Zaanse Schans
An open-air museum village on the Zaan River, 20 minutes from the city centre, with eight working 18th-century windmills, green wooden houses, a cheese farm and a clog workshop.
Zaanse Schans lies in Zaandam, 15 km north of Amsterdam. The Zaan region was the world's first industrial zone in the 17th and 18th centuries, with more than 600 windmills once used for sawing timber, pressing oil and grinding pigments. In the 1960s and 1970s, the surviving windmills and typical green wooden houses from the area were moved here, creating an open-air museum village where people still live. Entry to the village is free, and most of the windmills along the river can be entered for a fee (about €5–6 each, or about €25 for the Zaanse Schans Card, which covers all the windmills and museums). De Kat is the world's only remaining working paint mill, De Zoeker and De Bonte Hen press oil, and Het Jonge Schaap saws timber. Climbing the windmill platform gives you a close look at the turning sails and the wooden gears inside. The village also has the Catharina Hoeve cheese farm (free tastings and demonstrations), a clog workshop where machines carve wooden shoes on the spot and a 4-metre giant clog makes a fun photo stop, a reconstruction of the first Albert Heijn supermarket from 1887, the Zaans Museum (about €13, including the Verkade chocolate biscuit factory), and the Netherlands' first clock museum. Getting there: take a train from Amsterdam Centraal about 17 minutes to Zaandijk Zaanse Schans station, then walk 15 minutes; or take bus 391 for about 40 minutes straight to the village entrance. Half a day is enough, and it is often combined with Volendam and Marken for a day trip. In peak season, tour groups are very numerous, so for the classic shot in front of the windmills, come early in the morning. The riverside is windy, so dress warmly. Cheese and clogs here are more expensive than at supermarkets in the city.
Opening hours
Village open all day; windmills and workshops approx. 09:00/10:00–17:00 (shorter in winter)
Nearby sights
- Canal Ring & Jordaan
- Anne Frank House
- Westerkerk
- A'DAM Lookout
- Royal Palace of Amsterdam
- Dam Square
- Amsterdam Centraal
- Begijnhof