is right beside a willie wortels) which is your typical plastic paddy pub, the food was prity good if i remember correctly (i was mashed at the time). If your into the ladies Haarlem has a very small and quaint red light about 10 mins from the Grote Market, not much of a choice but thats not what i went for

have a good time.

the local rld is terrible. no more to say about the rld. instead of attempting to close the actherdam and wasting everybodies time then close this useless one.if i was on business i'd just jump on a train to a city nearby and enjoy a proper rld. why o why dont all these cities promote their rld as the best. they'd make a fortune. haarlem, been there for rld but useless. great city though. :)

Yeah the RLD there is hardly busy. I think there is about 30 windows in total. Only 4-5 girls were working, this was on a monday afternoon back on March 2008. Of the 3 girls that i did see in the t' poorjes where you pay 6 euro at the turn stile gate, 1 was fantasic looking but she looked like a rip off, something about her!! Dont know what the RLD is like in the evening, maybe busier. Haarlam is nice though. Would go there again just incase there is more of a better selection of girls.

Cheer Matt

Was in Haarlem a few years back, and one of the reasons I went was to experience the Jopenbier, which I believe is pretty unique to the town. Read up on it at http://www.xs4all.nl/~patto1ro/harlpubs.htm .

It has a pretty interesting history. Tastes pretty good too. Sit out on the square with a few Jopen Beers and watch the world go by.

--Mr. Plug

Hi Mr Plug

Thanks for the link to Jopen...

would you consider it an IPA ??


Best Regards

Smuler

Hi Smuler,

I'm not a beer expert, and its been a few years since I researched this. But, to the best of my knowledge (and someone correct me if I'm misinformed),

Jopen Beir is more like a 'brand' of beer, similar to Amstel, which might include various styles in their inventory. With Amstel, Amstel Light and Amstel Bock immediately come to mind. With Jopen, they make a white beer, a spiced/fruit beer, a bock beer, an amber, a blonde, a stout, etc. (I haven't noticed that they brew an IPA)

So when you go to Haarlem you should find different variations depending on where you go to buy it / drink it.

To me, the unique cool thing about it is that it dates back to year 1500, and modern dutch brewers have resurrected the recipes and styles. I think some of the best education about it (in English) comes from the link previously referenced.

Hope this helps,

Mr. Plug

I looked a bit more into this, because the link gave me the impression that they were talking about an IPA...

But you are right... It is a brand with many variations :

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/514/?sort=avgD

Some quite potent in ABV....


I see the the Arendsnest carries it too....



http://www.arendsnest.nl/bieren.php


Gotta get you and 420 over soon...I'll buy brewskies

I am sure we can entice Wim also to chaperone....


Best Regards

Smuler