Haarlem
The CouchSurfing Wiki, an informal workspace which anyone can edit.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Haarlem is the capital of the province of Noord Holland in the Netherlands. Haarlem is famous for its historic architecture and museums and has a rich cultural life. It is a very typical town surrounded by typical villages and landscapes. Haarlem is 20 minutes from Amsterdam, 20 minutes from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (car; bus = 35 mins) and 20 minutes from the beach. Haarlem is nicknamed 'Spaarnestad' (Spaarne Town) because of the picturesque river Spaarne that divides the town in two.
Contents |
Couchsurfing Community
There are currently (march 2008) some 87 members in Haarlem, or 116 if you include 'suburbs' like Zandvoort and Hoofddorp. Members in Haarlem have hosted guests from all over the world. Guests from the USA and Germany seem to be very frequent, but the list includes members from Panama, Iran, Israel, Japan, China, New Zealand, Brasil, Mexico, Libya, Belarus, to name just a few. In other words: from all continents.
Couchsurfing Group
The CS forum page dedicated to Haarlem can be found here.
Couchsurfing meetings
There are irregular meetings in Haarlem, mostly around festivals and concerts. There is also the big midsummernight aftercamp. The nearest regular CS meeting is the weekly meetup in Amsterdam.
Getting there
Train: There are direct trains to Haarlem from Amsterdam, Breda/Rotterdam/Den Haag/Leiden, Zandvoort and Beverwijk/Hoorn. When you are coming from Paris/Brussels, you will probably have to change trains at Den Haag HS station. If you are coming from Germany, Amsterdam CS will be the place to change trains.
The train from Haarlem to Amsterdam CS only takes 15 minutes. Therefore, it might well be that someone from Haarlem gets faster into the centre of Amsterdam, than someone from Amsterdams outskirts.
Bus: International buses (Eurolines) arrive at Amsterdam Amstel railway station. From there, take a metro or train to Amsterdam CS.
Regional bus connections include line 80 from Amsterdam Marnixstraat/Elandsgracht bus station (close to Leidseplein). In weekends this bus drives also in the night (as line 286). Line 176 links Haarlem with Amsterdam Amstelveenseweg metro station.
By air: Fly to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. Then take bus 300 to Haarlem. It is a fast connection (some 35 minutes) that goes every 10 minutes in the daytime, less frequent in the evening and once every hour in the night (in the night the line number is N30)
Events
Most of them are annual but the exact dates change, of course.
· Bloemencorso Flower parade. April
· Bevrijdingspop , one of the Netherlands' biggest free open air festivals (rock/pop etc). May 5
· Luilak, regional tradition. All night long there is a huge plants/flower market and in the morning the youth goes through the streets making noise (to wake up people) and draw on windows and cars with candle wax and butter. Friday before Whitsunday.
· Haarlemmerhout Festival with music, dance, food from around the world. June
· Dancevalley festival July
· Jazz festival August
· Vaardagen Big nautical event on our river Spaarne, not in 2008
· Open Monumentendagen. "Open door days" in most of the historical buildings (and there are lots of them!) September
· Jopen festival Historic festival with live music, craftsmen at work, etc September
· De Stad als Podium Music, theatre, exhibitions, etc etc etc September
· Haarlem Salsa Dance Festival October
· Kunstlijn Hundreds of artists open their doors; countless exhibitions. November
Museums
· Frans Hals museum Dutch masters of the Golden Age (and more)
· Teylers Museum science and art in Hollands oldest museum
· National Psychiatry museum
· Museum de Cruquius Former giant steam pumping engine, now museum about how the Dutch fight with the water and claimed land from the sea. Part of the European Route of Industrial Heritage .
· Vleeshal and Vishal contemporary arts inclusing photography
· Nieuwe Vide contemporary arts
· Historical photography archive
· Kunstfort exhibitions in a 19th century fortress
· Mechanical Organ Museum
· small historic trams and buses museum
· De Adriaan museum in a windmill
· De Zandhaas working windmill where wheat flour is made
· Archeology museum and lots of info on archeology in Haarlem
· centre for architecture
Nightlife
· Salsa @ the railway station (no smoking)
· dance and world music @ the railway station (no smoking)
· Reggeaton, Merengue, Bachata, Salsa, Zouk
· Live bands (Dance, Rock, Alternative)
· Dance club
· sunday afternoon jazz
· 5 days per week live music
· dance events
and countless bars and restaurants of course
Trivia
Haarlem at couchsurfing groups
Haarlem at wikitravel
Basic info in english, german and french
- This article is a stub. You can help by expanding it.
