Zaanse Schans Windmills 4-Hour Tour in Italian from Amsterdam

From Amsterdam Centraal Station to the Zaan

The day starts at Amsterdam Centraal Station, where the guide meets the group under the large clock tower and hands out the train tickets. Trains to Zaandijk Zaanse Schans station leave frequently and take less than 20 minutes, running past the harbours and the green polders north-west of the city. Knowing how to get to Zaanse Schans is part of the value of this tour: the guide handles tickets, platforms and connections for you.

From the station it is a walk of about 10 minutes through the town of Zaandijk and over the bridge across the Zaan, the river along which the windmills stand. The first view of the mills lined up on the far bank is one of the best photo moments of the day, and the guide explains how this region north of Amsterdam became one of the first industrial areas in Europe.

The windmills of Zaanse Schans

In the 17th and 18th centuries the banks of the Zaan were lined with hundreds of wind-powered mills that sawed timber for ships, pressed oil from seeds, ground spices and produced paint and paper. The handful of mills that stand at Zaanse Schans today were preserved or brought here from elsewhere in the region, and several still work: among them De Kat, a paint mill that grinds natural pigments, and De Zoeker, an oil mill.

With the guide you walk along the dyke past the mills while learning how their sails, caps and gears work and how millers read the wind. The mills are the main reason people search for a Zaanse Schans day trip from Amsterdam, and they are at their most photogenic in the morning, when the light falls on them across the river. Entry into the mill interiors is not part of this tour.

Green wooden houses and the village streets

Zaanse Schans is an open-air conservation area created from the 1960s, when historic wooden houses, workshops and warehouses from the Zaan region were moved here to save them from demolition. Painted in the deep green typical of the area, with white window frames and gabled roofs, they line small canals crossed by humpbacked bridges, and many are still lived in.

The guided walk takes you along these lanes to see the merchants' houses, the old shops and the gardens, while the guide explains life in the Zaan region in past centuries. Is Zaanse Schans worth visiting? For a first trip to the Netherlands, few places show the classic Dutch landscape of windmills, water and wooden houses so clearly in such a short time, which is exactly what makes it the country's most popular countryside outing.

The clog workshop

Wooden clogs, klompen in Dutch, were the everyday footwear of farmers, fishermen and workers for centuries, because they kept feet dry and warm in the wet polder soil. They are still worn by some farmers and gardeners today. In the clog workshop at Zaanse Schans you see a demonstration of how a block of poplar or willow is shaped into a shoe, first with machines and then finished by hand.

The workshop also displays a collection of historic clogs, from simple work shoes to carved and painted bridal clogs, showing how regional styles differed. The demonstration lasts around 15 to 20 minutes, and there is time to look at the painted clogs and souvenirs on sale. It is a favourite stop for children, who can try on a pair for photos.

The cheese farm and tasting

The tour continues to a local cheese farm, where you learn how Dutch cheese is made: from fresh milk and rennet to the pressing of the curds into round moulds, the brine bath and the long months of ageing on wooden shelves. The guide explains the difference between young, matured and old cheese and why Gouda-type cheeses take their name from the town where they were traded.

The visit ends with a tasting of several cheeses, often including young and aged varieties and flavoured cheeses with herbs, cumin or pepper. Cheese can be bought on site and vacuum-packed for travel. Afterwards the group walks back to the station for the train to Amsterdam Centraal, where the tour ends about four hours after it began, leaving the afternoon free.