Hoofddorp is a city part of the Haarlemmermeer polder in North Holland, Netherlands. It has 73,000 inhabitants.

A topographic map of Hoofddorp

Understand

Hoofddorp, translated in English means Head Village (or Main Village). Its the main village in the former lake named Haarlemmermeer, which turned into a polder due to land reclamation.

Get in

It's only 20 km from Amsterdam and it's the closest city to Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport. Traveling by train from Schiphol is only one stop, about 4 minutes. To Amsterdam Centraal it is about 25 minutes by train.

Get around

In Hoofddorp transport usually takes place by car or bicycle. There are some bus connections, mainly passing the Hoofddorp train station, the Burgemeester van Stamplein (Hoofddorp centrum) and the Spaarne hospital.

Do

Events

Hoofddorp has many yearly events, which are listed by season underneath. Apart from this there are new events or one-time events, which will be promoted using posters in the center. It is known that many events are not announced very widely, so it's always a surprise when the whole centre is busy again.

Spring

Around April, the event MeerJazz is held at the Raadhuisplein, in front of the town-hall and the cultural building. A couple of large tents are put up where bigbands and other jazz acts perform.

Summer

Around June there is the Concours Hippique, a horse-jumping event, in the nearby forest Haarlemmermeerse bos. In the summer end of the summer, around august, there is a huge festival called Mystery Land nearby in the Haarlemmermeer polder. It is very popular for its variety of electronic music genres. With the famous pink tents and enormous themed podiums, it has become one of the largest festivals in the Netherlands. Meerlive, a local event of a one week duration with one stage, attracts mainly the local youth with typical Dutch acts. On the burgemeester van Stamplein, you can attend the one week event Hoofddorp Culinair, where restaurants in Hoofddorp and surrounding area send a delegation to let people taste their specialities.

Winter

Since the winter of 2012/2013, the winter-festival Winterland, which originally took place on the Rembrandtplein in Amsterdam, has moved to the Dik Trom-square in Hoofddorp. It consists of e.g. an ice skating rink, some fair-like attractions and food and beverage stands.

Buy

The city center is in fact one big shopping mall, so in daytime there is a lot to do for those who like shopping. However, after the shops are closed there is almost nothing to do in this town with 60.000 inhabitants.

Eat

Only places to go are some restaurants (which close about 10 PM).
Outside the city centre next to the highway A4 lays the McDonald's:

• McDonald's (McDonald's Hoofddorp/A4), Vuursteen 5 (bus line 300 or 310 from Schiphol, stop 'De Hoek'), ☏ +31 20-6535545. 7PM - 3PM, McDrive open all night during the weekend. Always crowded with travelers from Schiphol, businessmen, families or at night youth that needs some food after going out. 

Drink

The town has about 3 bars, which are mostly crowded on Friday with young people. The bars close about 1 AM and in the weekend they close between 2 and 3 AM. There's one big discothèque which is open on Friday and Saturday (sometimes also on Thursday or Sunday). Every month on a Friday there is a very big party from 8PM till 2AM for singles which is called Relatieplanet.

Sleep

There are a lot of hotels nearby, because of the vicinity of Schiphol Airport. In the city center there is only one hotel.

• 1 Dorint Airport-Hotel Amsterdam, Sloterweg 299, 1171 VB Badhoevedorp, ☏ +31 20 6588-111, info.amsterdam@dorint.com. The hotel offers 222 rooms & suites. from € 99 per room/night. (updated Sep 2017)

• 
  Sint Johannes de Doper church
• 
  The Hoofdvaartkerk seen from the back
• 
  Remains of the Hoofddorp fort spread amongst the rural countryside around the town
• 
  The 7-metre-tall aluminium "little man of Hoofddorp"
• 
  The Amazing Whalejaw, an oversized sculpture that serves as a bus stop next to the Hoofddorp train station
• 
  De Ersteling, a historic windmill designated a national monument
• 
  The old Town House of Hoofddorp
• 
  The Polderhuis, seat of the local water board

Go next

• Another nice city nearby is Haarlem, which is about 20 minutes by bus.
• Zandvoort's beach is about 35 minutes by bus or bicycle.

Routes through Hoofddorp

Amsterdam ←

N  S

→ Leiden → Rotterdam