The inner harbour is the heart of what is left of historic Stavoren. Sailboats and smaller pleasure craft tie up along stone quays lined with stepped-gable houses, most of them dating from the seventeenth century when this was still a Hanseatic trading port. The scale is small, the proportions perfect, and the whole basin can be walked around in fifteen minutes.
A handful of cafés and a small restaurant or two have terraces on the quay — the easiest place in town for a beer and a plate of bitterballen on a summer afternoon. The harbour also marks the start of the Eleven Cities tour, the legendary winter skating route across the lakes of Friesland.