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.
Booked this Bryson City yurt for the ‘ber months and it’s already my top fall pick this year. 🍂
The Junaluska Yurt sleeps six but feels more like a stylish cabin than a yurt, two real queen bedrooms with actual doors, a full kitchen, and a private bathroom with a walk-in shower. Check-in is just a door code texted to your phone, no lobby, no waiting.
The real win is outside: wraparound porch, private fire pit, free firewood, a gas grill, and Smoky Mountain sunsets that stop you mid-sentence, picture all of that with October color on the ridgeline. Heads up, the last stretch in is a gravel road, so skip the low-profile rental, and there’s no restaurant onsite, you’re minutes from Bryson City, Dillsboro, and Sylva for dinner.
Two to three nights is the sweet spot. (We actually stayed in the dead of winter and it was still stunning, fall just takes it up a notch.) Full review linked in bio.
Italian food felt like the last thing I expected to find in the middle of the Appalachian Mountains... until I sat down at Ilda in Sylva.🍝
They call it Italian-Appalachian, and that’s not just a tagline. Homemade pasta, craft cocktails, local ingredients pulled straight from the mountains around it, this is the kind of meal that makes you forget you’re two hours from the nearest city. It’s cozy, it’s a little upscale, and it is not a walk-in kind of place, call ahead, because tables go fast on weekends.
It’s not cheap, and it’s not trying to be. But if you’re already making the trip out to Sylva, this is the one reservation worth planning your day around.
Full write-up, including what to order, link in bio.
Booked my fall cabin before September even started, and I’m not sorry about it. 🍂
These are the stays that make you actually want the cold to hurry up fireplaces, mountain views, the kind of porch you don’t leave. Not every one of these is going to fit every trip, but if a cozy fall getaway is on your radar, this is the roundup to start with.
One of my favorite travel seasons is almost here, and I have zero chill about it. 🍁✈️
There’s just something about fall trips cooler air, apple orchards, that first flannel of the season, food that actually makes sense with the weather again. I’m already mentally packing for it before September even starts.
If fall is your favorite time to travel too, tell me where you’re headed... I’m taking notes for the list.
Pack your bags... ✈️🧳My hiking and road trip gear shop just got a refresh, and this is everything that actually earns a spot in my bag. The dry bag pulls double duty for beach days and trail days, the Osprey backpack is the one I grab for anything motorcycle or day-hike related, and the GoPro comes with me literally everywhere at this point.
Nothing on this list is filler it’s all stuff I’ve used, packed, and repacked more times than I can count. Full shop linked in my bio if you want to build out your own kit before your next trip.
Follow @travelwithwendyplummer for Beautiful Beach Destinations, City Guides, Foodie Spots, and Luxury Hotel Recommendations.
