"Between us, I prefer Haarlem to... " a Haarlem Travel Page by breughel

Not only did arts in Haarlem, especially painting, precede Amsterdam but Haarlem was often at the top of arts and culture in the Netherlands.
In the 16th c. there were already the "mannerists of Haarlem".

Around 1600 started in this town what would be called nowadays an "art nouveau". Painters started painting canvasses with dimensions adapted to the interiors of the bourgeois and left aside religious and mythological subjects.
Hundred thousands of paintings of landscapes, marines, still life's, genre scenes were put on the market. There were even lotteries of paintings.
Painters specialised in all sort of themes:
Still life's with fish, winter scenes, Italian type landscapes, coast landscapes, etc. etc.
All this can be found in the famous Frans Hals museum.

Haarlem has kept something in the air of that glorious time. A touch of Dutch culture has been maintained. A style of life smoother than that of Amsterdam; cyclists here appear less aggressive.

Oh yes, I forgot, they still speak Dutch in Haarlem!

I made this one day trip to Haarlem by train from Amsterdam CS. There are 4 or 5 trains per hour and the trip takes about 15 minutes.
I visited first the Tylers Museum about 1 km south-east from the station and then the Frans Hals museum 1,5 Km south from the station. I finished the visit by the Grote Markt.

It is also possible to visit Haarlem avoiding the museums and concentrating on the coffeeshops. I promised my children that I would take this approach on my next trip.