ABOUT ALMERE
Almere is a city and municipality in the Dutch province of Flevoland, in the Southern Flevoland polder. The municipality welcomed its 200,000th resident in October 2016 and had 231,920 inhabitants as of September 30, 2025, making it the largest municipality in Flevoland. Almere borders the municipalities of Lelystad and Zeewolde on its landward side. On its waterfront, Almere lies on the Gooimeer, IJmeer, and Markermeer lakes. Except for the dikes, the city is entirely below sea level (2 to 5 meters). Almere was established in the second half of the twentieth century as the second largest city in the province of Flevoland. The first homes were completed in 1976. It has now far surpassed Lelystad, the capital of Flevoland, with over 85,337 inhabitants as of September 30, 2025, in terms of population. In 2018, it was the eighth-largest municipality in the country in terms of population. In the coming period, the city is expected to grow to between 300,000 and 350,000 inhabitants. The city of Almere is named after the body of water called 'Aelmere'. In the Middle Ages, this was a lake or inland sea roughly where the IJsselmeer is now located. According to some, 'Almere' is a Germanic name for 'large lake', with the word 'mere' being an earlier form of the modern 'meer'. The Germanic 'ala' is closely related to our word 'al', which means 'whole'. The photos below show Almere's growth over the years. Photos from left to right show the city in 1961, 1975, 1990, 2000, and 2016.
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Click here to find tourist information via Visit Almere. In the shop (see photo bottom left) you can buy a lot about Almere: beautiful books about architecture/history/nature or maps, beautiful nature walks, Architectural Walks, wonderful cycling routes and other tours, souvenirs, magnets, regional products, many 036 T-shirts, flyers, travel tickets, bus cards/tickets/charging point, bicycle rental including electric, going out, theatres/pop venues: KAF, De Meester, Corrosie, De Glasbak, theatre companies including Vis à vis, Suburbia, De Bonte Hond and shopping, delicious dining, much more... Click here for tourist information via Visit Flevoland (see logo bottom right) to discover other parts of the Nieuwe Land, from the Noordoostpolder (Urk, Schokland etc.) many museums (Nieuwland, Bataviawerf, etc.) tulip festival and the tulip route of the Noordoostpolder and much more... Click here for tourist information via I-Amsterdam to discover the capital of the Netherlands. (tickets are also available at Visit Almere Diagonaal 199 in the center of Almere (see photo)
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