[Amsterdam] Zaanse Schans

The original plan was to visit Giethoorn for its beautiful wooden arch bridges and canals, but the 2-hour train+bus commute was too much of a hassle for us lazy travelers. So instead, we went to Zaanse Schans, a small windmill village just 20 minutes by train from Amsterdam Central Station. This spontaneous trip turned out to be one of the highlights of our Amsterdam trip.

Hello there.

There are a few specialty shops and free museums in Saanze Schans, which are a bit commercial but fun to visit anyway.

Dutch clogs museum.

Cheese farm.

And of course, the windmills. You can pay to go up to some of the windmills, but we just enjoyed the view from below.

The windmills are surely an attraction, but Zaanse Schans is beautiful even without them.

Sitting there and doing absolutely nothing other than staring at the wild grass, the cotton candy clouds, and happy bikers breezing pass by…what a life.

Of course we couldn’t leave without having some beer and traditional dutch croquettes (which were unfortunately not too impressive).

How to get there: From Amsterdam Central Station, take a train heading to Alkmaar and get off at Koog-Zaandijk. From the station simply follow the signs to get to Zaanse Schans, it’s only a 10-minute walk. For more information on Zaanse Schans, visit their official website.