Windmills, cheese farms & wooden clogs – these are the things that people associate to the Netherlands. Unfortunately, these aren’t found in Amsterdam; they’re in the towns & villages found in the North Holland province.
After spending days walking around Amsterdam & a random afternoon in Utrecht, I decided to take a day trip to the north Dutch countryside to visit Zaanse Schans, Edam-Volendam & Marken. Today’s post will talk about the details of this day trip I took during my visit to the Netherlands in October 2019. In case you missed it, I already posted the details of my trips around the cities of Amsterdam & Utrecht.
day tour booking
If you read my previous posts about Amsterdam & Utrecht, you know that I opted to be spontaneous with my itinerary about this trip. I did some research when I prepared my dummy itinerary for the tourist visa application but ended up not following it. I read some blogs online & found out that the windmills are accessible by train or bus. The other towns are only accessible by bus; but best with the €10 Waterland day pass. I calculated the money I need to spend for the bus pass, back & forth ferry tickets (from Volendam to Marken & back) & I’ll end up spending heaps of money. I ended up taking a guided tour to these 4 places for €28.
I booked my day tour on GetYourGuide & took this Zaanse Schans, Edam, Volendam & Marken Tour. The day tour started at 8:15 & ran for 6.5 hours. Meeting place was near the front door of the NH Collection Amsterdam Barbizon Palace near Amsterdam Centraal. Our guide for the day trip was a Raquel – a freelance tour guide born & raised in Mabella, Spain & living in Amsterdam. Raquel’s tour was fun & informative. She told us the history of every place we visited & even gave cool trivia in every place.
Now let’s go to the Dutch countryside. I immediately noticed the change of scenery minutes after leaving Amsterdam. The views changed from colorful houses to beautiful green fields. Netherlands is a flat country; it doesn’t have mountains unlike the Philippines. Let me share with you where we went that day.
Did you know that applied for my Schengen tourist visa on my own? Yes! It’s just an easy process. Check out this DIY Schengen Tourist Visa post I published a few weeks ago.
Zaanse Schans
Our first stop was Zaanse Schans. Located about 30 minutes from the main city, this famous industrial neighborhood is in Zaandam, north of Amsterdam. During the 17th century, this area had hundreds of windmills being used by the people in daily tasks such as grinding spices, sawing wood & making oil.
At present, there are only a handful of windmills left. Some are still operational while the others are now museums. The neighborhood also has traditional wooden houses, workshops & warehouses. We walked around the windmills for 45 minutes. Too bad we arrived too early; all of them were still closed. The weather was cloudy during our visit. Apologies, I don’t have that windmill with clear blue sky photo.
EDAM
Edam was the second stop of this day tour. If Amsterdam was named because of its proximity of Amstel River, Edam was founded around a dam crossing the river E or Ije. Edam focused on shipbuilding & fishing in the early times which helped the place become an important trade town. The fall of shipbuilding industry saw the rise of cheese-making. The town had weekly cheese markets where farmers from different areas go visit & trade. This town is the birthplace of the world-famous Edam Cheese.
Edam is a small town with a very small town square. The highest structure in the town is a 4-storey (3.5 storey imo) building. The town was quiet during our visit – almost no people & no open establishments.
Simonehoeve
Our next stop was Simonehoeve – a traditional cheese farm & clogs factory. The owners of the farm showed to us how the traditional clogs & Dutch cheese are made. At the end of the tour around the facility, we had an unlimited cheese tasting (plus fruit wine & stoopwafels) activity. I tried all kinds of cheese available & they were all good. The farm also has an on site shop where clogs & locally made cheese can be purchased.
Gouda cheese 😋 
Edam cheese 😋
In case you missed it, I flew with Singapore Airlines from Singapore to Amsterdam last October 2019. Check out my flight report here & know how is it flying 13 hours with one of the world’s best airlines.
Volendam
After stuffing our stomachs with lots of cheese, we headed to Volendam. This Dutch town located by the Markermeer Lake northeast of Amsterdam is an old fishing village known for its; colorful wooden houses & old fishing boats in its harbor. Volendam is the place where tourists have lunch during their respective day trips. The town’s harbor has a long line of shops offering souvenirs, restaurants offering decently-priced meals & food carts selling traditional Dutch food.
We had our lunch break here & stayed for an hour. I was still full from all the cheese I had in Simonehoeve so I only opted for kibbeling for snack. It’s a traditional snack which has battered cod chunks, shrimp & mussels served with mayonnaise & garlic sauce. The snack cost me freakin’ €10; I forgot I was in a busy touristic place. I spent the remaining time in Volendam walking along the beautiful harbor.
marken
Our last stop was Marken – small fishing village in the municipality of Waterland. Found in the middle of the waters, this village became famous because of its colorful wooden houses. Marken was as quiet as Edam with close to no people around. The village has a small & peaceful harbor with a few open shops.
After our short walk around Marken, we boarded the tour bus & took a 30-minute drive back to Amsterdam. The bus dropped us off somewhere near A’DAM Lookout. I walked to the ferry terminal & took the free ferry back to Amsterdam Centraal. This ends the day trip I took to the North Holland countryside.
Have you been to these places in the Netherlands? Which one is your favorite? It’s hard to choose but I love the peaceful vibe of Marken. It’s a village where you’d want to live during retirement. Are there other cities or towns in the Netherlands which are worth visiting? Share you suggestions & experiences in the comments section below. Do you have questions about the towns & villages mentioned above? Send them via email to contact@thewkndtravel.com. Don’t forget to follow me & please please please also help me in promoting my social media channels – Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.
Thanks for making it this far! I really appreciate it. My posts about the Netherlands are about to end. Watch out for the last post next week before we move to a new country!
PS. Photos were taken using my HTC U11.