Also read:
Family friendly restaurants in Haarlem
Haarlem city trip with kids 1-day itinerary
Visiting the Teylers Museum with a toddler
Favorite things to do in The Netherlands with kids

Petting zoos in Haarlem

Holland has around 550-600 petting zoos (kinderboerderijen). The literal translation of the Dutch word ‘kinderboerderij’ is children’s farm. A lot of them started in the 1950’s when The Netherlands started to become more and more urbanized. Their purpose was to give both adults and kids in the cities the possibility to interact with farm animals and to teach them where our food comes from. Most of the petting farms in Holland can therefore be found in the urbanized provinces of North and South Holland (Noord-Holland and Zuid-Holland). Animals you can typically find at Dutch petting zoo’s are goats, pigs, horses, donkeys, cows, sheep, chickens, turkeys, rabbits, guinea pigs and other small rodents.

In random order, these are our favorite places in and around Haarlem where kids can play with animals.

Kinderboerderij Houthoeve

Holland has a lot of petting farms or petting zoos (‘kinderboerderij’ in Dutch). Most kids love animals, so it’s a great idea for a nice family activity. The biggest one in Haarlem is Kinderboerderij De Houthoeve, located in the Haarlemmerhout park. It also has a small playground. Entrance is free, check their website for opening hours. Wednesdays til Sundays you can combine your visit to the petting zoo with eating a great pancake at a cozy little restaurant called Nurks in de Hout, located less than a minute walk from the petting zoo’s entrance. Keep in mind that it doesn’t open until 14:00. Across the road from the park you will find La Place Dreefzicht which is a self-service restaurant that’s open every day from 8:00 til 21:00. There are several bus stops near the Haarlemmerhout. Check 9292.nl/en for bus schedules. The address is Hertenkamplaan 3, Haarlem.

Kinderboerderij ’t Molentje

Another great petting zoo is Kinderboerderij ’t Molentje in Heemstede. It’s right next to a great forest area called Groenendaalse Bos and a large playground Speeltuin Groenendaal. The entrance to the petting zoo is free, it’s open every day from 10:00 til 16:30. For the playground you pay €2,50 per person, including a drink or ice cream. Make sure to check the playground’s website for opening hours. There are several options to get there by bus from Haarlem, it takes about 30 minutes. Check 9292.nl/en for bus schedules. The address of the petting zoo is Groenendaal 1, Heemstede.

Geitenboerderij Ridammerhoeve

In the middle of the Amsterdam Forest (Amsterdamse Bos) you will find the organic goat farm Ridammerhoeve. Besides goats, the farm is also home to lambs, chickens, pigs, cows and horses. It’s a fantastic place to visit with kids. Most of the stables are accessible and for a small fee you can buy a bottle of milk to feed the little goats, quite an experience! There’s a small playground and the restaurant serves delicious homemade organic food. At the attached store you can buy various different kinds of organic cheeses, meats, vegetables, and herbs. We recently visited there ourselves for the first time and I’m sure it won’t be the last. The address is Nieuwe Meerlaan 4, Amstelveen.

Boerderij Zorgvrij

Boerderij Zorgvrij is a livestock farm with an educational purpose. During the winter months the cows are inside and can be fed. Very often there are calves, but also they have goats, pigs, chickens and rabbits. The farm offers numerous activities for kids and has an interesting educational program for schools. At the farm you can also find the information center for recreation area Spaarnwoude, which offers maps with bicycle and walking routes. There’s a large playground and numerous gardens and forested areas where kids can play. At the site there’s also a pancake restaurant called ‘Onder de Platanen’. Entrance to Zorgvrij is free. You can find Boerderij Zorgvrij dat Genieweg 50, Velsen-Zuid

Garden center De Oosteinde

While not a proper petting zoo, this garden center located in Vijfhuizen has a small animal enclosure that offers kids the chance to see goats, sheep, rabbits and chickens. It’s worth mentioning because besides the petting zoo it also has a nice outside terrace and a playground. The playground is free of charge and has a bouncey castle up in the summer, a trampoline (our little boys favorite!), a wooden structure with a slide, some swings (one is suitable for very small kids as well!) and a small sandpit. The garden center is very easy to reach by car. The play area is only accessible via the garden center. The address is Schipholweg 1088, Vijfhuizen.

Museums in Haarlem

Haarlem doesn’t have any ‘real’ children’s museums, such as Nemo Science Center in Amsterdam or the Miffy Museum in Utrecht. However, there are a number of museums in Haarlem that are nice to visit with kids. They aren’t as interactive as museums that are designed specifically for kids, but most of them do offer a treasure hunt to let kids interact and discover the museum’s collection in a playful way. If your kids like museums (our son LOVES museums), these ones are worth a visit.

Archeology Museum Haarlem

Our son’s favorite by far is the Archeologisch Museum Haarlem. It’s a small museum which makes it perfect for toddlers and preschoolers, but it’s interesting for slightly older kids as well. The Archeology Museum is located, quite appropriately, underground. The old cellars of De Vleeshal (‘meat hall’), on Haarlem’s central square the Grote Markt, are the perfect location for this charming little museum. All the displays are the perfect height for kids and there is a small digging pit for little archeologists to be. At the determination table kids can figure out what people used to eat by going through waste found in a cesspit, just like real archeologists.

Teylers Museum

The Teylers Museum calls itself the ‘museum of wonder’ and this is very true. This 18th-century museum definitely houses all kinds of weird and wonderful. From a cave bear skeleton to a massive collection of fossils, and from fluorescent rocks to old scientific instruments and impressive paintings. The building is very old and part of it is the original museum interior of 1784. It’s a proper museum, so not very suitable for really young kids (we first visited Teylers Museum when our son was 3,5), but from age 4-5 the treasure hunt is fun to do and every Sunday they offer great creative workshops for kids.

Frans Hals Museum

The Frans Hals Museum is the oldest art museum in The Netherlands, with a collection that’s over 400 years old. Not a museum for grabby little hands, but a nice place to visit with kids age 4+. The collection is a great combination of the historic Dutch masters and modern art. The museum has two locations, the former old men’s home at Groot Heiligland called ‘het Hof’ and De Hallen at the Grote Markt. Discover all the fun details of the paintings and art objects by doing the treasure hunt.

ABC Architecture Center

The Architectuur- en Bouwhistorisch Centrum (ABC) Haarlem the center of Haarlem, close to the Frans Hals Museum, is not that interesting to visit with young kids. But… they do have over 60.000 lego bricks for kids to build and play with! Who doesn’t love playing with lego? At ABC there are enough to keep kids occupied for a while.  For older kids (and parents!) who are interested in architecture and urban development, this is a good place to learn more about various aspects of Dutch architecture. ABC is open all afternoons except Sunday.

Museum Haarlem

If you want to learn more about the history of Haarlem, Museum Haarlem is the place to go. Start with a short introduction film (in Dutch or English) which tells you about important events in Dutch history and the people that were important in Haarlem’s history. Such as plane builder Anthony Fokker, Kenau Simonsdochter Hasselaer (who played an important role in the defense of Haarlem during the Eighty Years War with Spain) and Laurens Janszoon Coster (the purported inventor of the printing press). Then go on to discover lots of objects, paintings and photos that tell you all about Haarlem’s history. For each exhibition, the museum creates a sheet with questions and assignments for kids.  Don’t miss  the ‘weeshuiskamer’ (orphanage room) and discover what it was like when the Haarlem Museum’s building was an orphanage, not even that long ago. There’s a chest with dress up clothes for even more pretend play.

Pieter Vermeulen Museum

A bit outside of Haarlem, at Driehuis, you’ll find the Pieter Vermeulen Museum. It’s a small museum, specifically for kids, which has about 3 or 4 different exhibitions during the year. It’s only open on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday afternoons (more often during school holidays). We’ve been twice and learned about waste & recycling and about the various aspects of water. The exhibitions are in Dutch, so if you don’t speak Dutch make sure to use Google translate app (tip: there’s an option to scan a written text your phone’s camera and immediately translate it to English). We do recommend you to do the assignment sheet, because otherwise you’ll be done is less than 30-minutes.

Playgrounds in Haarlem

Haarlem has a lot of playgrounds (playground = speeltuin in Dutch). Quite a few of them are run by playground associations and operated by volunteers. On the one hand this is fantastic, on the other hand this reliance on volunteers means the playgrounds have limited opening hours and aren’t completely free to visit. Usually you pay a small entry fee of €0,50-€1 per child. Make sure the playground is open before visiting! Search online for ‘speeltuin  Haarlem’ and you’ll find them all.

Playground Paradijsje

Het Paradijsje used to be our favorite playground when our son was young. Perfect place to spend an hour or two with your little one (up to age 5). It’s a city playground and unless you know it’s there it can be a bit hard to find.

Playground Glasblazers

Playground de Glasblazers was recently renovated and great for both young and older kids. It’s not a large playground, but there’s enough space to climb, jump and play.

Playground Groenendaal

Open year-round (not when the weather is really bad!) Playground Groenendaal is a commercial outdoor playground. At €3 per person (including a drink or ice cream) the entrance fee is very reasonable. It’s not in Haarlem itself, but in neighboring town Heemstede. This playground is located right next to the Groenendaalse Bos, in the middle of a forest. We love combining an hour or two of exploring in the forest with some playtime at this playground. This playground is also very close to Kinderboerderij ‘t Molentje.

Play forest Meermond

Also in Heemstede, this free play forest is a great alternative for families on a budget. It’s best for kids 4 and older with some great climbing structures, a slide and surrounding forested area to explore. Our son loves it there. There are no restaurants and toilets close by. The entrance of the play area is at Cruquiusweg 49, Heemstede.

Indoor and outdoor swimming  in Haarlem

There are a two indoor swimming pools in Haarlem, zwembad Boerhaavebad and zwembad De Planeet. Both have limited options for recreational swimming, so do check the website before visiting. Water Park Aqua Mundo in Center Parcs Zandvoort is more expensive but you can easily spend a few hours there and it’s a great alternative that’s open every day. Haarlem also has an outdoor pool called De Houtvaart (open every day from end of April to end of August). For open water swimming the Molenplas (Waertmolenpad 1) in de southern Schalkwijk area of Haarlem is great. There are some play structures as well as a restaurant. An alternative in nearby Hoofddorp is the Haarlemmermeerse Bos (IJweg 961, Hoofddorp). Haarlem is very close to the beach too. Zandvoort is only 15 minutes away by train or about 45-60 minutes by bike. During the summer holiday in July and August it can be very crowded on the beach on hot days.

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The Teylers Museum is the oldest museum in the Netherlands, dating back to 1784. It’s the only place in the world where you can see an authentic museum interior from the 18th century. The building is absolutely stunning and worth visiting even without the extensive collection of paintings, drawings, ancient scientific instruments, old coins, fossils and minerals and valuable books.

The history of the Teylers museum

The museum is named after Pieter Teyler van der Hulst (1702-1778), who was a rich cloth merchant and banker from Haarlem. He had a great interest in art and science. When he died in 1778 he left his collection of books, drawings and coins as well as his considerable wealth to the Teylers Foundation. In line with the ideas of the Enlightenment, the first directors of the Teylers Foundation decided to create a center for study and education. The Oval Room, designed by Leendert Viervant 1779 as an ‘art and book’ room, was meant for research and study. Over the years, the museum was gradually extended. The latest addition was in 2002, with a museum shop and a multimedia room.

Visiting the Teylers Museum (with a toddler)

The museum is absolutely fascinating if you enjoy history and as it had been a long time since I was there myself, I decided to give it a go. We spend about one hour inside. That doesn’t seem so long, but I was quite impressed by our tot. It’s a proper museum, without much interaction. There’s a lot to see, but not much to do for a toddler. They do offer activities for slightly older kids (from age 4), such as treasure hunts and workshops and educational programs for schools. I’m sure we’ll be back when he gets a bit older. There’s still a lot to discover!



Our visit in pictures

To give you an impression of the Teylers Museum and our visit, check out these pictures.

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Visiting Haarlem should definitely be on your list of things to do in The Netherlands. Since it’s very close to both Amsterdam and Schiphol Airport you can easily fit it into your Netherlands itinerary.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, check out this cool video explaining the difference between The Netherlands and Holland.

Seasons in the Netherlands

The Netherlands in the wintertime are either cold and wet, or just plain cold. And often windy. In January and February temperatures can be around 0 Celsius. Sometimes we even get a bit of snow. Of course, you don’t want the weather to spoil your city trip to Haarlem, Netherlands. So dress appropriately, wear a warm coat, warm shoes and bring a winter hat and gloves. Oh, and don’t forget a raincoat or umbrella as The Netherlands generally gets a lot of rain. By far the best time to visit is April-June, when the weather is a bit milder. Although September can have some really nice days too. Haarlem is definitely worth a visit in any season and luckily our city offers plenty of indoor activities for those rainy days!

Breakfast

Since especially in the morning it can be cold, you’ll want to find a nice cosy place for a proper breakfast. Some good options are By Lima (Zijlstraat 65) and Anne&Max (Zijlstraat 68). If you have young kids and are looking for a restaurant with a nice play area, try Yoghurt Barn (Kruisstraat 15). It has a great wooden play kitchen. All three restaurants are open from 8:00, 9:00 on a Sunday. If you’ve already had breakfast at your hotel, quickly skip to the next step.

Spend the morning exploring

When the hungry mouths are fed and everybody’s happy, it’s a great time to go exploring for a bit. Walk to the Grote Markt (big market square) and take a look around. There are some beautiful buildings in this old central square, such as the old Town Hall (people still get married here!) and the Grote or St. Bavokerk. The large and beautiful church is well worth a visit. It’s open Monday-Saturday from 10:00 -17:00. Inside you’ll find the famous Müller organ, dating from 1738, which was played by both Händel and Mozart. Our toddler was very impressed and often asks to go again. One of the other old buildings lining the square is the Vleeshal (meat hall). This building was built early 1600 and used for selling fresh meat. Now, it’s a gallery. If your kids are past the toddler stage, it’s fun to visit the Archeologisch Museum Haarlem (archeologic museum) in the cellars of the Vleeshal.

Lunch

Around lunch time your kids are probably tired of walking around and ready to play for a bit. So it’s a good there are some great family-friendly restaurants in Haarlem’s city center. Meneer Paprika (Koningsstraat 19-21) and Brownies & downieS (Schagchelstraat 26) are great choices. Brownies & downieS is more suitable for younger kids, with a nice play kitchen (our 3,5 year old really enjoyed it last time we were there). Meneer Paprika is always a good choice. It has a wooden train track and lots of other toys to play with (be advised, it’s both a café and a toy store ;-)).

Some culture

After playing and eating a nice lunch, your kids will be energized enough to continue your city trip. Of course, they might not want to leave the nice play areas… If your kids are still very young and happy to be in the back carrier or stroller, or past the toddler stage, you could visit one of the many art museums or galleries. The Frans Hals Museum is no. 1 on TripAdvisor for a reason! But a lot of things kids aren’t supposed to touch are within easy reach, so avoid it if your kids are in the ‘I want to touch everything’ phase! Another great museum I recently visited with our toddler is the Teylers Museum. Our tot was a bit too young to really appreciate it, but he enjoyed it anyway. The museum holds a curious mix of fossils and bones, rocks and gemstones and old scientific instruments. And the building it’s in is absolutely stunning.



… or nature

With infants and toddlers, visiting a museum might not be such a great experience. Luckily there’s a great little playground tucked away between the houses in the city center, it’s called Het Paradijsje (little paradise, Witte Herenstraat 36). Our son loves it and we go there pretty much all year round, provided it’s not raining. It’s open Tuesday-Saturday from 10:00-17:00 and you can play there for €1 per child.

There’s also a petting zoo within easy walking distance of the city center. Kinderboerderij De Houthoeve is located in park The Haarlemmerhout (Hertenkamplaan 3). Check out our post about petting farms around Haarlem for more info. If you do visit this petting zoo, you might also consider Theehuis De Haarlemmerhout for either lunch or dinner. It’s located next to De Houthoeve and open every day from 9:30 – 17:00 (18:00 on weekends). This cute little place serves great Dutch pancakes, but also sandwiches and burgers. You can also just have a coffee or tea with cake.

Afternoon exercise… shopping

Later in the afternoon and before dinner, why not go back to the center for some shopping. Haarlem has won multiple awards for Netherland’s best shopping destination. Fun shops for kids toys are Meneer Paprika (Koningstraat 19-21), Krokodil (Gedempte Oude Gracht 84) and Tante Steef (Zijlstraat 66). Kiekeboek (Gierstraat 29) is an awesome kids book store. At Kruisweg 66a you will find Het Spellenhuis, where they sell every board game and role playing game you can imagine. Definitely worth a visit if your kids are a bit older.

Of course, don’t forget to bring some snacks for your kids to munch on in the afternoon, hungry kids are no fun. You will find some supermarkets in the city center: DekaMarkt (Gedempte Oude Gracht 56-58), Albert Heijn (Drossestraat 11 and Grote Houtstraat 182).

Plan B

Of course, if the weather turns really bad, you can always spend a few hours at the cinema. You can find Pathé Haarlem on Zijlvest 41-43.

Dinnertime!

After a full day of city tripping your kids are probably up for an early dinner. Haarlem has so many restaurants it will be hard to choose! Italian, Japanese, Moroccan, Thai, Indonesian, Indian, Chinese, Mexican… Haarlem’s city center has plenty of restaurants to choose from. The Netherlands is generally pretty child-friendly. Most, if not all, of the restaurants will have high chairs for you to use and most have an area to change diapers. If you fancy a burger, try Rubens Burger (Drossestraat 3), guaranteed a lot tastier than McDonalds! Otherwise, you could go to Tatsu (Oude Groenmarkt 14-16) or Nagoya (Spaarne 48) for all-you-can-eat sushi. It’s fun to let the kids choose which types of sushi or other Japanese dishes they want to try. La Cubanita (Grote Markt 21) is a nice place for tapas. If you like bbq try Roast Bistro (Turfmarkt 26) for some tasty chicken or other roasted goodies. Budget option: Cafe Bruxelles (Lange Wijngaardstraat 16) offers a daily meal for €9.

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On 21 January 2016, we returned to The Netherlands after having traveled for 10 months. We came back early from our year long Big Adventure because of my mother in law’s progressing illness. Parkinson’s Disease saw her moving into a nursing home this past October. I’m sure that those who have been in a similar situation know what I mean when I say this was difficult but at the same time offered some peace of mind.

Dreams on hold

Our big dream still is to slow travel around the world with our son. Mau as a dive instructor and me as digital nomad, following the dive seasons and homeschooling our little one. But because of my mother in law’s poor health we’ve now put our dream on hold so we can be here in Holland. My youngest aunt died unexpectedly this year and we’ve seen a lot of illness, which is making it even more clear to us how important it is to live our life to the fullest en don’t wait until it’s too late. The urge to go but not being able to is causing us sleepless nights. We really need to start looking at what we CAN do.

New Year’s Resolutions

• To see possibilities instead of limitations
• To travel more
• To spend quality time with our son as much as possible
• To increase our online income

Positive things

Even though we had some issues staying positive, of course 2016 wasn’t all about negatives. It’s been good for both sets of grandparents to spend time with their only grandson and our little world traveler really enjoys his time with them too. We can learn a lot from the way he lives in the moment, not thinking much beyond what he wants RIGHT NOW. Even more than before our trip we’re consciously spending as much time with our son as we can. After all, he’s growing up sooo fast. We’ve both decided to work minimal hours so we have more time for him. Of course this is not helping us grow our travel budget. Short term travel usually requires more budget, so we need to find a smarter balance for next year.

Lots of firsts

2016 was, not surprising with a child, another year with a lot of ‘firsts’. The biggest one was that Jace stopped napping. Those of you who have kids will know what a major difference that makes. That I had no more me-time in the afternoon took some getting used to, but how much fun it is to be able to go out all day! Our little man also started going to kindergarten two afternoons a week. A big lesson in letting go, and at the same time fantastic to see how much he enjoys it. This also enabled me to start working a bit more again.

Highlights of 2016

One of the highlights of 2016 was our 2-week trip to Vienna, Prague and Berlin in May. At this point Jace had already stopped napping, so we could spend all day exploring. It was a big difference compared to our time in Asia. Of course with him getting older, we needed to factor in more playtime and we saw A LOT of playgrounds in all three cities. But we experienced a great amount of freedom even if it was only a short two-week trip.

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If you’re coming to The Netherlands, Haarlem should definitely be on your list of places to visit. It’s one of the nicest cities in The Netherlands. Not just because it’s our hometown (if you do come to Haarlem, drop us a line and we can show you around!). Haarlem has beautiful old architecture in the city center and there are lots of activities in and around the city, for both kids and adults. If you’re staying in Amsterdam, to go from Amsterdam to Haarlem by train only takes about 15 minutes. Some people call Haarlem ‘small Amsterdam’, the same type of architecture, but smaller and much less touristy.

Combine sightseeing with rest & play

Meneer Paprika

Yoghurt Barn

Minimarkt

Veerkwartier

Kweekcafé

Ikea / Smaland

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