☰Stavoren

Stavoren is the western terminus of the railway line that runs across southern Friesland from Leeuwarden via Sneek. Trains arrive roughly hourly during the day. The station sits two minutes' walk from the harbour and the centre of the town — small enough to qualify as a request stop in feel if not in fact.

By road, the town is reached on the N359 from the north or via the country lanes that wind south from Workum. The car ferry across the IJsselmeer to Enkhuizen runs several times a day in summer and is the most enjoyable way to arrive — three hours across the lake with a cycle deck if you want to continue on two wheels.

Stavoren is small enough to walk around in half an hour, and most of what there is to see clusters around the old harbour and the lakefront. The Vrouwe van Stavoren statue on the harbour wall is the obvious landmark — a bronze figure looking out across the IJsselmeer that pins the town's most famous legend in place.

A short walk along the dyke brings you to the Stavoren lighthouse and the lock complex that connects the lake to the inland Friesian waterways. From there it is a few minutes back through narrow streets to the old harbour and the cluster of cafés where most visitors end up.