Zaanse Schans Windmills, Clogs and Dutch Cheese Small-Group Tour from Amsterdam
Recommended by 94% of travelers
Amsterdam, Netherlands
- 3 hours 30 minutes (approx.)
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
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Overview
Explore Zaanse Schans and the Dutch countryside this tour from Amsterdam. With an informative guide, admire the lush, canal-crossed Dutch landscape. Take a tour of pretty Zaanse Schans, famous for its wooden windmills and green-painted houses, and visit a cheese farm and clog-making workshop to learn about these traditional crafts. Lastly, visit a working windmill to learn about the role of windmills in the 17th-century Dutch Golden Age.
- Perfect for first-time visitors to the Netherlands
- All admission fees are included in the cost of the tour
- Learn about the historical Zaans region from your guide
- Round-trip shared transfers from Amsterdam are included
What's Included
- Local guide
- Round-trip shared transfer
- Entrance fees
- Food and drinks
- Hotel pickup and drop-off
- Gratuities
Meeting and Pickup
Meeting point
- LOT61 Amsterdam Centraal StationOosterdoksstraat 4, 1011 DK Amsterdam, Netherlands
Meet your driver next to Amsterdam Centraal Station outside coffee store LOT61. Coffee store LOT61 is part of hotel DoubleTree by Hilton Amsterdam Centraal Station. Your tour guide will hold an orange umbrella.
End point
This activity ends back at the meeting point.Itinerary
Your tour starts in Amsterdam, where you'll meet your guide at a meeting point near Amsterdam Central Station. Then head out to the Dutch countryside with a small group of fellow travelers until you reach the photogenic village of Zaanse Schans, listening to your guide tell you all about the region and its history along the way.
Once in Zaanse Schans, visit the Kooijman Souvenirs & Clogs Wooden Shoe Workshop to see quintessential Dutch footwear being made before continuing to Molen De Kat, a paint mill that relies on wind power to create paint. Your next stop is the Catharina Hoeve Cheese Farm to watch a cheese-making presentation, followed by a cheese tasting at the onsite cheese shop.
After experiencing the village, head back to your Amsterdam departure point.
Once in Zaanse Schans, visit the Kooijman Souvenirs & Clogs Wooden Shoe Workshop to see quintessential Dutch footwear being made before continuing to Molen De Kat, a paint mill that relies on wind power to create paint. Your next stop is the Catharina Hoeve Cheese Farm to watch a cheese-making presentation, followed by a cheese tasting at the onsite cheese shop.
After experiencing the village, head back to your Amsterdam departure point.
1
Zaanse Schans
2 hours 30 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
Zaan Tours (Pass By)
2
Kooijman Souvenirs & Clogs Wooden Shoe Workshop
25 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
3
Molen De Kat
20 minutes • Admission Ticket Included
4
Catharina Hoeve Cheese Farm
15 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Operates in all weather conditions, please dress appropriately
- As seats on this tour are restricted, all travelers should have a ticket
- Not wheelchair accessible
- This tour contains a moderate amount of walking
- Stroller accessible
- Service animals allowed
- Near public transportation
- Most travelers can participate
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 16 travelers
Supplied by
Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Reviews
4.7
based on 2,488 reviews
Gina_W, Apr 2026
The tour was lead by Sharon who is a true local. She was so knowledgeable and entertaining and navigated us through a busy day in the village effortlessly. We learned so much about Dutch life, the region and windmills. Highly recommend!!
Sharon_Q, Apr 2026
Excellent information about the area and windmills. Plenty of time to explore, shop, eat and enjoy scenery.
Laura_H, Apr 2026
Went with my sister. Overall enjoyed it. Guide adds good insights. Demos are brief. Cheese isn't made on sight. Took a star off because the tour should be longer. We felt rushed and wished we had time to explore on our own. For example, in the cheese shop, there wasn't enough time to sample all of the cheeses due to long lines. We went in April during tulip season & there were a lot of tourists. You will not have a lot of time to stop for a coffee/ snack or much more than 10 minutes to shop for souvenirs at each of the stops. If you like to read all of the displays or take a lot of photography, you will run out of time as well. There are areas of the town you won't have time to explore like the museum. Our guide did make the effort for us to stop at the chocolate shop which was much appreciated. The itinerary isn't very clear- it is a 20 minute bus ride from Amsterdam and a decent amount of walking that is not ADA accessible.
crystal4792, Apr 2026
Great tour! Adorable village not too far from Amsterdam. Make sure to climb up the windmill for great views!
Jeff_S, Apr 2026
If you plan on doing Zaanse Schans, this is probably the best option. We had 12 (or 14?) on our tour and I wouldn’t want to be part of a larger group. It was small enough to get around and hear our guide, who was very good. The site itself was very crowded so I’d recommend the first possible tour. While it was nice to get out of the city for a day, I found the site itself to be a little manufactured just for tourists.
Sonia_K, Apr 2026
Great experience. Tour guide personalized activity and adjusted order of activities for inclement weather. Very interesting facts and historical information. Overall excellent experience
Dimple_R, Apr 2026
Our tour guide, Tos, excuse me if i spelt it wrong, was sooo adorable. She was hilarious and reminded me of my grandmother! She gave us great knowledge about the village and the windmills and her stories of the villagers were great!
Matthew_P, Apr 2026
An amazing immersive experience that showcases the Dutch countryside and traditional experiences. Awesome experience. We loved learning about the history of the area, enjoyed the clog and cheese demonstrations, and going inside the windmill. Our guide was Toos, and she was the best tour guide we have ever had. She was extremely friendly, very knowledgeable, and made the experience our best part of visiting Holland. Ask for Toos on your tour!!!! She was so kind and funny, the BEST!!!! She is happy to have children on her tours as well.
Lauren_L, Apr 2026
If you can, visit Kinderdijk instead. Zaanse was like Disneyland. Our guide, Mikey, was slow, disinterested and seemed not to be engaged. She left us at the end for our bus back to the meeting point. My friend and I separated from the group because we would not have had a chance to see the entire property at her pace.
Kathryn_S, Apr 2026
Our tour picked us up right at 2 pm at the meeting place. Our guide was professional, informative, and very helpful. Loved the windmill and community countryside area, cheese tour was nice but very crowded for the mini cubes of cheese tasting, but a very good selection of cheeses to but to bring back to the US.
Stacy_N, Apr 2026
Fantastic experience overall with lots to see and learn. Beautiful and welcoming village. Cheese tasting, clog making demo and get to go inside a cool windmill.
Be aware of popular travel times (like during Tulip Festival) when it’s really OVER crowded. We didn’t get much time to shop, eat, and explore because of crowds. Our guide though was excellent. Recommend a whole day experience rather than a few hours.
Robin_F, Apr 2026
This is a fabulous tour! Caroline was so informative of the history! She is a local so we got great details! Loved the wooden clog making demo and the cheese was so tasty!! Highly recommend!!🇳🇱🌷
Karen_H, Apr 2026
Can be crowded so patience is required. Claudia was incredibly friendly, personable and knowledgeable.
Robert_B, Apr 2026
A moderately paced half day trip, primarily visits a windmill museum village, having several windmills, and demonstration. Great photographic opportunities on a sunny day with beautiful fair weather clouds. Plenty of time for photographers to do their thing, and so long as you keep track of the group, you can more or less do your own thing, so long as you're there and check in frequently.
My fiance loved the village, she came away very happy with the experience, and smiled ear to ear.
The cheese demonstration and sampling was good, try a couple cheeses, but note the store can be crowded.
Keep an eye on your belongings, and be 360 aware at all times.
DONALD_C, Apr 2026
This tour is wonderful! You only get off the bus one time as all three parts of the tour are in one place, The guide we had, sorry name forgotten, lived in the village we visited. So tour guide was local what more could you ask for? The only complaint I would have is that you need more free time here, an extra hour would be great as we didn’t see every thing there. Also that you need a credit card for the washroom!
Melanie_E, Apr 2026
Excellent guide! Great way to experience this special place. Private acceas to areas without the crowds.
Amanda_C, Apr 2026
Wow! What a treat to have a local, Sharon, guide us around her little village. This tour was our highlight of Amsterdam! So cool to see the last operational paint mill in the world after a clog making demonstration and cheese tasting.
10/10 would recommend to anyone.
Tony_P, Apr 2026
Nice tour. Claudia was very knowledgeable of the area. It was windy on our visit and got to see a working windmill. Impressive!
Jamila_Y, Apr 2026
Callum (sp) the tour guide was great. Perfect amount of time to experience the windmills, clog making, and a very small cheese tasting. The van size was perfect. Great tour for cost. Would definitely recommend to others.
kevin_p, Apr 2026
Excellent tour. Our guide was awesome! She grew up there and knew all of the history of the area. Fantastic experience.
Serina_H, Apr 2026
This was our favorite tour in Amsterdam! The guide was so informative and had the best personality! It was so nice to see a different side of Amsterdam and was such a picturesque little town. Highly recommend to anyone visiting Amsterdam, as a chance to see a different side of the city!
Deborah_B, Apr 2026
Fantastic tour - exceptional in every way! Our small group tour guide, Sharon, actually lives in the restored village of Zaanse Schans. Sharon provided not only interesting history, but colorful and entertaining commentary on life in Holland and in particular Zaanse Schans. Best tour ever in our many years of travel!
Sandy_D, Apr 2026
Our guide was wonderful. Very knowledgeable of Amsterdam and the surrounding area.
When we got to the village, there
were bus loads of people. At least four bus loads of people. As a result, it made it very challenging and the experience was not what we expected.
SueAnn_H, Apr 2026
During Easter week the buildings can get very crowded and it’s difficult to move around in them and watch the demonstrations.
Janice_B, Apr 2026
A really enjoyable experience with an excellent guide. The village was very crowded but we managed to see everything promised and even got to partially make our own hot chocolate drink. The visit to the paint mill that Rembrandt actually got his pigment from was fascinating watching the process.
Teresa_L, Apr 2026
Good tour with family of varying ages from 12-85. It was a nice way to see sites outside of Amsterdam. Good amount of time and good pacing. Going up one of the windmills was an extra nice part of the tour.
Jacob_B, Apr 2026
This is perfect for anyone with only a few days in Amsterdam. Great atmosphere, little bit of history with a knowledgeable guide and the whole trip only take about 3.5 hours.
Nabeel_Q, Apr 2026
Overall experience was excellent. Transport was on time and every activity was managed on timely and professional manner by the tour guide She explained us everything in detail and reallyenjoyed it all.
June, Apr 2026
It was educational but many people everywhere! The guide Ray was very knowledgeable and pleasant. And she kept track of all is us!!! The tour was small so it was best!
Miriam_K, Apr 2026
Our tour guide was so knowledgeable and explained everything well. We really enjoyed our tour and learned alot
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