Almere-Haven, on the southern shore of the Gooimeer, was the first part of Almere to be built — the original 1976 nucleus, designed as a small intimate "Dutch village" of brick courtyards, gabled houses and a working harbour. The streets are narrower here, the buildings lower, and the scale is human in a way that Almere-Stad never quite manages.
The harbour is the focus: a deep marina full of yachts, a stretch of artificial beach, and a small pedestrian core of cafés, fish stalls and the weekly market. A passenger ferry crosses the Gooimeer to Huizen in the summer months. If you want a sense of why people actually choose to live in Almere, walk here on a sunny Saturday morning.