Experience the best of Hoorn

Hoorn was a base of the Dutch East India Company, and its seventeenth-century wealth is plain in the streets around the harbour. The Roode Steen square holds the old weigh house and a statue of Jan Pieterszoon Coen, the company's governor-general, who was born here. A squat harbour tower, the Hoofdtoren, guards the entrance to the basin. Cape Horn takes its name from the town, after the navigator Willem Schouten, born in Hoorn, first rounded it in 1616.

The Westfries Museum occupies a gabled building of 1632 on the Roode Steen. A museum steam tram runs from Hoorn to Medemblik, and the waterfront has historic sailing boats on the quays. Enkhuizen is a short ride north-east, while Edam and Volendam lie a little way to the south.

Sailing on the IJsselmeer is the local pastime, and the harbour terraces serve cheese from nearby West Friesland, fish and the occasional pancake. The old streets are small and best seen on foot. Summer is the main season on the lake, and the quiet that settles in autumn suits wandering the town.