The Windmills of Zaanse Schans
The Site
In 2019, I took a day trip from Amsterdam to Zaanse Schans. It cost me $34 to see this historic collection of windmills plus three other cities (Marken, Volendam, and Edam) through a private tour company.
Zaanse Schans could best be described as an open air museum. In some sense, it is also like a living history museum. When you walk around the grounds and explore the different windmills, you can meet artisans that still use the windmills to work and sell their goods. These artisans include the keeper of a spice warehouse, a saw mill, the makers of peanut oil, grinders of cocoa, and creators of paint pigment.
As you watch these artisans work, you get a glimpse of history. And that glimpse has been intentionally planned. Because these windmills and these artisans have not always been located where they are now.
The handful of windmills that are located in Zaanse Schans today are just some of the 600 windmills that were built along the Zaan River in the Netherlands in the 18th and 19th centuries.
But, in the mid-20th century, 8 of these windmills were moved to Zaanse Schans. And thus began the open air museum, which has grown to also include: clog making workshops, cheese making observations and tastings, a bakery, a supermarket with old-fashioned products, and more.
The Tour
The exact private tour that I took to visit Zaanse Schans is sadly no longer available. I went through a private company called Lindbergh Travel, which is permanently closed now.
However, there is a very similar tour offered by Amsterdam Guia & Tours. For $32 per person, this tour company will take you on a day trip to Zaanse Schans, Edam, Volendam, and Marken. And entry to the windmill interiors as well as some tastings are included in the price of the tour.
If you do not want to book a private tour, it is still possible to get to Zaanse Schans on your own by train, bus, ferry, or car. Zaanse Schans is only about a half hour journey from Amsterdam Centraal Station. And you can enter some of the windmills and other buildings on the grounds of Zaanse Schans, usually by paying 5 euros or so for entry.
