How to Take a Day Trip From Amsterdam to Zaanse Schans

Zaanse Schans, the netherlands

All Things Dutch and Windmills

☼

how to get from amsterdam to zaanse schans

Best Ways to Get from Amsterdam to Zaanse Schans

☼

how much time you’ll need in zaanse schans

A Few Hours to Explore Zaanse Schans

☼

things to do in Zaanse Schans

Exploring All Things Dutch in Zaanse Schans

☼

planning your visit to zaanse Schans

Things to Keep in Mind When Planning Your Trip

☼

Bonjour!

If this is your first time on The Weithouse - welcome! My name is Taylor and I’m the girl behind the screen and camera bringing you resources to help you plan the trip of your dreams.

In January of 2022, my husband and I left our home in Atlanta, packed our bags and moved to Paris! We lived in Paris for three years and every day we woke up in disbelief that we got to call this incredible city our home

This Zaanse Schans from Amsterdam Day Trip guide will share our experience visiting the famous windmills of Zaanse Schans as a day trip from Amsterdam.

Zaanse Schans, the netherlands

If you’re traveling to Amsterdam and you have extra time in your itinerary to explore outside of the city, Zaanse Schans is a great and easy day trip from Amsterdam. Zaanse Schans is a small neighborhood in Zaandam, The Netherlands, which sits slightly Northwest of Amsterdam.

Zaanse Schans is famous for it’s iconic green and black windmills, still in operation, that are now open to the public for exploring. The neighborhood is less of a real neighborhood and more of a walking museum for tourists to discover all things Dutch, including architecture, craftsmanship and history. In Zaanse Schans there are 8+ museums for immersing yourself in Dutch culture, and it is an incredibly kid-friendly destination.

Is Zaanse SchanS worth Visiting?

If you’re debating on whether or not to visit Zaanse Schans over some other part of The Netherlands, you might be wondering if it is really worth it to visit. Zaanse Schans is absolutely worth visiting, especially to experience for yourself the amazing windmills.

That being said, Zaanse Schans does feel a bit like a theme park, where everything is very curated to tourists and loses a bit of that authenticity. In my opinion, that doesn’t make it less interesting to visit, just something to keep in mind.

HOW TO GET from Zaanse Schans from amsterdam

visiting zaanse schans By Uber

Zaanse Schans is only 20km (12 miles) from Amsterdam, and there are a couple of ways to access it from the city. As we had an 8-month old at the time, we personally booked an uber from Amsterdam to Zaanse Schans to spend less time en route and more time enjoying the destination. The drive from Amsterdam to Zaanse Schans is 19 minutes and we had no issue getting an uber to or from Zaanse Schans.

visiting zaanse schans By bus or train

If you want to take public transit to Zaanse Schans, there is both a bus and train available that you pick up in Amsterdam Centraal. The bus is a roughly 20-minute journey and the train is 17-minutes. Both options takes you to the Zaanse Schans train station, which is a 15-minute walk from the center of Zaanse Schans.

visiting zaanse schans By bike

If you’re up for an adventure and the weather is nice, you can also bike directly from Amsterdam to Zaanse Schans. The ride is roughly an hour one way and there are bike paths along the windmills once in Zaanse Schans.

If you want a more personalized experience, or what to bundle Zaanse Schans with another destination like Keukenhof, we recommend booking of the guided tours below or at GetYourGuide.com.

how much time you’ll need in Zaanse Schans

You don’t really need a full day to see Zaanse Schans. I think even if you explored all the museums you might only need a half day to discover everything within the small neighborhood. Once we arrived in Zaanse Schans, we spent around two-hours wandering through the museums, shops and windmills.

what to discover at zaanse schans

windmills

The main reason to visit Zaanse Schans is to see the iconic windmills. There are around 19 working windmills, and upon arrival you’ll be greeted by their proud, winged structures lining the water. The windmills have different functions, and you can discover the spice windmill, the sawdust windmill, the flour windmill, and other industries, including the oldest windmill in the Netherlands.

You can enter these windmills, and even climb them to see them in operation and the views from above. Be warned that tickets are required to purchase for each individual windmill. You can order tickets for your entire visit here.

museums

As mentioned earlier in this post, Zaanse Schans has over 8 museums on site for exploring and discover Dutch culture and history. Below are the museums available during your visit:

• Zaans Museum and Verkade Experience

• Mill Museum

• Museum Zaanse Time

• Style room Noorderhuis Kalverringdijk

• Museum shop Albert Heijn

• Bakery Museum In the Gecroonde Duyvekater

• Jisper house

• Honey Breethuis

You can find more information on all the museums available here.

handicrafts at Zaanse Schans

At Zaanse Schans, you can witness how various crafts were and are made still today. There is a weaver’s house where you can see how sails were made, a “farm” area to try Dutch cheese, a clog workshop, where you can discover the history of the famous Dutch shoes and see how they’re made (and even purchase a pair for yourself) and more.

The craft areas make this an especially great destination for kids as they can witness these items being made first hand.

planning your visit to zaanse Schans

If you’re ready to plan your visit to Zaanse Schans, keep in mind that the paths at Zaanse Schans are not too large and it can become pretty tight and crowded. We visited on a Sunday in February and I was surprised by how busy everything was and how congested the paths are. I imagine most weekend days are really crowded, so if you want to enjoy visiting without the crowds, opt for a week day.

The Zaanse Schans website has a really helpful calendar that shows which days will be the busiest and what museums shops and workshops are open on that day, to help with your planning purposes.

STICK AROUND FOR A WHILE

Planning a trip to the Netherlands?

You can discover our Amsterdam travel guide, our day trip guide to Utrecht, and our favorite Airbnbs to book in Amsterdam for your accommodation needs.

FOLLOW ALONG

For all of our live travel content and BTS, be sure to follow us on social media. You’ll get to see what our life looks like as expats and get to virtually come along with us whenever we are exploring somewhere new.