Singles in Haarlem: where to meet people

Where do you meet singles in Haarlem?

Haarlem feels like a small town and works like a big city: the Grote Markt is the heart, the Grote Houtstraat is the shopping street and you can cross the centre in fifteen minutes. Around 165,000 people live here and a large share is between twenty-five and forty-five, often commuting to Amsterdam, fifteen minutes away by train.

That makes Haarlem different from Amsterdam: people have space, they know their regular café and they are not permanently hosting visitors. The terraces on the Grote Markt wrap around the Sint Bavo, and around dinner time it fills with people who are not necessarily part of a group.

Museums, music and the coast nearby

Teylers Museum is the oldest museum in the Netherlands and still in its original nineteenth-century state. The Frans Hals Museum sits in the old proveniershuis on the Groot Heiligland. Patronaat is the city's music venue, programming all year from indie to electronic, with dance parties and national and international acts.

For an evening that does not start in a pub, Haarlem is almost unfairly blessed: the dunes and the coast at Bloemendaal and Zandvoort are a bike ride away, so a beach walk as a first meeting is completely normal here.

Cafés, beer and the Jopenkerk

If you want a beer in Haarlem you do not have to search. Café Studio sits on the Grote Markt, a large brown café with twelve beers on tap and a terrace, and the streets around it hold pubs such as The Wolfhound, Café El en Ben, Toost and Uiltje Bar. Anyone who knows the city a little knows the evening starts on the Grote Markt and ends in the small streets around it: the distance between all these places is never more than a few minutes' walk.

The city's special place is the Jopenkerk, a brewery with a restaurant in a former church just outside the centre. With more than eighteen hundred reviews it ranks among the best rated restaurants in Haarlem, and it is one of the few places where you can drink the beer where it is brewed. Walk in during the afternoon and you see the brewing kettles; come in the evening and you see why it is so busy. The combination of brewery and restaurant makes it a safe spot for a first meeting: there is something to taste, something to see and something to talk about.

One practical note

Haarlem is small enough to walk and busy enough to stay open late, so a plan for the evening never needs more than two stops: a bar on the square and something near the station on the way back.

Getting there and when to come

From Amsterdam Central it is fifteen minutes by train, from Schiphol twenty minutes, from Leiden half an hour. On a normal day more than a hundred and forty trains run between Haarlem and Amsterdam Central, over a distance of eighteen kilometres. From the station it is a ten minute walk to the Grote Markt. Spring and summer are the busiest and the most sociable, with King's Day as the peak. Winter is quieter and the cafés are fuller.

What differs by age

Between thirty and fifty Haarlem offers the best balance of calm and life: enough going on, but you never queue. People in their twenties often head to Amsterdam for a night out, while the over fifties have the museums, the dunes and the restaurants. Because Amsterdam is around the corner, the temptation is real, but around the Grote Markt you meet people who actually live here. For every group the Grote Markt is the starting point.

Frequently asked questions

Is Haarlem a good city for singles?

Yes, especially for people in their thirties and forties. The city is big enough for your own life and small enough to run into someone again, and the Grote Markt is the fixed meeting point.

How long is the train from Haarlem to Amsterdam?

About fifteen minutes from Haarlem to Amsterdam Central.

What is there to do in Haarlem in the evening?

Terraces and cafés on and around the Grote Markt, concerts at Patronaat and restaurants in the small streets around it.

Where do you drink the best beer in Haarlem?

On the Grote Markt, for example at Café Studio with twelve beers on tap, or at the Jopenkerk, the brewery in the former church.

What is the Jopenkerk?

A brewery with a restaurant in a former church, one of the best known going-out places in Haarlem.

How many residents does Haarlem have?

Around 165,000; at the end of 2022 the municipality counted 165,191.

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Can you spend an evening in Haarlem without a car?

Yes. The train from Amsterdam Central takes about fifteen minutes and the station is a ten minute walk from the Grote Markt, so an evening here works even if you do not drive.

Is Haarlem also a city for an afternoon date?

Yes. The dunes at Bloemendaal and the beach at Zandvoort are a short bike ride away, Teylers Museum and the Frans Hals Museum fill a rainy afternoon, and the terraces on the Grote Markt stay open all day. Plenty of people here first meet in daylight and only plan an evening for the second time.

Singles in Leiden, singles in Zandvoort and speed dating in The Hague: the other city guides are on adamevening.com/blog. Each guide lists the squares, the cafés and the places where a first meeting feels natural, city by city.

Adam & Eve singles events

Adam & Eve runs singles events in Amsterdam, where we host editions most often, and elsewhere in the Netherlands: from a drink to a dinner and from a beach edition to a gallery night. Upcoming editions are in the calendar.

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