Things to Do in Harderwijk: A Fishing Town That Lost Its Sea

The one surviving town gate stands on the line of the old sea wall, a squat fourteenth-century brick tower with a small lighthouse light on top. Boats used to come up to it. Now there is a lake, then a horizon of polder. Standing under it is the quickest way to understand what happened here.

The line of the old defence still runs along the waterfront, and the streets behind it — Vischmarkt, the lanes down to the water — are the oldest part of town. The harbour is now full of pleasure boats rather than fishing craft, but the shape of it, and the buildings around it, are unchanged. It is a twenty-minute walk and worth doing slowly.

Harderwijk had a university from 1648 until Napoleon closed it in 1811, and it had a reputation: it was the place where a degree could be obtained quickly and without excessive difficulty. Carl Linnaeus — the man who gave us the system for naming every species on earth — took his medical doctorate here in 1735, arriving and leaving within about a week. The Dutch had a rhyme about the town supplying degrees along with smoked eel. A plaque marks the connection; the story is better than the plaque.

The largest marine mammal park in the Netherlands is here, and it is what most Dutch visitors associate with the town. It is worth being straightforward about it: keeping dolphins and other marine mammals in captivity has been publicly debated for years, the park has changed its programme in response, and how you feel about visiting is a decision you should make with that in mind rather than after you have arrived.

Immediately behind the town the Veluwe begins: one of the largest continuous areas of forest and heath in the Netherlands, with sand drifts, cycle paths and genuine wildlife including deer and wild boar. You can be in it within fifteen minutes of the old centre. For many people it is the better half of a Harderwijk trip.

The town museum, in an old warehouse, covers the fishing years, the university and what the closing of the Zuiderzee did to a town that lived off it. Small, and exactly the right size for the story it has to tell.

Harderwijk's centre is compact and the interesting parts are quiet: the gate, the wall line, the courtyards, the old streets running down to the water. A city game gives you a route of puzzles through it and explains each stop as you reach it, which works well with children and keeps a group together.

Not sure how it works? Read how to play first.

Yes, as a half day in the old town combined with the Veluwe or the waterfront. It is a good family destination and an easy stop between Amsterdam and the north-east.

Half a day for the old town and harbour. A full day if you add the museum, the beach or a walk in the woods; a separate day if you are going to the Dolfinarium.

The Afsluitdijk turned the Zuiderzee into a freshwater lake in 1932, and the Flevoland polder was later reclaimed in front of the town. The water in front of it now is the Veluwemeer.

Its Dolfinarium, its fishing past, its old town gate, and — among people who know their botany — as the place where Linnaeus was awarded his doctorate.

Very. The waterfront, the woods and the marine park between them make an easy family weekend, and the old centre is small enough to walk with short legs.

It does — the compact centre, the water and the forest give you options in any weather. See what we offer for companies and groups.

Start at the Vischpoort, walk the old wall line, and then go into the woods. Want help choosing the right game for your group? Get in touch. Heading on across the IJssel? Our guide to things to do in Zwolle is the next stop.