Let me start this post by managing expectations: if you’re looking for a vibrant shopping area or want to watch art, then this is not the place to go. Vlaardingen city center only comes to life on the market days: Wednesday and Saturday. Everything is closed on Sundays unless it is the first Sunday of the month, then some shops are open. 

Because of the lack of customers and high rent shops don’t last long in the city center and many stores are empty. It’s a vicious circle: without interesting shops, people won’t come and without people, there won’t be interesting shops. I’m not saying there are no interesting shops, just that their sudden presence and disappearance sometimes surprises me.

Having said that, why should you visit Vlaardingen? Because the area around the old harbor is really beautiful. Here you can see the city’s long history of fishery and imagine what it must have been like to live centuries ago. The historical buildings are well preserved and now used as residences or offices. Some old warehouses are boarded up (hopefully to get a new purpose in the future) but still show the sheer size of the former fishing industry. I’ll tell you more about the places you can’t miss below.