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Daytrip outside Amsterdam: Zaanse Schans, Amsterdam
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Daytrip outside Amsterdam: Zaanse Schans, Amsterdam

One of the historic Windmills - Amsterdam
One of the historic Windmills
by balhannah
Daytrip outside Amsterdam: Zaanse Schans tips and photos posted by real travelers and Amsterdam locals.
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Daytrip outside Amsterdam: Zaanse Schans: Watching working windmills
  • Tip Rating:
    • CliffClaven
  • Updated By CliffClaven on September 24, 2004
  • Amsterdam Page by CliffClaven
    • Daytrip outside Amsterdam: Zaanse Schans - Amsterdam
    by CliffClaven
    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.

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    Daytrip outside Amsterdam: Zaanse Schans: Zaanse Schans
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    • martin_nl
  • Updated By martin_nl on August 4, 2003
  • Amsterdam Page by martin_nl
    • Windmills on the dike along the Zaan - Amsterdam
    Windmills on the dike along
    the Zaan
    by martin_nl
    An easy day trip from Amsterdam is Zaanse Schans. This village is about a 20 minutes drive from Amsterdam. You can see windmills and wooden houses here. You can also go inside a windmill. There are shops and museums in many of the wooden houses. You can buy typical Dutch things like stroopwafels, Haagse Hopjes and Boterbabbelaars, but also wooden toys and old 'antique' stuff. A great experience!!

    Also visit my Zaanse Schans page.

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  • Website: http://www.zaanseschans.nl/
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    Daytrip outside Amsterdam: Zaanse Schans: Open Air Museum - Zaanse Schans
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    • balhannah
  • By balhannah on July 1, 2009
  • Amsterdam Page by balhannah
    • One of the historic Windmills - Amsterdam
    One of the historic Windmills
    by balhannah
    Just 9 miles from Amsterdam is a lovely Open Air Village called Zaanse Schans. Here, you will find homes and a farmlet that is privately occupied, and others that are open to the public. 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 is a Museum, Clog Maker, 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 it only takes about 30minutes from Amsterdam to get here. I caught Bus 91 from Central Station. They depart every 30mins.
    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

  • Phone: 31 + (0) 75 6162862
  • Website: www.zaanseschans.nl
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    Daytrip outside Amsterdam: Zaanse Schans: Let the wind blow!
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    • csordila
  • Updated By csordila on April 2, 2009
  • Amsterdam Page by csordila
    • Zaanse Schans - Amsterdam
    Zaanse Schans
    by csordila, 2 more photos
    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.

  • Phone: +31 75 6162862
  • Website: http://www.zaanseschans-museum.nl/eng/home.php
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    Daytrip outside Amsterdam: Zaanse Schans: Hikes around the Zaanse Schans
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    • Pijlmans
  • Updated By Pijlmans on August 4, 2009
  • Amsterdam Page by Pijlmans
    • Molenroute - Amsterdam
    Molenroute
    by Pijlmans, 4 more photos
    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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    Daytrip outside Amsterdam: Zaanse Schans: Zaanse Schans - for tourists in a hurry
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  • By woodydoc on March 27, 2005
  • Amsterdam Page by woodydoc
    • Cheese factory - Amsterdam
    Cheese factory
    by woodydoc
    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).

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    Daytrip outside Amsterdam: Zaanse Schans: The Clog Factory
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    • keeweechic
  • Updated By keeweechic on September 1, 2003
  • Amsterdam Page by keeweechic
    • Daytrip outside Amsterdam: Zaanse Schans - Amsterdam
    by keeweechic
    The Clog Factory at Zaanse Schans have all patterns and all sizes of clogs for you to choose from as well as souvenirs - even down to a little pair of clogs fridge magnet , which I happily collected. They also have demonstrations on how the clogs are made.

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    Daytrip outside Amsterdam: Zaanse Schans: Zaanse Schans
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    • keeweechic
  • Updated By keeweechic on July 25, 2003
  • Amsterdam Page by keeweechic
    • Daytrip outside Amsterdam: Zaanse Schans - Amsterdam
    by keeweechic
    Zaanse Schans is a charming country-side windmill village near Zaandijk, just 15 kms out of Amsterdam. Among old Dutch wooden houses and windmills you will find museums, shops, restaurants, a cheese farm, a wooden shoe factory and a craft centre. The windmills date back from the seventeenth and eighteenth century.

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    Daytrip outside Amsterdam: Zaanse Schans: 12 minutes from the center by...
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    • Dany_Kulta
  • By Dany_Kulta on August 26, 2002
  • Amsterdam Page by Dany_Kulta
    • Daytrip outside Amsterdam: Zaanse Schans - Amsterdam
    by Dany_Kulta
    12 minutes from the center by train: There is 'Kooij Zaandig' (sorry for the name written uncorrectly).....You can see some old houses from the 17th century, windmills, etc....---------You can also visit in that place a factory of 'shoes' (the typical folkloric shoes of Hollandish people)....Or a factory of cheeses.....Mmmhhhh Gouda, Edam, etc.....with many different spices !

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    Daytrip outside Amsterdam: Zaanse Schans: Zaans Schans, windmills and...
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    • lorino
  • Updated By lorino on August 24, 2002
  • Amsterdam Page by lorino
    • Daytrip outside Amsterdam: Zaanse Schans - Amsterdam
    by lorino
    Zaans Schans, windmills and wooden shoes. A perfect fit for the little beauty in the photo! After very carefully and lovingly placing her little doll in the clog to her left, then and only then did she herself have a seat in the fun life size clogs perfect for children! This wasn't posed or planned. I just watched her as it was too adorable and snapped a pic. As we say in the US, 'say cheese' when we snap a photo... In this case, say Gouda!

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