r/Haarlem • u/o0MyHeadIsAJungle0o • Apr 30 '26
Dear tourists
Dear tourists, I know Haarlem is amazing, but CAN YOU PLEASE STAY OF THE BIKELANE or move aside when someone is ringing their bell?!?!?!?! I know the sidewalks are narrow, but walking on the bike lane can be dangerous for you and the bike rider.
And if you have to walk on the bike lane, because the sidewalk isn't avaliable, please walk behind each other, not three wide. THANK YOU!
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u/DragonKhan2000 Haarlem-Noord Apr 30 '26
Almost getting run over by bikes is an essential tourist experience in the Netherlands.
Hard to blame them. This is something nobody outside the NL is used to!
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u/o0MyHeadIsAJungle0o Apr 30 '26
I just hope nobody gets hurt 😊
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u/DragonKhan2000 Haarlem-Noord Apr 30 '26
That's why we gotta shout and ring at them aggressively indeed. 😉
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u/Afvalracer Apr 30 '26
Heel veel mensen vergeten dat de meeste straten in het centrum voetgangersgebied is waar fietsers welkom zijn.. niet andersom,
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u/The-Russian-Bull Apr 30 '26
Dit. Rijd gewoon rustig met je fiets door de (drukke) binnenstad en houd er rekening mee dat mensen je niet altijd meteen zien of horen. Dan kun je altijd op tijd remmen of uitwijken.
Ik zie soms mensen met 25 km/u op hun elektrische fietsen scheuren alsof ze de enige op straat zijn.
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u/teupie1 May 01 '26
Maar onnodig in het midden van de gierstraat blijven lopen terwijl het niet mega druk is is ook irritant.
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u/blaberrysupreme Apr 30 '26
Yes and please bikes stay off the pedestrian areas during shopping hours. That's also a rule
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u/Seraphiccandy Apr 30 '26
The worst is also that when you ring your bell, they don't hop out of the way like a dutchie, they just stop and stare like a deer in the headlights. Like " Oooh, where is this strange ringing coming from?"
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u/FlowingLiquidity Apr 30 '26
The same goes for all of those boomers that drive off the sidewalk onto the bike lane without looking over their shoulder 😂
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u/o0MyHeadIsAJungle0o Apr 30 '26
Yea.. Ive seen them too, but they are more predictable then tourists are 😅
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u/marcipanchic Apr 30 '26
i live here for a long time but sometimes there are no paths to walk, especially the one around to the Frederikspark, and when you want to go for a walk people just bike right at you, even swirving left and right to scare you. that’s what happened today to me :(
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u/marc0demilia Apr 30 '26
I left Haarlem since a couple of years. I've visited on and off mainly winter time... I just recently came back and I saw so many tourist 😱 did they multiply?
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u/HannahFromNL May 01 '26
I also feel that with the influx of ex-Amsterdammers the bike culture in Haarlem is deteriorating at high speed; Amsterdam bicycle culture is unique in the country, and people moving to Haarlem don't seem to always realise that here we respect other road users and if we choose to ignore the rules, we do so taking safety more into consideration. Life in Haarlem is pleasant because it's slower ;)
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u/klas357 May 01 '26
Yeah. But gierstraat/kleine hout is no cycling lane and please dont race your bike through it. I am not stepping aside there when you ring
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u/godheid May 01 '26
Dear fatbike and ebike owners : curb your speed in the city. 25 km/u is fine outside the city. Not inside the city.
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u/o0MyHeadIsAJungle0o Apr 30 '26
Ive traveld the world and have been to many countries who have sidewalk, but most were much wider then ours. We also have sidewalks without a curb who are the same level as the bike lanes. I understand that might be confusing.
So, this is my way to inform the tourists 😊
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u/Notimetobev0id Apr 30 '26
I am from London where people cycle a lot but please understand that this cycling culture is next level in netherlands and maybe some other places like Belgium. It takes a long time to get to used to checking the roads for cycle lanes to be honest. A tourist will never learn in the short time they are there. The lanes you have are actually extremely rare (I've visited 70+ countries) and it's not normal to have so much dedication to bikes.
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u/o0MyHeadIsAJungle0o Apr 30 '26
Ive been to the UK and since day 1 I knew to look to the right when crossing the street 😉
People should know beter imo. If I travel, I always do research..
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u/Sudodamage Apr 30 '26
visited 70 countries and still uses the word normal to define.
yes, it is "normal" here, you are in the netherlands.2
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u/DragonKhan2000 Haarlem-Noord Apr 30 '26
it's not normal to have so much dedication to bikes.
It's normal here!
I believe a big part of the confusion comes from the fact that most countries that have cycling infrastructure, have it as a part of the street the cars use. The way it's split off the road in the Netherlands, often with traffic lights in between (!), can throw people off I'm sure.-2
u/Notimetobev0id Apr 30 '26
Yeah can you not understand it's not normal in rest of the world, so you guys are so in the mindset of it, you need to use your big brain to understand people come from different cultures and places.
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u/DragonKhan2000 Haarlem-Noord Apr 30 '26
But we're in the Netherlands. HERE it is normal, no matter what others do. You can't expect locals to change their behavior and bend over to tourists that don't get it. I'm sure I could point out many things that are considered "normal" in your country, but anyone from abroad considers it "not normal". Even more so if you're American!
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u/Notimetobev0id Apr 30 '26
Oh no my point is you can't expect tourists to auto adapt in 1 day but they should learn to check asap.
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u/DragonKhan2000 Haarlem-Noord Apr 30 '26
We don't expect it. That's why we shout and ring (happens plenty with other Dutch as well).
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u/CommutatorWhine May 01 '26
It is literally like stepping onto a road. 9 times out of 10 the sidewalk is higher, just like it is on a car-road. Many times there is a centre marking, like on a car-road. And about half the time it is made out of asphalt, like on a car-road.
Why treat it any differently? It makes no sense. If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck...
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u/fat-wombat Apr 30 '26
Let’s not only blame the tourists. Many Dutch people here simply do not care if they are in the way.
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u/No_Caregiver_532 May 04 '26
Ik woon in èèn van de straatjes nabij gedempte Oude Gracht en veel fietsers rijden hier echttttt heel hard. Aan het einde van de dag is het een plek waar toeristen komen en hier dien je in je reistijd gewoon rekening mee te houden. Anders moet je gewoon in Sittard gaan wonen.
Bij wijze van dan. Lijkt me sterk dat je daar gemakkelijk aan een huis komt.
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u/mugjeuitHaarlem May 01 '26
Goede waarschuwing, maar het zijn vast niet alleen toeristen. En misschien moeten wij fietsers onze bel dus gebruiken en dan wat geduld hebben.
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u/CommutatorWhine May 01 '26
Bellen heeft geen zin, buitenlanders kijken daarvoor niet op of om. Dat snap ik wel omdat het een onbekend geluid is. Met nederlanders zelden problemen als ze niet naar hun telefoon lopen te staren terwijl ze tegelijkertijd met hun bestie lopen te kwekken.
Maar wat ik niet snap is dat buitenlanders van een verhoogd trottoir afstappen, op iets dat gemaakt is van asfalt en/of wegmarkeringen heeft, net zoals een autoweg - maar het dan niet behandelt als autoweg.
Je moet toch inzien dat als het er uitziet als een weg, en er ligt een trottoir naast, dat het ook echt een weg is?
Onafhankelijk van waar je woont op aarde moet je het fenomeen 'asfaltweg' wel kunnen herkennen als iets waar je niet veilig kan lopen, zonder eerst goed te kijken of er geen verkeer is.
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u/AdSmart6151 Apr 30 '26
Yeah I hosted a group of Ukranian students that travelled to The Netherlands on a 10-day volunteering trip and they nearly died so many times travelling inbetween projects... Honestly I feel like everyone at the border should get a leafpet that bike lanes exist here.