Daytrip outside Amsterdam: Zaanse Schans, Amsterdam

Just 9 miles from Amsterdam is a lovely Open Air Village called Zaanse Schans.

When visiting here, I was transported back in time to the 17th and 18th centuries when there were thousands of sawmills, dye mills, oil mills along the dykes. Not all the windmills and buildings started out in Zaanse Schans, many of them were moved here from other regions.
The highlight of the area, is the eight historic Windmills remaining out of about 200 that used to line the bank of the River Zaan
There are homes and a farmlet that is privately occupied, and others that are open to the public, such as a Museum, Clog Maker and Cheesemaker. You can go into a Windmill (3euro) or watch Delftware painting, and Pewter casting. There are shops selling Cheese, Mustard, Pottery, Clogs, Souvenirs, Textiles and more.
You can stop for a rest and a meal at one of the lovely Restaurants.

It is a very pretty area, and easy to reach.
I caught Bus 91 from Central Station. These leave half hourly from 9-4pm.

Open 9 - 5 daily FREE ADMISSION
May be a small charge to some areas.

This is a little bit of Holland countryside if you haven't time to visit further afield.

More information on my Zaanse Schans page

A place where you can see the windmills which to me is a Dutch icon will be Zaanse Schans. It is only a 20-minute 5 Euro return trip from Amsterdam by rail. It is a tourist attraction of course, so you'll also get to see a model farm, cheese and clog making demonstrations. Best of all you can do it at your pace and spending time walking around the village

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At the famous windmill park Zaanse Schans, you can visit several windmills, cheese farm and clog factory etc. There also is a museum about the region, see:

http://www.zaanseschans.nl/

Behind the museum, there is an information panel that describes two hikes (see the legend "foot paths" at the link above):

Yellow route: 4 km
Blue route: 8.5 km (Molenroute, or Mill route)

Both routes are marked with yellow or blue stickers on signposts and streetlights. We only walked the blue route, which takes you along the windmills and through the polder. Most of the route is along local roads, and not extremely scenic. However, in March we saw many birds. There are also nice houses along the route.

Part of the unpaved route (called Schanszichtpad) is closed between March 15 and June 15 (breeding season for birds), but this part is optional so it's always possible to do this walk. Have a look at the map between the pictures, the light-blue part is the Schanszichtpad.

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We all know that the most common landscape scenery in the Netherlands should be the water and the windmills. Nowadays it is not quite true, windmills no longer visit you, you should visit them, in order to see at least a single one from outside.
The easiest way to see real windmills near Amsterdam is to take a trip to Zaanse Schans in Zaandam located just on the other side of the river IJ.

Here you can see six large working mills on the bank of the Zaan River. They are used for wood sawing, hulling, threshing grains, and the production of amongst other things; seed and nut oil, paint, snuff and mustard. The windmill village is rather touristy in the summer.

There are here some other sightseeings too - museums, cheese makers, wooden shoemakers, a couple of restaurants and even the house of Russian Tsar Peter the Great, but because of lack of time we came just to see a real windmill.

Admission fee €2.50 each.
Direction: Train (not the Intercity) from Amsterdam Central Station in the direction of Alkmaar/Den Helder (every quarter of an hour), get off at the 4th stop Koog Zaandijk.
From the station about 15 min. walk there, down Stationstraat, Hoogstraat, pass the chocolate factory, the little Chocolate Museum, and an old windmill, cross over the River Zaan on the N515 road bridge with spectacular views of the Zaanse Schans windmills and the old houses on the Lagedijk to your left.

A good idea for a morning off is visiting the windmills at Zaanse Schans. You can go by train from Amsterdam Central Station. It takes about 20 minutes. I loved the place. It's like going back in time. There's a romantic atmosphere and the views are fantastic.

Zaanse Schans is a great place for tourists in a hurry to see many of the things typical of the Dutch - windmills along the river, cheese factories, and souvenier stores with Dutch chocolate, cheeses and blue pottery. The good thing is that all these are in one small area and close together, which saves valuable travelling time.

How to get there : A 20 minute train ride from Amsterdam toward Alkmaar (Koog-Zaandijk station).

If you've got windmills on your mind, Zaanse Schans just outside Amsterdam is the place for you. It's a tiny village with half a dozen windmills picturesquely lined up along a canal. It's totally dedicated to tourism these days, with windmills kept working solely to please the camera-touting visitors. Although it's open all year round, old Cliffie wouldn't recommend a visit in the depth of winter: cracked ice along the canals, sleeting rain stinging the face. Mind you, you'll probably get a nice shot of the windmills with no grinning tourists to spoil the picture.

it is nice to visit Zaanse Schans.. u can get whatever u cant get from city .. windmill, wooden clog, cheese... however, the cheese factory wanst nice.. it do not show any process of cheese making.... just ' exhibit ' a machine with a label.. " cannot get close to it" disappointed!!~~ Neverthelass, u can get a great scenery with a wildmill.... not far from city... em... around 30 minute train from amsterdam