If you’re looking for a local bakery in the Netherlands that feels more like an actual café experience instead of a quick pastry counter, Wim Koelman Bakery Heemskerk ended up being one of my favorite casual stops in Heemskerk. We originally came here because I wanted to try their famous Heemskerk Donkey Ear dessert, but the menu ended up being way bigger than I expected.
If you’re planning a spring trip through the Netherlands, this bakery works especially well as a stop while exploring North Holland outside Amsterdam. We visited while staying nearby, and it paired really well with our slower tulip season itinerary days outside the bigger cities.
If you’re planning a similar route, my Where to Stay in the Netherlands (Best Areas to Do in One Trip) blog may help you map things out.
Wim Koelman Bakery Heemskerk has been around since 1983 and is still family-owned. It was originally started by Wim Koelman and his wife Mary before eventually being passed down to their son and daughter-in-law.
The bakery became especially known for creating the “Heemskerk Ezelsoor,” also called the Heemskerk Donkey Ear pastry, back in 2009. And yes, I immediately needed to know why a bakery dessert was named after a donkey ear.
The story actually ties into local Heemskerk history. Strawberries have historically been a major regional product here, and farmers used to transport them by donkey to nearby auctions in Beverwijk. Because of that, people from Heemskerk were nicknamed “donkeys” for years. The bakery combined both parts of that history into a signature dessert shaped like a donkey’s ear.
Honestly, this may be one of the more unexpectedly specific pastry backstories I’ve ever encountered.
The dessert itself is made with soft sponge cake filled with fresh strawberry bavarois, covered in almond marzipan, and finished with chocolate decorations. It became popular enough that they eventually expanded it into mini versions, XXL versions, and seasonal variations.
After a major renovation in 2014, the bakery updated the entire shop and branding, but it still feels very rooted in traditional Dutch bakery culture.
Inside, it feels like a mix between a pastry shop, coffee café, and neighborhood bakery. The display cases were packed with pastries, fruit tarts, chocolates, cream-filled desserts, waffles, cakes, and rows of fresh bread. Meanwhile the café menu itself was much larger than I expected for a local bakery.
You can come here for a quick pastry and coffee, but you could also easily stop for breakfast or lunch.
If you’re spending time in this area, my Best Things to Do in Heemskerk Netherlands guide includes a few more places nearby that worked well during our trip.
The drink menu honestly surprised me a little because it was more extensive than a lot of smaller cafés we visited throughout the Netherlands.
They had:
The smoothie menu especially stood out because there were a lot of tropical fruit combinations instead of just the standard strawberry banana situation.
We ended up ordering hot chocolate and fresh orange juice.
The hot chocolate was the only thing I felt didn't completely shine. It felt less sugary and more chocolate-forward, which I appreciated but overall wasn't that flavorful. The fresh orange juice tasted super fresh and paired really well with all the pastries.
We ordered:
And it turned into more of a full breakfast/lunch stop than a casual bakery visit.
The ham and cheese croissant was simple, buttery, flaky, and exactly what I wanted after walking around the Netherlands eating approximately 47 desserts. Sometimes you just need something savory to balance out your life choices.
The quiche made the meal feel more substantial and café-like instead of just pastries and coffee. If you’re stopping here for an actual breakfast or lunch instead of dessert, I think adding one of the savory items makes a big difference.
The cream-filled croissant tasted very fresh without being overwhelmingly sweet. A lot of pastries in the Netherlands felt a little less sugary than American desserts overall, which I actually ended up liking quite a bit during the trip.
You could still tell it was dessert. It just didn’t immediately annihilate your sugar tolerance for the next six business days.
The strawberry tart was probably my favorite thing we ordered because it tied directly back into Heemskerk’s strawberry history and the bakery’s signature desserts.
The strawberries tasted fresh, the pastry itself stayed light, and it felt very connected to the bakery’s identity instead of just being another generic fruit tart sitting in a display case.
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Even if you order other pastries, I still think trying the Heemskerk Donkey Ear dessert is part of the experience here simply because it’s so tied to the town itself.
A lot of bakeries have “signature desserts,” but this one actually has a very specific local story behind it, which made it feel more memorable than I expected.
Also, if someone casually asks whether you tried donkey ear dessert in the Netherlands someday, you’ll have a confident answer ready to go.
Wim Koelman Bakery Heemskerk ended up feeling like much more than a quick bakery stop. Between the café menu, the fresh pastries, the local strawberry connection, and the famous Donkey Ear dessert, it felt very tied into the town itself instead of feeling overly tourist-focused.
I’d especially recommend Wim Koelman Bakery Heemskerk if you enjoy local bakeries, Dutch pastries, slower breakfast stops, coffee and dessert cafés, and trying regional specialties while traveling.
And if you go, go hungry, excellent decision honestly. The pastry cases make self-control significantly harder than anticipated.
Here are a few other resources that may help while planning your Netherlands trip:
If you’re driving around the Netherlands like we did, this is also the kind of stop that fits really well into a slower road trip day between tulip fields, smaller towns, and bakery breaks.
You can also compare rental car prices for the Netherlands here, and I usually check flights into Amsterdam using Skyscanner before booking trips.
A portable charger like my favorite power bank is also worth having if you’re out exploring all day taking photos, using maps, and aggressively tracking down pastries across the Netherlands.
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Yes, it’s only July. Start planning anyway. Fall books faster than people expect, and a few of these destinations are worth getting ahead of. Here are five places worth putting on your radar right now.
Ireland: Cooler temps, moody skies, dramatic coastline fall was made for it. Tourist crowds drop, the green stays, and the whole country feels a little more like itself.
Great Smoky Mountains, TN/NC: Fall foliage in the Smokies is the real thing. The color peaks mid-October and the views from the ridgelines are hard to argue with. It’s also one of the most visited national parks in the country, so going on a weekday makes a real difference.
New York City: Fall is NYC at its best comfortable temps, the energy of the city shifting into a new season, and every neighborhood doing something worth showing up for. It’s also just a great walking city when it’s not brutally hot.
Japan: Fall foliage season is as good as spring cherry blossoms and somehow less talked about. The colors are dramatic, the temples and gardens are stunning, and it’s worth planning around peak dates by region.
Mystic, Connecticut: Small, walkable, genuinely charming Mystic in fall feels like exactly what a New England autumn is supposed to look like. Easy to pair with a broader New England road trip if you want to extend it.
Full guides linked in bio 🍂
There are two kinds of travelers: people who plan a trip and then figure out where to eat, and people who book a restaurant and then build the rest of the itinerary around it.I am the second kind. I will not apologize for this.
The reservation gets locked in first. The hotel search happens within the same 24 hours. The flights get compared around the restaurant’s hours of operation. The rest of the trip exists to fill the days before and after the table I actually came for.
If this sounds unhinged, I completely understand. It has also resulted in some of the best meals of my life, so I’m going to keep doing it.
Drop a 🍽️ if you plan your trips around food too.
Let’s talk about when to actually book that Dubai trip you’ve been pinning for two years. I get asked this constantly, so here’s the honest breakdown: October through April is your window. Anything outside that and you’re basically touring in a sauna!
October and November give you warm days and cooler nights, which is basically the sweet spot for wandering around without melting. December through February is peak season: gorgeous weather. March and April are the quiet insider pick, right before summer heat shows up and ruins everyone’s plans.
Saving this for later? That’s what it’s here for. Full breakdown linked in bio.
If you’re chasing energy, beaches, nightlife, and nonstop luxury, Dubai takes the crown. If you’re craving culture, iconic architecture, and meaningful landmarks at a slower pace, Abu Dhabi shines.🤍
My advice? Base yourself in Dubai and do Abu Dhabi as a day trip! The perfect balance of excitement and culture in the UAE.
Want the full breakdown? Check out my Dubai and Abu Dhabi guide for tips, itineraries, and must-sees!
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