Daytrip Zaandam Discover Cheese Clogs and Windmills

Zaandam is located 18 km northwest of Amsterdam and is an ideal day trip because there are so many typically Dutch attractions. What makes Zaandam, so special is a hotel whose architectural features resemble stacked boxes and Zaanse Schans, a district in Zaandam, with windmills, quaint wooden houses and canals. The Wooden Shoe Museum tells the story of this unique piece of footwear. At the end of the day, hop on the ferry that takes you back to Amsterdam.

Zaandam Highlights

1. Stacked Houses
2. Clog Museum
3. Tsar Peter House
4. Verkade Experience
5. Zaanse Schans
6. Sailing on the Zaan River
7. Ferry to Amsterdam

1. Stacked Houses

Some find them an eyesore, others love them, stacked houses are an acquired taste in architecture. The Inntel Hotel (Provincialeweg 102), next to Zaandam train station, consists of stacked traditional Zaandam houses. The building is twelve floors high and painted in four shades of green as traditionally used for wooden houses, only one is blue. The blue one refers to the painting ‘La Maison Bleue’ (the Blue House), by the French painter Claude Monet, who in stayed four months in Zaandam in 1871.

2. Clog Museum

The clog maker in the Clog Museum demonstrates how Dutch wooden shoes are made. All kinds of clogs are on display, from modern to classic.

Highlights of the Clog Museum
• Live demonstrations of clog making
• Personalize your own wooden footwear
• The exposition tells the history of wooden shoe
• Buy miniature clogs or clogs as a souvenir to wear yourself in your own shoe size.

3. Tsar Peter House

Tsar Peter House is a wooden house, built in the seventeenth century and served as a temporary residence of Tsar Peter the Great during his visit to the Netherlands. The Zaanstreek was famous for its shipyards. Tsar Peter wanted to learn more about shipbuilding so that he could use the same techniques in Russia

The house has been beautifully preserved and is now a museum dedicated to Tsar Peter where you can see his a death mask and his boxbed, a bust of Anna Paulowna of Russia (the wife of King William II) and portraits of Tsar Peter and Catherine I.

Address Krimp 23. Free admission with I Amsterdam City Card

4. Verkade Experience

The Verkade Experience (Schansend 7) is an interactive museum dedicated to the history of Dutch chocolate and biscuit production. The Verkade Company was founded at the end of the 19th century and is known for biscuits and chocolate, but also for tea lights.

Highlights
• You can see how Verkade bars are made
• During a workshop, you can make your own chocolates
• You will learn all about the origins of the Verkade brand
• View the interactive exhibitions that show how biscuits and chocolates are made

5. Zaanse Schans

Zaanse Schans is a district 8 km away from the centre of Zaandam. Here you will find windmills, museums, shops and original Zaandam wooden houses. You pay an entrance fee for the mills and some museums. Buy your ticket at the mills or the museum you want to visit,

Highlights
• More than 10 historic mills determine the skyline, some of which are still in operation.
• Wooden houses from the 18th and 19th century including the first Albert Heijn store, now a major supermarket chain
• Demonstrations of old crafts such as cheese and clog making.

TIP: Take it easy and join a guided tour to Zaanse Schans, Volendam and Marken. Zaanse Schans with its green-timbered houses and fishing villages of Volendam en Marken where some of the locals still wear traditional costumes. 

6. Sailing on the Zaan River

Zaandam is located on the Zaan River. The Zaanferry sails back and forth between Zaandam (boarding near the Beatrixbrug) and Wormerveer all day in the summer from Tuesday to Sunday, with a stop at the Zaanse Schans.

7. Sailing from and to Amsterdam

A ferry service connects Zaandam to Amsterdam, via the IJ-River and Amsterdam harbour. The ferry docks behind Amsterdam Central Station. It operates from May to September at weekends
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8. Train from Amsterdam to Zaandam

There is a regular train service from Amsterdam Central Station to Zaandam. Journey time 13 minutes.
Zaanse Schans is 8 km north of Zaandam, train or bus from Zaandam Station to Zaandijk and from here a 10-minute walk