What to do and see in Haarlem, North Holland Province: The Best Museums

The Frans Hals Museum and De Hallen Haarlem came together to form the renewed Frans Hals Museum: one museum at two locations. Where old meets new. Historical works hang alongside contemporary installations, and the Golden Age sits alongside the modern day. The meeting of Old Masters and contemporary art lets you look in a different way and see more.

Anyone who opens the museum's heavy door on the bank of the River Spaarne sees at a glance what it is that inspires such enthusiasm. The museum breathes the atmosphere of the 18th and 19th centuries - the Age of the Enlightenment - when people were busily gathering knowledge about the world. Teylers Museum, museum of wonder, is a world in itself, one that you will never forget. Teylers Museum is the best-preserved 18th-century public knowledge institution for the arts and sciences in the world. It has been open to the public since 1784, welcoming all those who are eager to look at paintings and drawings by the Old Masters, magnificent minerals, ingenious scientific instruments, precious books, and centuries-old fossils. The museum's interior alone, with the monumental Oval Room as pièce de resistance, is a truly remarkable attraction. It is the only authentic 18th-century museum interior in the world.

More than 100 years of NZH history about Public Transport in North and South Holland. The NZH is known for the Blue Tram and by 1970 it was by far the largest regional transport company in the Netherlands. In 1999 the NZH merged with Connexxion. In the museum you will find four historic trams and many historic buses, which can be viewed inside and outside. In a spacious hall, the museum displays a large number of photos of the trams and buses on the many lines operated by the NZH, scale models of different vehicles, signs, attributes and clothing, and even complete bus and tram stops. There is also plenty to do for children: playing a driver in a large bus, model tram, coloring pages, a scavenger hunt and a play corner.

The Dolhuys is situated in a unique medieval building: the former lepers-, plague and madhouse. For years the building lay outside the city walls of Haarlem, sheltering the ‘insane’ and people with contagious diseases such as plague and leprosy. Go back in time and visit one of the very few remaining isolation chambers in Europe, dating from the 16th century. What does it feel like to be locked away in such a dark and confided space? In this historical building, you will get to peek inside the minds of artists, writers and scientists, sometimes with a disability or mental illness. You will meet people who function differently. Be inspired by the surprising stories about their lives and be aware of the value of deviant behavior. Visit, meet and allow yourself to wonder about what is normal. Are you normal?

In het souterrain van de beroemde Vleeshal, op de Grote Markt van Haarlem ("Hollandse renaissance", bouwmeester Lieven de Keij) is een klein maar bijzonder aardig museum voor de oudste geschiedenis van Haarlem, met allerlei in de grond gedane vondsten, en goede displays, o.a. een nagemaakte opgraving.