Amsterdam Zaanse Schans

Unleash your inner tourist for a day at delightful Zaanse Schans, a 17th-century town located only 20min. from Amsterdam on the River Zaan. Feel free to fumble clumsily with an oversized map while fiddling with your fanny pack, since Zaanse Schans—with its cheese farm, clog workshop, and working windmills—embraces and encourages a tourist’s curiosity. In the 1950s, the residents of the Zaan region were concerned that industrialization was quietly destroying their historic landmarks, so they transported the wood structures on barges and trucks to this pretty plot of land, making it one-stop shopping for all of the Netherlands’s traditional customs. While you walk through the town dodging the numerous group tours, you may feel immersed in a surreal museum village; however, a few inhabitants (about 40 in total, occupying 25 historic houses) do in fact work here, and the town’s two windmills sell their products to nearby factories. The town of Zaanse Schans is the perfect destination for that timeless Golden Age feel that you’ve been searching for throughout the Netherlands.

Transportation And Practical Information. From Amsterdam Centraal, take the stoptrein heading to Alkmaar and get off at Koog Zaandijk (20min., €2.80). From there, follow the signs to Zaanse Schans, a 12min. walk across a bridge. Biking to Zaanse Schans takes around 90min.; Bike City plots an easy-to-follow route along well-paved bike paths—you can pick a map up at their shop or on their website. The Museum Zaans ticket desk doubles as the most useful information center around Zaanse Schans; you can ask there for a free map or info about the town. The VVV in Amsterdam can provide you with all the information you need for your trip before you leave; otherwise, the closest VVV to Zaanse Schans is the Zaandam office, Ebbehout 31, in the Zaandam train station. (Open M-W 8:30am-4pm, Th 8:30am-7pm, F 8:30am-noon.)

Accommodations And Food. Zaanse Schans is really best suited to be a one-day trip, but if you’re just begging to stay, try the comfortable, well-run Hotel Sans Pareil 4, Lagedijk 32-34, across the bridge from Zaanse Schans. Their 12 double rooms start at €80 (but can get up to €130 on busy weekends in the summer) and come with TVs, phones, and bath. (☎621 1911; www.sanspareil.nl. AmEx/MC/V.) You’d also be best to bring a picnic lunch, since food doesn’t come cheap (and isn’t particularly interesting) in the town’s few, tourist-oriented restaurants. De Kraai 2, Kraaienpad 1, near the parking lot, is an informal place to grab a bite. (☎615 6403. Coffee €2. Sandwiches from €2.75. Pannenkoeken lunch €12.50. Open daily 9am-6pm.)

Sights. The best way to see picturesque Zaanse Schans is just to wander about the town, popping into whichever building that happens to interest you. Most attractions in Zaanse Schans are open daily 10am-5pm in the summer but only on weekends in the winter. The highlights are inarguably the working windmills, some of the last remaining ones in the world. You can see the wheels inside grinding raw materials with their breeze-fueled power and then head up to the deck for a dramatic view of the town. Zaanse Schans is home to eight windmills, but only two regularly allow visitors.

The lovely De Kat windmill, Kalverringdijk 29, has been grinding plants and chalk into paint pigment for Dutch artists since 1782. Today, you can take a tour of the windmill’s inner machinery and climb to the upper balcony for a good view of the River Zaan. Groups can make reservations in advance to see the windmill’s 3000kg grinding stones at work. (☎621 0477. Open Apr.-Oct. daily 9am-5pm; Nov.-Mar. Sa-Su 9am-5pm. €2.50, ages 6-12 €1.50, groups of 10 or more €1.50 per person.) Down the road, the De Zoeker windmill, Kalverringdijk 31, dating from 1676, is the oldest seed-oil mill in the world, restored to its current condition in 1978; it works by a deafeningly loud beam that will certainly catch your attention. The mill is capable of producing about 100L of oil per day and runs seven days a week, except in bad weather. (☎628 7942. Open Mar.-Oct. daily 9:30am-4:30pm. €2.)

If you’re interested in a little context for all the cheese, clogs, and windmills, visit the lovely Museum Zaans, Schansend 7 . Chronicling the cultural history of the Zaans region through the lenses of wind, water, work, and life, the museum has a variety of displays showcasing Dutch life in this rural riverside region in the 17th and 18th centuries. On the top floor, you’ll find an expansive view of the area and its windmills. (☎616 2862; www.museumzaans.nl. Open daily 9am-5pm. €5.40, ages 4-12 and over 65 €2.70, under 4 free.) From Schansend, head down Zeilenmakerspad to watch craftsmen mold blocks of wood into attractive but sadly impractical clogs at Klompenmakerij de Zaanse Schans, Kraaienest 4. Klompen enthusiasts can ake in an informative display that unravels the mystery of the wooden shoe’s prominence in Dutch history. Of course, after the short history lesson, there is a humongous gift shop, with strings of endless varieties of clogs in all shapes, sizes, and colors hanging from the walls and ceiling—yours to clunk around in for about €30. (☎617 7121. Open daily 8am-6pm.) Follow your nose (hint: keep going on Zeilenmakerspad toward the water) to the Cheesefarm Catharina Hoeve, Zeilenmakerspad 5, a replica of the original cheese farm. Today, the center is more of a large tourist shop, selling endless varieties of Dutch cheese. The shop offers free bite-sized samples of its various homemade products and a small workshop showcasing how the cheese is prepared. Whatever you do, don’t say “cheese” when posing for a photo here, but feel free to roll your eyes when someone else inevitably does. (☎621 5820. Open daily 8am-6pm. Free.) On the waterfront road, watch a demonstration on pewter jewelry making at De Tinkoepel Tinnegieterij, Kalverringdijk 1. Housed in a Dutch teahouse dating back to 1747, the tiny building was moved about five kilometers across the River Zaan to its present location in 1968. The itty-bitty shop has a surprisingly large collection of pewter jewelry and trinkets. The friendly staff prepares the goods right there, explaining each step of the process. (☎616 2263; www.tinkoepel.nl. Open daily Apr.-Oct. 10am-5pm; Nov.-Mar. 11am-4pm. Free.)

Other attractions include the pint-sized Museum Het Noorderhuis, Kalverringdijk 17, a restored home that features original costumes from the Zaan region in two reconstructed 19th-century rooms and a display of the wardrobe of an 18th-century lady. (☎617 3237. Open July-Aug. daily 10am-5pm; Mar.-June and Sept.-Oct. Tu-Su 10am-5pm; Nov.-Feb. Sa-Su 10am-5pm. €1, ages 4-11 and seniors €0.50.) onsider cruising around Zaanse Schans with Rederij de Schans on a 45min. boat ride through the River Zaan, complete with gorgeous views of overworked windmills. (☎065 329 4467; www.rederijdeschans.nl. Rides Apr.-Sept. daily every hr. 11am-4pm. €6, over 65 €5, under 12 €3.)