FAQ

No, Haarlem is its own historic city, about fifteen minutes from Amsterdam by train. Many first-time visitors assume it’s a neighborhood of Amsterdam, but Haarlem has been an independent city since the Middle Ages, with its own city center, museums, and centuries of history that predate Amsterdam’s rise to fame.

About fifteen minutes by direct train from Amsterdam Centraal, or roughly twenty minutes by car. It’s an easy, frequent connection, which is exactly why so many travelers choose to stay in Haarlem and visit Amsterdam as a day trip, rather than the other way around.

Yes. Haarlem is a quiet, welcoming city, generally considered even more relaxed than Amsterdam. Like anywhere, ordinary travel common sense applies, but you won’t find the crowds or hustle that come with a major capital.

If you love authentic architecture, real Dutch history, and walkable streets without the crowds, Haarlem is absolutely worth it, and many visitors end up preferring it. From the hotel you can step straight into a canal cruise through Haarlem’s waterways, follow a historic walking route past centuries-old facades, and find some of the city’s best restaurants within a few minutes on foot. The beach at Bloemendaal aan Zee is within easy reach too, for anyone who wants sea air after a day of museums and history. You get all the charm of the Netherlands’ Golden Age, a fifteen-minute train ride from everything Amsterdam has to offer.

The train from Schiphol to Haarlem station takes about twenty-five minutes, followed by an eight-minute walk or a short bus ride to the hotel. There’s also a direct bus from Schiphol to Haarlem, about forty minutes total. By taxi, it’s roughly twenty-five minutes.

About an eight-minute walk through Haarlem’s charming historic center brings you right to our door.

Haarlem station has frequent trains to Amsterdam, Schiphol, Leiden, and The Hague. Starting in December, a direct train will also connect Haarlem to Antwerp, Ghent, and Paris.

As central as it gets. We’re right on the Zijlstraat, about a hundred meters from the Grote Markt (main square). By day, the Zijlstraat is a lively, upscale shopping street; by evening and at night, it turns quiet and calm. Unlike hotels located in Haarlem’s nightlife district, you won’t find a rowdy crowd outside our door, even though you’re still completely in the city center. Safety is a top priority for us, and this location plays a direct part in that.

Easily, and it’s exactly what most of our guests do. With a direct train of about fifteen minutes to Amsterdam Centraal, you can base yourself in quieter, more affordable Haarlem and pop into Amsterdam whenever you like, without ever needing to book a separate hotel there.

We don’t have our own parking lot, but Parkeergarage De Raaks, a secure, covered garage with roughly 960 spaces and EV charging, is just a four-minute walk away. Within about fifteen minutes on foot you’ll find several more garages in the city center, including De Appelaar, De Dreef, and Houtplein, so finding a spot is rarely an issue.

Yes. Parkeergarage De Raaks, four minutes on foot, has EV charging points. If you’d rather charge on the street, Haarlem also has public charging stations around the city.

We’re located in Haarlem’s car-restricted historic center. Until 11:00 AM you can drive right up to the door; after that a bollard rises, though we can arrange to lower it for you if needed.

You’re welcome to arrive any time of day. Rooms are typically ready from 3:00 PM, though we always do our best to get early arrivals into a room sooner. Either way, you can drop off your luggage the moment you arrive, and we’ll make sure it’s waiting in your room once it’s ready.

11:00 AM, with the option of a later check-out until 1:00 PM.

Our front desk is staffed daily from 7:30 AM to 8:00 PM. Outside those hours, our team is still reachable by phone around the clock.

Yes, any time.

Classy Plus, Classy, Cosy, and the Family Room, each with its own character, size, and historic details. The biggest differences between room types come down to square footage, bed width, and view, and every room type includes its own bathtub and separate shower.

Classy Plus rooms are the most spacious, ranging from about 30 to 43 square meters (roughly 325 to 465 square feet), with a comfortable seating area to unwind after a day exploring Haarlem. Classy rooms measure roughly 30 to 37 square meters (about 325 to 400 square feet) and include a romantic loveseat and desk.

Yes, every room is reachable by elevator. Because of the building’s unique, historic character, a few rooms do still have a small number of steps.

Expect a walk-in shower with a separate bathtub, a smart TV, Rituals bath products, a hairdryer, a kettle and Nespresso machine, a plush Auping bed, complimentary water, a minibar fridge, a bathrobe and slippers, an in-room safe, and fast wifi. Everything you need to feel at home, in a room with centuries of history around you.

Definitely. This split-level, 47-square-meter (roughly 505-square-foot) room has a king-size Auping bed downstairs for parents, and upstairs, two twin beds plus two cozy box beds built into the wall that kids love climbing into.

We currently use portable AC units. By the end of 2026 or early 2027, every room will get a built-in climate system with air conditioning.

The ceiling painting itself hangs in The Salet, but the historic feel doesn’t stop there: many of our rooms have their own special details, from an old hoisting wheel to original wooden ceiling beams that have been in place for centuries.

Unfortunately not, our rooms are pet-free. We made this choice to offer guests the highest level of hygiene and to prevent possible noise disturbance from animals.

No, the entire hotel operates a strict no-smoking policy.

The Salet is the beating heart of Hotel 1635. It’s where you check in, where you’ll have breakfast each morning, and where, coffee in hand, you can look straight up at a ceiling painting that’s hung there for almost four hundred years. Not many hotels can say that. You’re also welcome to use The Salet during the day, whether to relax for a while or enjoy a drink.

Our breakfast is a generous spread of fresh, local products. Expect fresh bread rolls from a local French bakery, croissants and pain au chocolat, cheese and chicken breast, alongside classic Dutch spreads like chocolate sprinkles (hagelslag), peanut butter, and jam. We’re also happy to prepare an egg exactly how you like it, boiled or fried.

You’ll also find yoghurt with house-made, freshly baked granola and red fruit, traditional Dutch poffertjes (mini pancakes), warm apple turnovers, and fresh fruit. To drink, we pour fresh orange juice, tea, water, and good coffee, from espresso and lungo to cappuccino and flat white.

We deliberately don’t work with a buffet. Everything is freshly prepared and served the moment you sit down for breakfast, so your breakfast is always fresh, relaxed, and personal.

Under the ceiling painting in The Salet, typically between 8:00 and 10:30 AM. If you’d like to eat earlier or later, just let us know, we’re happy to be flexible. Breakfast costs €19.95 per person.

That depends on the rate you book. Choose a room rate that includes breakfast, and it’s already covered. Booked without breakfast? You can always add it on whenever you like.

No, we specialize in a great start to the day: breakfast only. For lunch and dinner, you’re steps away from Haarlem’s historic city center, with plenty of restaurants within walking distance.

Absolutely. Come back any time for a cup of coffee, a quiet moment under the ceiling painting, or just to recharge after a day exploring Haarlem.

The Zijlstraat and the streets around it form a lively shopping and dining area, full of cozy cafés and restaurants within walking distance of your room. Feel free to ask our front desk for personal recommendations, but a few local favorites include restaurants like Dané, Colette, La Plume, Table24, Bilbao, Adamo Trattoria, and Toujours, and cafés like Jopenkerk, Bar Uiltje, Van Beijnum, Café de Zwaan, and Den IJver.

There is an elevator, which makes a number of rooms wheelchair accessible. The hotel isn’t fully equipped to meet every accessibility requirement, so please reach out ahead of time with specific needs and we’ll gladly help figure out what’s possible.

Yes, every room has free, fast wifi.

Yes, through our partnership with the Zwartefietsenplan bike rental service, you can be cycling through the city, or out to the beach, in no time.

Yes, every room has its own safe.

Yes: we generate our own energy with solar panels, use it for heating and cooling, and are actively working to reduce our gas usage. We also separate our waste and recycle wherever possible.

Yes, this remarkable space, with the ceiling painting as a backdrop, can be booked for events and meetings. Get in touch to discuss the possibilities.

Absolutely. A smooth check-in, fast wifi, and enough room to work or meet with a group, in a setting that’s a bit more inspiring than your average business hotel. Need to leave early? We’ll have your breakfast ready to go.

Absolutely, Hotel 1635 works very well for a group stay.

Meetings, lunches, breakfast gatherings, drinks receptions, and other events, all set against a unique historic backdrop.

It’s a natural fit. Intimate rooms, a monumental building, and a story spanning centuries of love and wealth make Hotel 1635 one of the most romantic places to escape to in Haarlem. By day, walk hand in hand along the elegant Zijlstraat with its shop windows and boutiques; by evening, that same street turns quietly still, perfect for an unhurried night together.

Haarlem is romantic year-round, but December adds an extra layer of magic, with Christmas lights throughout the historic center and a cozy atmosphere around the Grote Markt, making it one of our guests’ favorite months for a getaway. Springtime, when the surrounding bulb fields burst into bloom, is another favorite moment for a romantic escape.

Yes, we actually have two packages perfect for the occasion: the “Love is in the Air” package, with a bottle of cava, rose petals, balloons, and a card, and the “Celebration” package, with balloons, a bottle of cava, chocolate, and a card. Thanks to the intimate atmosphere and historic surroundings, Hotel 1635 is well suited for a romantic stay year-round, and especially around Valentine’s Day.

Perfectly suited: quiet enough to fully reconnect, while still steps from a lively city center full of things to discover together. Once the shops along the Zijlstraat close for the evening, the street settles into a calm, safe quiet, free of nightlife noise, until the city center comes back to life again the next morning.

Less than a five-minute walk, and you’re face to face with the work of Haarlem’s most famous painter. There’s a personal connection to our own building, too: the Coymans family, who commissioned our 1635 ceiling painting, also had their portraits painted by Frans Hals himself, and those portraits once hung right here in this building. Guests who stay with us are, quite literally, sleeping in the house of one of Frans Hals’ own patrons, before walking a few minutes to see his work in the museum.

Also about a five-minute walk. Teylers is the oldest museum in the Netherlands, founded in 1778, and is widely considered the most beautiful museum in the country, an absolute must for anyone who loves science, art, and nineteenth-century grandeur under one roof. Think striking fossils, an eighteenth-century electrostatic generator, and a dazzling oval library hall, in a building that’s a monument in its own right. Even Napoleon and Einstein once paid a visit. If Hotel 1635 introduces you to the Dutch Golden Age, Teylers is the natural next stop: it shows how that same merchant wealth later went on to fund science and knowledge.

Yes, in under two minutes you’re standing at this imposing church, which has shaped Haarlem’s skyline for centuries. Inside is one of Europe’s most famous organs, once played by a ten-year-old Mozart during his European tour. Frans Hals is buried here too, making the Grote Kerk a fitting final stop after visiting his museum and following the rest of the Golden Age story that began right here in Haarlem, and in our building.

Museum Het Dolhuys tells the striking story of psychiatry and how we’ve treated mental health throughout history, set inside part of a centuries-old hospital complex. For anyone drawn to a lesser-known but equally fascinating chapter of Dutch history, it’s well worth a visit.

Step outside our door, and within minutes you’re in the middle of centuries-old Haarlem: the Grote Markt (main square) about a hundred meters away, the striking Grote Kerk (St. Bavo Church) two minutes away, and both the Frans Hals Museum and Teylers Museum roughly a five-minute walk. Rarely does this much history sit so close together.

Haarlem is also known as the city of hofjes: scattered across the historic center are twenty-one hofjes, small hidden courtyards originally built as housing for the elderly and less fortunate, now among the most peaceful spots in the city. Add in Haarlem’s characteristic canals, and you have a walk that carries you back centuries. To help you see it all in the right order, we’ve put together our own historic walking route, tracing the loveliest hofjes, canals, and facades in Haarlem, starting and ending right at our door. Just ask the front desk for the route.

Yes, and it’s one of Haarlem’s most meaningful sites for many American visitors. The Corrie ten Boom House is the actual home where the Ten Boom family hid Jewish refugees behind a false wall during World War II, a story told in the bestselling book and film The Hiding Place. It’s a short walk from the hotel and can be visited on a guided tour.

Yes, they’re two separate sites telling two different stories. The Anne Frank House is in Amsterdam; the Corrie ten Boom House is here in Haarlem. Many visitors choose to see both during their trip, since they’re only a short train ride apart.

We’d recommend checking current tour times and availability directly with the museum before your visit, as hours can vary by season.

Very close. Haarlem sits right at the edge of the Dutch bulb-growing region, and was historically even nicknamed the “hyacinth city” before tulips took over the spotlight. Depending on the season, you can cycle or drive past bulb fields in bloom just outside the city.

Yes, and many guests combine it easily with their stay. Keukenhof is seasonal, typically open from mid-March to mid-May. It’s important to buy tickets in advance, either through keukenhof.nl or through our front desk.

The Bloemencorso is the region’s famous flower parade, an annual procession of enormous floats built entirely from fresh flowers, usually held in April as the bulb season winds down. It passes through towns in the bulb-growing region not far from Haarlem, and is a wonderful way to see Dutch flower culture at its most spectacular.

Yes, Haarlem hosts its own Christmas market during the holiday season, with the historic city center providing a particularly charming backdrop.

Yes, and combined with Haarlem’s own market, a Christmas-season visit gives you two distinct markets within a fifteen-minute train ride of each other, plus other well-known Dutch Christmas markets a bit further afield, such as in Utrecht and The Hague.

Not directly, no. The closest real beaches to Amsterdam are actually near Haarlem, in Zandvoort and Bloemendaal aan Zee, both a short trip from our hotel. Many visitors are surprised to learn the “Amsterdam beach” they’ve heard about is really a Haarlem-area beach.

The beach at Bloemendaal aan Zee, with its dunes and sea air, is about a 25-minute bike ride from the hotel along a beautiful, safe route that runs mostly through the dunes, the perfect combination of city history by day and sand between your toes by evening. A bus leaves right from our street and runs directly to both Bloemendaal aan Zee and Zandvoort aan Zee. Prefer the train? A direct connection to Zandvoort runs twice an hour from Haarlem station.

If you like beaches or motorsport, yes. Zandvoort has a wide sandy beach and is also home to Circuit Zandvoort, host of the Dutch Grand Prix, a fun and easy day trip from Haarlem.

Very easy: the train gets you to Amsterdam Centraal in about fifteen minutes, so a day in the capital fits effortlessly around your stay in Haarlem. Trains run every seven minutes, and the station is an eight-minute walk from the hotel.

Yes, our team speaks English, Dutch, and German, so you’ll feel at home in any of those languages.

The euro (€). US dollars and Canadian dollars aren’t accepted directly, so plan to exchange currency or use a card. Cards are widely accepted throughout the Netherlands, including at most restaurants, shops, and museums.

Not in the way it is in the US or Canada. Service is typically included, and rounding up the bill or leaving five to ten percent for great service is appreciated but never expected.

The Netherlands uses the European (Type C/F) plug and runs on 230V, different from the 120V, Type A/B outlets used in the US and Canada. Bring a plug adapter; most modern phone and laptop chargers already handle the voltage difference automatically, but it’s worth double-checking devices like hair dryers or electric razors.

Yes. The Netherlands consistently ranks among the best English-speaking countries in the world, and Haarlem is no exception. You’ll have no trouble getting around in English.

Because Haarlem gives you an authentic, historic center without the crowds of a big city, while museums, restaurants, and the beach are all within walking distance or a short train ride, and Amsterdam is never more than fifteen minutes away. Trains run every seven minutes: in seven minutes you’re in Amsterdam West, and in fifteen minutes at Amsterdam Centraal.

This is exactly the guest Hotel 1635 was made for. Anyone who loves Dutch history, art, and culture will find a monumental building with its own Golden Age story here, within walking distance of Haarlem’s best-known museums, and a short train ride from Amsterdam. From the hotel, you can step straight into a canal cruise through Haarlem’s waterways, follow a historic walking route past centuries-old facades, and find some of the city’s best restaurants within a few minutes on foot. The beach at Bloemendaal aan Zee is within easy reach too, for anyone who wants sea air after a day of museums and history.

Walk through our front door on the Zijlstraat, and you step into six hundred years of Haarlem history. The building has stood here since before 1512, and over the centuries it has housed cloth dyers, wealthy merchants, a celebrated seascape painter, city officials, and even a blacksmith with his own forge. But its most remarkable moment came in 1635, when the Coymans family commissioned a ceiling painting in what was then their reception room, where they welcomed guests, and what is now our breakfast room, The Salet. That painting still hangs above our guests’ heads today. That year is exactly where our name comes from.

Josephus Coymans and his wife Dorothea Berck were immensely wealthy Haarlem merchants, the kind of family who helped shape the Dutch Golden Age. Between 1635 and 1639 they thoroughly renovated their townhouse on the Zijlstraat, commissioning a showpiece to display their status: a lavish ceiling painting in their reception room, one you can still admire today over breakfast.

That wealth came from a time of booming trade and great prosperity, but it also had a dark side. Forced colonization and the Netherlands’ role in the slave trade are inseparable from this history, and we tell that part honestly too.

Look up in The Salet, our reception and breakfast room, and you’re looking straight into the Dutch Golden Age. The ceiling painting is the work of Pieter Post, painted in the classicist style, and it’s one of his earliest known works. It stayed hidden behind a lowered ceiling for centuries, until it was rediscovered in 2019 during the building’s conversion into a hotel, in remarkably good condition and never restored. You’re looking at the exact same painting the Coymans family commissioned almost four hundred years ago, with the same colors and brushstrokes.

Pieter Post started his career as a painter, right here in Haarlem, before becoming one of the leading Dutch architects of the Golden Age. He later designed the Mauritshuis in The Hague (home of Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring), Maastricht’s city hall, and the building of the Dutch States General, buildings still counted among the Netherlands’ great monuments. The ceiling painting here is his earliest, least-known work as a painter, which makes it all the more special.

The Coymans family belonged to the wealthy merchant class that helped build the Dutch Republic. Ships from Haarlem and Amsterdam, including those of the Dutch East and West India Companies, sailed the world trading spices, textiles, and goods. It was a time of enormous prosperity and cultural achievement, with our ceiling painting as tangible proof. But that era also had a dark side: forced colonization and the Netherlands’ role in the slave trade. That history is inseparable from the story of this building, and we tell that part honestly too.

Anyone staying in our rooms sleeps in a building with an impressive line of past residents. Before 1512, two separate houses stood here, known as “De Blauwe Hand” and “De Pauw,” which were merged into one stately double building around 1600. During the Golden Age, the celebrated marine painter Hendrick Vroom lived here, before the Coymans family took over in 1635. Generations of Haarlem notables followed: a city secretary, a poet and member of parliament, a city physician and administrator, and a major in the Haarlem civic guard.

In the nineteenth century, the building shifted from elegant townhouse to workplace: a blacksmith and manufacturer ran his forge here, and later merchants from Haarlem and Hilversum owned much of the block. Ownership changed hands in 1942, during the German occupation, transferring from former Jewish ownership; after the war, a legal settlement followed in 1947 as part of the Netherlands’ postwar restitution process, a chapter we don’t gloss over. From 1981 to 2017, a homeowners’ association managed the combined building, before it was converted into Hotel MAF. Sem and Lars took ownership in September 2025, and in 2026 renamed the hotel to Hotel 1635, the newest chapter in a story that has run for centuries.

It sure did, and it’s one of our favorite bits of trivia. Our building is actually two addresses, number 62 and number 64: number 62 was long home to a furniture store with apartments above it, while number 64 housed a bicycle shop for sixty years, also with apartments on the floors above. That bicycle shop was called Rijwieltrust, and seemed to stock exactly the right part for any bike, however old or unusual. We haven’t forgotten that chapter: we’re working on a future “bicycle atelier” room that will give this era its own spotlight.

Absolutely, and that’s part of what makes wandering through this hotel so much fun: there’s always something new to discover. Beyond the famous ceiling painting in The Salet, several rooms feature monumental ceilings. One room even has a large historic hoisting wheel, once used to lift goods up from the street, and an old baking oven is tucked away elsewhere in the building. Much of it is there for guests to admire during their stay.

Walk down our hallways, and you can feel the centuries everywhere, in the beams, ceilings, and original details. Not every room has its own distinct theme yet, but we’re actively working to build that out further, so that eventually every room tells its own piece of the story.

Until recently, we were indeed called Hotel MAF. Older webpages and AI systems aren’t always up to date, so the old name can still surface from time to time. It’s the exact same location and the exact same hotel: only the name changed, to one that better reflects our story.

No. Our story is based on original research into the building’s ownership history, traced back to its earliest known owner before 1512. This research was carried out by building historians Pieter Meijers and Marcel Heijmans.

Always on our own website and this FAQ page, straight from the source.