Almere Centrum Architecture Walk
Forget medieval spires — Almere Centrum is a living laboratory of 21st-century design where Rem Koolhaas, Herman Hertzberger and René van Zuuk have all left their mark within less than a square kilometre. Lace up your shoes and prepare to have your jaw drop at every corner.
A City Built by Starchitects
Almere is the youngest city in the Netherlands, and that blank-slate freedom attracted some of the world's most daring architectural minds. The city centre was masterplanned by Rem Koolhaas and his Office for Metropolitan Architecture, who split the urban grid into two worlds: a car-free pedestrian plaza above and a traffic network below — a concept that still feels radical today.
Signature buildings crowd every sightline. The red, angular Smaragd (designed by Swiss firm Gigon & Guyer) anchors the shopping heart, while the glass-and-steel City Hall curves like a giant lens. Koolhaas also designed Utopolis, the city's striking multiplex cinema complex. International firms from Tokyo, London, Paris and Zurich have all added their signatures here.
How to Explore It
The guided City Walk Almere Centrum, bookable at Tourist Information Almere (VVV), takes around 1.5 hours and threads together the most remarkable buildings in the centre and the Filmwijk district. A knowledgeable local guide brings the architectural drama to life with stories you won't find on any plaque.
If you prefer to go solo, pick up the route booklet at the VVV for €2.95 and wander at your own pace. After the walk, the elevated Stadshart promenade is lined with café terraces — a perfect spot to sit, sip a coffee and stare up at the skyline you've just decoded.
Don't Miss the Regenboogbuurt
A short cycle from the centre, the Regenboogbuurt ('Rainbow District') is Almere's most photogenic neighbourhood. The three flame-red towers known as the Rooie Donders ('Red Devils') punch against the Dutch sky, and the surrounding streets are lined with houses in every conceivable shape and colour — yellow curves, green blocks, purple zigzags. It is, quite literally, a neighbourhood that refuses to be boring.
Guided city walks of the Regenboogbuurt can also be booked at the VVV, but even a self-guided cycle through its streets delivers an Instagram haul that will baffle your followers.
Almere Centrum Architecture Walk on video
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