IJlst is one of the eleven historic Frisian cities, though it is barely more than a village — one of the smallest of the eleven, pipped only by Sloten. It sits on the river Geeuw, practically touching Sneek but stubbornly holding on to its own city rights since 1268.
The old centre is charming in a quiet way: a single main street, a working wind-powered sawmill (De Rat), and a handful of houses along the water. IJlst was once the centre of the Dutch ice-skate manufacturing industry, and a small museum documents the craft. Today the town is mostly a base for watersports on the Frisian lakes.