Harlingen is located on a tip of the Friesland coast that sticks out a bit into the Wadden Sea. Harlingen's location is adjacent to some natural navigable routes through the Wadden Sea. This makes that the town still has a maritime character. However, the location on the Wadden Sea has always put limits on traffic to Harlingen. Even though the largest sailing ships can now reach Harlingen, this was not the case historically.
The center of Harlingen has many monumental buildings. As a whole, the center is a protected view beschermd stadsgezicht. In combination with its location on the Wadden Sea and the large fleet of historical shallow draught sailing vessels that operate out of Harlingen, this makes the town a center for tourism in Friesland. The municipality works to improve the connection between these attractions so the tourism can grow to its full potential.
Harlingen is served by two stations on the railway line from Leeuwarden. Rederij Doeksen operate ferries to the Wadden islands of Vlieland and Terschelling that depart from Harlingen. Harlingen is a town with a long history of fishing and shipping.
Historically, it was a two hour walk west from Franeker. It supposedly received city rights before it was walled. In most of the settlement was lost to a fire. Harlingen was involved in the Vetkopers and Schieringers wars. In the inhabitants of Franeker, which supported the Schieringer party, conquered the lightly fortified city by surprise. In Albert III, Duke of Saxony landed in Harlingen to support the Schieringer party and founded a new castle at the same place, which started the fortification of Harlingen.
The first significant event of the early modern period was the first expansion of the fortified town in During the opening phases of the Eighty Years' War — a lot of religious fugitives settled in Harlingen. Many of these were Mennonites , a baptist branch of Protestantism. In and this led to a second major expansion of the town, which brought the village of Almenum into the city perimeter. In a third expansion followed.
