‘A web of canals and cobbled streets’: a city break in Haarlem in the Netherlands

A short ride from Amsterdam, this laid-back city has great museums, cosy bars and a new exhibition featuring the works of Rembrandt and local artist Frans Hals this winter It’s only 15 minutes away from the Dutch capital by train, but Haarlem feels a million miles from Amsterdam, and perhaps provides a more typical glimpse of the Netherlands than trailing around the well-worn tourist trail of Van Gogh, coffee shops and red lights. An attractive city of cobbled streets, gabled houses and canals, Haarlem is, as the Dutch would say, a gezellig sort of place – cosy, convivial, and full of intrigui