Hearth's Warming Con 2020 is only a little bit over a month away. We've announced some guests and events, and will announce al lot more activities in the next weeks!
I'm posting this in English, I hope that's ok. It can be translated in German later today.
Ticket sales are going great. Unfortunately our new venue is smaller than the one we had in 2018, and we can only sell a fixed number of tickets. 70% of tickets have already been sold; if ticket sales keep up, then we'll soon run out of saturday and weekend tickets.
For the Friday eve dinner we rented an old fort near the venue, where they'll provide us with an Indonesian buffet and a luxurious dessert buffet. A friday eve dinner ticket is only available with a sponsor ticket (because it's limited in capacity). We have less than 10 friday eve dinner tickets for sale at this moment.
Parking at the Friday dinner eve is free. Parking at the venue is €10 per day, to be paid by card at the machine inside the venue. The previously communicated €5 is incorrect. That's the price when there's an event with a lot of visitors; the lower price is so that people don't park in the nearby town of Vijfhuizen as much. And with that said, parking in the town of Vijfhuizen is completely free, if you don't mind walking 250 meter. (You can also park near bus stop Vijfhuizen, and take rapid bus line 300 (every 10 minutes) to bus stop Expo Haarlemmermeer, which is only 1 bus stop or 400 meter away.)
Now for some questions that popped up in this thread:
The city centre of Haarlem is not closed off for cars. Some streets are closed for cars, but there's still a (one way only) route through the centre. Here's a map:
(blue is main route, red is one-way, and green is closed off to cars)
When in doubt, google maps also knows the way.
Parking in the city centre of Haarlem is expensive (though nowhere near as expensive as Amsterdan). Your safest option is the underground parking garages, those are €3 per hour or €25 per day.
If you don't want to spend money on parking you can park your car just outside the paid parking zone. Or park your car near a bus stop of rapid transfer line 300. Here's a map of the paid parking area. (the only other paid parking in or near Haarlem is the parking lot at the Schalkwijk shopping centre in Haarlem south.)
About public transport: There really is no need to get a taxi. Taxis are very expensive in the Amsterdam area, and don't have a great reputation. Rapid transfer bus line 300 stops right at the doors of the venue. I don't know much about Uber, I don't know if it's legal or not, there's a bit of a war going on between Uber drivers and taxi drivers. Maybe someone else knows more.
Bikes in The Netherlands can be rented at places where a lot of (Dutch) tourists come. Haarlem city centre (train station area) has some options:
https://www.rentabikehaarlem.nl/
€11/day normal bike, €8/day single speed, €25/day electric
https://greenbikes.nl/
€12/day normal bike, €9/day single speed, €25/day electric
Or near the Raaks underground parking garage:
https://fietshurenhaarlem.nl/ (Drossestraat 2, 2011 XW Haarlem)
1 day €10, 2 days €25, 3 days €35
Hoofddorp is not a tourist destination so there are less options, but I found:
https://e-bikepoint.nl/verhuur/
It doesn't seem to be aimed at tourists, but you can contact them anyway
There are also shared-bike options that have bikes at train stations that you can unlock with an app(?)
https://www.uwdeelfiets.nl/
or
donkey.bike
I don't recommend getting a bike when it's windy or rainy. And don't bike or drive on the bus lane, it's for bus 300 and emergency vehicles only.
Distances:
From Bastion Hotel (the one called Schiphol Hoofddorp) to the venue (Expo Haarlemmermeer, Vijfhuizen):
By bus line 300: 500 meter walk and 5 minutes bus
By car: 6km or 10 minutes
Bike: 3.4km or 10 minutes
On foot: 3.4km or 40 minutes (but it's all through parks and greenery so if the weather is good
)
From Haarlem City Centre to the venue (Expo Haarlemmermeer, Vijfhuizen):
By bus line 300: 14 minutes
By car: 12km or 22 minutes
Bike: 7km or 25 minutes