windmill tour from amsterdam

If you're staying in Amsterdam and want to see real Dutch windmills — the towering, working kind, not a souvenir-shop replica — you're in luck. The most spectacular collection of historic windmills in the Netherlands sits just outside the city at the Zaanse Schans, and it's far easier to reach than most visitors expect.

This guide covers everything you need to plan a windmill tour from Amsterdam: how to get there, what you'll see, when to go, and the single best way to experience the windmills once you arrive.

Where are the windmills near Amsterdam?

The windmills you've seen on postcards are at the Zaanse Schans, a beautifully preserved village on the banks of the river Zaan in Zaandam, about 15 kilometres north of Amsterdam. In the 18th and 19th centuries this region was the world's first industrial zone, with more than 600 working windmills sawing timber, grinding pigments and pressing oil. A handful of those mills still stand and still turn today — grinding spices, making paint and sawing wood exactly as they did three centuries ago.

Alongside the windmills you'll find wooden green houses, a working cheese farm, a clog workshop, and chocolate and cocoa factories whose aroma drifts across the whole village. It's open-air, free to walk through, and genuinely one of the most photogenic places in the Netherlands.

How to get to the windmills from Amsterdam

You have three easy options. For a full breakdown with timetables and parking tips, see our guide on how to get to the Zaanse Schans from Amsterdam.

By train (fastest)

Take a train from Amsterdam Centraal towards Alkmaar or Uitgeest and step off at Zaandijk Zaanse Schans. The ride takes roughly 15–20 minutes, trains run several times an hour, and from the station it's a pleasant 10-minute walk across the bridge to the windmills. This is the option we recommend for most visitors — no traffic, no parking, and the walk-up to the village is lovely.

By bus

Bus 391 runs directly from Amsterdam Centraal to the Zaanse Schans and drops you right at the entrance. It takes around 40 minutes and is a good choice if you prefer a single connection without changing.

By car

By car it's about 20–25 minutes from central Amsterdam. There's a paid visitor car park beside the village, but it fills quickly in summer and during tulip season — arriving before 10:00 is wise.

What to see at the Zaanse Schans

Most visitors spend two to four hours here. The highlights:

• The working windmills — climb inside De Kat (a paint mill) or De Zoeker (an oil mill) and watch the great wooden gears turn.
• The cheese farm — free tastings of Dutch farmhouse cheese, from young Gouda to aged truffle.
• The clog workshop — a live demonstration of how traditional wooden shoes are carved.
• The cocoa aroma — the village sits beside one of the largest cocoa-processing areas in the world; on a still day the whole place smells of chocolate.

The best way to see the windmills: from the water

Here's the thing most day-trippers never realise. The Zaanse Schans was built for and around the water — the mills line the riverbank because the Zaan was their highway. Walking the footpaths shows you the front of the village, but the view the mills were designed to be seen from is the river itself.

“The mills line the riverbank because the Zaan was their highway — the view they were built to be seen from is the river itself.”

On a public windmill cruise you glide right past all the mills in about 25 minutes, with a skipper pointing out which mill grinds spices, which one saws wood, and which historic merchant houses line the bank. It's the single best photo opportunity of the entire visit, and from €9 per person it costs less than a coffee-and-cake in the village café. Departures run daily.

If you're travelling as a group, celebrating something, or simply want the village to yourself for an hour, a private boat tour gives you your own boat, skipper and guide — from €127 per hour for groups of up to 40 people. You set the pace, choose the route, and can add drinks or a dining package on board. Many visitors who originally planned to rent a self-drive boat end up choosing this instead: same freedom on the water, no boating licence required, and someone else handles the steering while you take in the view.

When is the best time to visit?

The Zaanse Schans is open year-round, but April and May are magical — the tulip fields nearby are in bloom and the light is soft and golden. Summer is the busiest and warmest stretch, ideal for a cruise with drinks on board. Autumn brings dramatic skies that photographers love, and even winter has its own quiet charm with far fewer crowds.

Your windmill tour from Amsterdam, in short

Take the 15-minute train from Amsterdam Centraal to Zaandijk Zaanse Schans, spend a few hours wandering the windmills, cheese farm and workshops — and don't leave without seeing the mills from the river, the way they were meant to be seen. It's the detail that turns a nice day trip into a memorable one.

Frequently asked questions