Purmerend is a working town of 80,000 people fifteen kilometres north of Amsterdam. It has a proper Thursday cheese and produce market on the Koemarkt (April to October, mornings), the Kaasmarkt square, and a handful of streets of decent 17th-century buildings around the Grote Kerk, but most of Purmerend is postwar Dutch suburbia. Direct trains from Amsterdam Centraal take 15 minutes and cost half what a room in central Amsterdam does.
This suits budget travellers using it as a cheap Amsterdam base. It does not suit anyone wanting Dutch small-town atmosphere — the centre is fine but not memorable, and there is no reason to make Purmerend a destination in itself. If you have a car, the ring road connections are excellent for getting north to Volendam, Edam, and the Zaanstreek. The Thursday market is genuinely good local produce and cheese if your visit lines up.
Where to stay in Purmerend
Near the station or the Koemarkt in the small centre — $70-$110. A couple of chain hotels (Van der Valk on the ring road) offer bigger, blander rooms with parking, $85-$120. The centre is walkable and you are 15 minutes by train from Amsterdam Centraal. There is very little boutique or heritage-hotel choice — this is a functional stay, not a scenic one.
Hotels in Purmerend
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Things to do in Purmerend
- Thursday morning marketKoemarkt and surrounding streets, Thursdays 9am-1pm, April-October. Cheese, fresh fish (herring stalls), produce, and stroopwafels made fresh. Genuinely a local market, not a tourist show. Free, cash easier than card.
- Purmerends MuseumKaasmarkt 20, $6, in the historic weigh house. Local history and pottery — Purmerend was famous for its Delft-style ceramics. Small but well-done. Tue-Sun 11am-5pm. One hour.
- Beemster polder day tripBus 305 or bike 8 km north to the UNESCO-listed Beemster polder — the 1612 land reclamation that is textbook Dutch water engineering, laid out in a perfect grid. Middenbeemster village has the Betje Wolff Museum and Fort Beemster (part of the Amsterdam defence line, $9).
- Grote Kerk (Nicolaaskerk)Kerkstraat, free, 16th-century church with a neo-classical interior redone after a fire. Nothing extraordinary but a pleasant 30 minutes. Closed Sundays outside services. Small tower climb sometimes possible in summer.
Getting there & around
Start at the station, walk down Westerstraat to the Koemarkt (main market square), across to the Kaasmarkt with the old weigh house, past the Grote Kerk on Kerkstraat, along Nieuwstraat with its old shopfronts, and back via Peperstraat and Weerwal — the small canal that survives in the town centre.
Trains from Amsterdam Centraal every 15 minutes, 15 minutes, $4. From Schiphol change at Amsterdam Sloterdijk, 30 minutes total. Purmerend has two stations (Purmerend and Purmerend Overwhere) — use Purmerend for the old centre. Buses 315 and 316 pass through on their way to Volendam and Edam, useful for combining. Ring road connections to the A7 make it a decent driving base for the Waterland and Zaanstreek areas.
Questions answered
Is Purmerend a good base for Amsterdam?
For budget yes — $70-$100 a night gets you a proper room and Amsterdam Centraal is 15 minutes away by train every 15 minutes. For atmosphere no — Zaandam or Haarlem are similar prices with more character. Choose Purmerend if you also want to explore Waterland (Volendam, Edam, Marken) which is right next door.
What is there actually to do in Purmerend itself?
The Thursday market, one small museum, the church, an afternoon of walking the centre — half a day of things. Purmerend is a place you sleep and eat, not a place you sightsee. The Beemster polder just north is the actual attraction and worth a full day by bike.
Nearby areas
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