We had the chance to explore the region outside Amsterdam, including Zaanse Schans, Edam, and Volendam, and we highly recommend it.

View other posts in this series:

• Trip Introduction: Cheese and Chocolate in Western Europe
• United Club LAX: Better Than Your Average United Lounge
• A Great Stay Outside the City Center: The Thompson Chicago
• The Beautiful Air France Lounge ORD
• The Best Inflight Service: KLM 787-10 World Business Class ORD-AMS
• Andaz Amsterdam Prinsengracht: A Great Stay But Now Pricey
• Perfect Dutch Comfort Food at The Pantry Amsterdam
• Smelt It and Loved It: Restaurant Smelt Amsterdam
• Amsterdam with Kids: Plenty of History, Cheese, and Sweets
• Zaanse Schans: You Must See This Idyllic Spot Near Amsterdam (this post)
• NS Lounge Amsterdam Centraal: Sadly, Not Much Here
• Eurostar Premier: Better Than Economy But Still Pretty Basic
• Hilton Brussels Grand Place: A Great Location in Central Brussels
• Le Clan des Belges: One of Our Favorite Meals Ever
• Fin de Siècle: Great Food But Can Have Long Lines
• Mini‑Europe in Brussels: Top Highlights From Our Experience
• Belgian Beer World Experience: Surprisingly Fun for the Family
• Brussels with Kids: History, Chocolate, Fries, and Fun
• Winter Wonders: The Wonderful Brussels Christmas Market
• Brussels Airlines The Loft Lounge: Plenty of Drinks and Smurfs
• A Bit Too Simple: Brussels Airlines A319 Business Class (Intra-Europe)
• Great for Whisky Lovers: SWISS Senator Lounge E ZRH
• SWISS 777-300ER Business Class: A Comfy Seat and Good Service

Zaanse Schans

If you wanted to take a peaceful trip outside Amsterdam city limits to catch a glimpse of some Dutch windmills, Zaanse Schans is an easy place to do it. The village is just a short trip outside the city, connected to Amsterdam via bus (EBS Bus 391).

If you’re driving yourself here to see the windmills, set a course for the Zaanse Museum.

Let’s take a quick tour of the area.

Visiting the windmills

We can start off with likely the main reason you’ll want to come here. There are plenty of windmills to see, and depending on how long you have to spend here, you can get closer to some of them.

These windmills were the factories of yesteryear, and there were several versions of them. Windmills were used to grind spices and other materials, saw wood, and press oils. There used to be more windmills in the area, but naturally as the windmill fell out of favor, many were removed. However, you can still see 10 of them adjacent to the Zaan river.

Each of the 10 windmills are walkable, but it might require you walking in different directions to see them all.

Importantly, it’s very serene when you’re here. You might find it’s a great place to meditate or think of how life might have been hundreds of years ago. A relic of the past, these windmills dot the riverbank in a way that almost makes you feel like you’re living in a simpler time.

Henri Willing

Sure, we checked out the Henri Willig cheese tasting in the city, but imagine our surprise that we stumbled across another one right here at the village by the Zaanse Museum.

What sets this location apart from others is the mini history tour of what things might have been like in the 1970s when Henri created the company. To kids these days, that might as well be ancient history.

There aren’t any interactive exhibits in this section, but you can find some photo ops. (And, no, the cheese isn’t real.)

Once you make it through, you’ll find a large store with plenty of samples. Despite its size, you might also find it rather crowded inside simply due to the number of tours that visit the town. Still, this might have some of the best cheese samples you can find in the area.

Wooden Shoe Workshop

You can get your fix of Dutch life in this little village: windmills, cheese, and clogs. Outside this workshop is a rather large clog. Why is Char folding her arms while standing here? She didn’t want to pose in the oversized shoe.

Instead, she wanted the set of smaller (but still oversized) clogs closer to the building.

There’s a small museum just inside the entrance that takes you along some of the history of the shoes. These clogs were used by poorer people back in the day, which they painted to look like leather shoes. You see, only the rich people were able to buy leather shoes, so wearing these painted clogs allowed the poor to enter places that required leather shoes. The shoes also had the added effect of protecting the user’s feet from cheese or tools that might fall on them.

And if you wanted the ultimate in Dutch fashion, catch a glimpse of the diamond clog. Wear this and you’ll be the talk of the town.

Someone also provides a demonstration of how to make the wooden clogs. It takes about two hours to make a clog by hand (machines are much faster at about three minutes for two shoes).

Afterwards, you can buy a pair of clogs if you’d like a souvenir to bring home. I doubt you’d be wearing them for comfort.

Edam

Not too far away from Zaanse Schans is Edam, a cute town that’s perhaps best known for cheese. Or at least it makes a frequent appearance in crossword puzzles as an alternative name for cheese. There’s only one windmill left in the city and these days the city border blends in quite a bit with neighboring Volendam.

Edam used to be an important port city but eventually evolved into more of a farming community.

When we were here, there wasn’t much hustle and bustle in the city. We kind of preferred it that way, as it almost seemed preserved in time. Though, yes, that’s yet another Henri Willig there with the red awning. That cheese company is everywhere.

You can also find a museum here, kept in a tall, narrow building. Why are all the older buildings so narrow? It’s simple–back in the day, taxes were determined based on house width, so locals built upwards rather than outwards.

While you’re here, stop by the old trading square where they used to weigh and sell cheeses. Hundreds of years ago, they used to have auction-like trades here under the Handel en Nijverheid (trade and industry) symbols. This market closed in 1922, but it is still in use today on Wednesdays as a local farmers market.

Volendam

In some ways you can consider Edam and Volendam to be the same community, but we’ll continue to separate them. We stopped by the Port of Volendam to check out the cute stores and to grab a bite to eat. Just walking through the town, you can easily see it has plenty of charm.

The kids wanted a proper sit-down meal, so we tried out ‘T HavenGat, a cute place with views of the water. In case you’re wondering what a typical lunch out here might be, it might remind you of brunch: eggs with bacon and cheese or soups. Simple stuff.

The front area in the restaurant, where we dined, was plenty big enough for lunch. But we could tell that evenings could get a bit more packed.

We’re going to let the pictures mostly speak for themselves. Though the preparation was simple, the food was delicious, and we would easily consider returning if we’re in the area again.

And in case you’re curious, the price for lunch including the drinks is very reasonable!

Have you explore the area outside Amsterdam yet?

Suggested reading:

• The Complete Guide to Foreign Transaction Fees
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