Haarlem or Delft
 

While in Amsterdam later this month, we're thinking about taking a day trip outside of the city. From what I've read, Haarlem and Delft interest me the most. Which would you choose? We're interested in spending the day strolling through a charming town. It might be nice to go to a museum, but I'm more interested in soaking in the ambience and enjoying a good lunch.

A spin-off question: we would probably do this day trip on a Sunday. Are stores in Delft generally open on Sundays?

Thanks!
Meredith

I enjoyed both...

Here is a nice walking tour for Haarlem:
P:\PERSONAL\Travel Info\AMSTERDAM_Holland\Haarlem Walking Tour_files\haarlem-guidedtour.htm

I didn't really find a similar 'self-guided' walk for Delft, but you can find a tourist map - I just numbered the map with the sights I wanted to see...
http://www.delft.nl/webEN/content.jsp?objectid=33500

Marking for our trip this month..

Thanks!

Byrd

We just got back from spending 5 days in Amsterdam and then 6 days in Delft. We took the train to Haarlem from Delft as a day trip. I am partial to Delft, although Haarlem is a charming town as well. There are lots of good restaurants in Delft in the Market square area. You can take boat tour of the canals also which we enjoyed. I believe the stores are open on Sundays. We arrived on a Monday and left on Sunday so I am not 100% sure.

You could easily do both. We alloted a day for Haarlem but visited Leiden and Delft the same day.All are charming, but Leiden was our favorite.

I'm a bit partial to Delft as well buhave never been to Leiden, so perhaps a combination of Delft & Leiden may work well for you. I like Delft for its history too. Don't miss what the locals call the leaning tower of Delft which is the old church tower right across the canal from Prinsenhof where William of Orange resided and was killed by the Spanish government. You can see the escape tunnel that William of Orange used to get to the canal. All the royal family (House of Orange) members were buried in the New Church.
I went to Delft when they had an antique fare all through out the old town along the canal, so it was very lively.

I enjoyed both, too but my preference goes to Haarlem. It's less touristy and more a real-life town than Delft IMO.
Leiden is also a great city to spend a (half) day!

Both are fine fine old-looking towns. That said Haarlem is much closer to Amsterdam (about 20 mins by train) than Delft (about an hour) and if into museums the Frans Hal Museum in Haarlem is neat not only because of the old art but it's in a neat old convent or some such ancient building.

You can't go wrong - i'd hesitate to chose one over the other.

Vermeer or Hals?

If you are a Vermeer fan, you must visit Delft because is is Vermeer's hometown and is only a short tram ride from The Hague, where you can see his View of Delft and Girl with Pearl Earring (among other treasures) at the lovely Mauritshuis.

another thing that Delft has is Delftware porcelain and you can see this mega-famous stuff being crafted at the Porcelyene Fles (sp?), in its workshop about 1.5 miles from the town center. There are other Delft porcelain manufacturers as well but this i think is the best tour - also a museum on the grounds and the chance to buy 'seconds' but factory prices when i've compared are no bargain. Several Delftware shops in the town centre.

Travelnut

Copying and Pasting for my trip in the Spring.

Thanks for the link to Delft site.

I don't understand that other one: P:\PERSONAL\Travel Info\AMSTERDAM_Holland\Haarlem Walking Tour_files\haarlem-guidedtour.htm - that isn't a URL, so how can I find it, please?

Thanks.

Oh, I never noticed that it saved with my path...

Here it is: (Haarlem walking tour)
http://web.inter.nl.net/users/PvdKam...m/haarlem.html

Thanks, all, for your replies! Oh, decisions, decisions... I think I'm leaning towards Delft right now, but I'll probably change my mind 10 times before we even board the plane. :)

Thanks! Bookmarked!

Probably too late for Meredith, but perhaps somebody else will be interested -
The stores in Delft - and most other Dutch towns - are generally open only one Sunday per month. In Delft that's the first Sunday of the month, called 'koopzondag', or shopping Sunday. A few stores are open more frequently, such as tourist prullaria shops and large home improvement-type hardware stores.

bookmarking, hopefully for this summer

Hi M,

We preferred Haarlem to Delft.

The Franz Hals Museum is quite good.

www.franshalsmuseum.nl/index_en.html

((I))

You could see both places on a day trip. Spend half a day in Delft and a half day in Haarlem. Make sure you step inside the St. Bavo's church in Haarlem. (Watch your step in Haarlem, you might wind up in the extra-sleazy red light district.)

Guess it's too late, but I also prefer Haarlem over Delft as the later was more touristy.

Sigh...too late for my post as well. While I didn't have a chance to make it to Haarlem, I did make it to Delft and Den Hague and loved both places! In fact, I don't think I spent enough time at either, so they are on my return wish list. Haarlem is on my wish list of "still-yet-to-come" as we didn't have enough time.

So, Meredith, where did you end up going?

Thanks for that link Travelnut -- memories of my home town in Europe. In fact I lived in front of the first bridge which is labeled "Lift Bridge." I don't know why they didn't call it by its true name, the Gravenstenenbrug. This bridge is very similar to the Magerebrug in Amsterdam which you see in many tourist brochures and guidebooks.

The two-tiered step gabled building on the right was called the Elephant building and a new 20th century art deco version was built next to it, barely discernible in the photo.

Mcnyc, we chose Delft and The Hague and enjoyed both! I'm currently writing up a trip report - just click on my name if you are interested.