How To Get From Amsterdam To Zaanse Schans, Netherlands

Zaanse Schans is located in the north of Amsterdam, along the river Zaan. This area is known as Zaanstreek.

Zaanse Schans consists of a row of old but still functioning windmills and green painted houses. This historic village is free to visit and very easy to reach. This place is best known for its collection of well-preserved historic windmills and houses.

The Zaanse Schans windmill village is a charming town on the Zaan River, considered a popular destination because of the working windmills this place is known for. This small town is very close to Amsterdam and if you’re visiting Amsterdam. you need to take some time out to get here and see its catchy windmills. More than just seeing, you can even take a trip inside these Zaanse Schans windmills!

There are 5 working Zaanse Schans windmills, a cocoa-making workshop, cheese-making workshop, wood shop and workshop, an Albert Heijn store, a chain of other shopping stores and a few museums in this town.

There is also a boat ride facility available. Some of the attractions are totally free but you have to pay for some.

History of Zaanse Schans, Netherlands

The name, Schans, was constructed by the Dutch people to fight off the Spanish during the 80-year war. The battle and the Zaanse victory of 1574 is memorised every year.

In the 17th century, thousands of windmills stood along the river to make flour and cocoa. There were also windmills that crushed seeds to make oil or sawed wood. No doubt why the Zaanstreek is also known to be the world’s first industrialised area.

Around the 1850s, steam engines took over the miller’s job, and by 1920, only about 20 windmills were there standing tall along the river. To save the last Dutch windmills, 13 mills were moved and saved immediately.

Along with the windmills, houses and barns were also moved to the Zaanse Schans.

Today, the open-air museum of Zaanse Schans with its many windmills and barns is now a popular tourist attraction in Holland where you can discover the history of Zaanse Schans, an industrial powerhouse in its time. Many tourists flock to Zaanse Schans from Amsterdam daily.

How to get from Amsterdam to Zaanse Schans, Netherlands

The Zaanse Schans neighbourhood is set in Zaandam, near Zaandijk, that is about 21 kilometres Northwest of Amsterdam.

The village, located on the eastern bank of the Zaan river, is also easily accessible from Amsterdam’s Centraal Station by transit. To get to Zaanse Schans from Amsterdam, it takes less than an hour by bus, train, or car. Fee-based parking is also available.

By Train:

From Amsterdam to Zaanse Schans, The nearest station is Koog-Zaandijk. The train from Amsterdam Central Station takes 17 minutes. Zaanse Schans is just a 15-minute walk away.

The tickets will cost you around 7€ return when you enter the station. You can go straight to the ticket area and tell the train conductor there that you want to go to Koog-Zaandijk station, and they will direct you to the respective platforms.

By Bus:

You can reach Zaanse Schans by taking bus #391 from Amsterdam Centraal station. The journey takes around 40mins and stops just outside the village.

Zaanse Schans tour from Amsterdam, Netherlands – 5 Must Dos

I took a day trip from Amsterdam to Zaanse Schans to watch what Zaanse Schans are famed for – the pretty windmills! These Zaanse Schans windmills cannot be missed when in Holland. They may look like a tiny speck from afar but my, were they immense!

After reaching there, you can see clearly marked signs towards the attraction town, making it super easy to find the windmills.

If you travel by train, when you get out of the train station, there is a machine to get free maps. I highly recommend picking one out to navigate the town and shops as well as pick out your favourite attractions to hone in on.

En route, I fell in love with the row of white tapestry houses.

This entire village is built for tourism and there are a lot of Zaanse Schans tour packages around if you’re not comfortable visiting on your own.

You can hear commentary from your audio guide during a guided coach journey and enjoy guided tours in each attractive village.

If you want to spend more time at each stop, I suggest you book a hop-on-hop-off bus that departs from Amsterdam and plan a full day here in Zaanse Schans.

Houses in Zaanse Schans

The scenic drive through the Dutch countryside, past lovely fields, green grazing lands, and winding canals is what you shouldn’t be missing when in Zaanse Schans.

If you haven’t purchased this while in Amsterdam, the IAmsterdam card offers discounts to attractions and museums around Amsterdam. As a bonus, it also includes free entry to the museum and some windmills in Zaanse Schans too!

1. Visit a cheese factory

Cheese-making and mustard-making demos are top highlights in Zaanse Schans. You can also visit a cheese factory to sample local dairy products, like the famous Edam cheese.

At the Dutch cheese shop, you can taste the many slices of cheese with a large variety of excellent mustards. The cheese shops here have a surprisingly wide range of cheese.

2. Admire the windmills

Admire a classic line-up of authentic  Zaanse Schans windmills, including the 5 famous Dutch Golden Age windmills, some of which used to serve as a sawmill and an oil mill.

3. Watch a shoemaker

Clog-making demonstrations is one other key experience, in addition to pewter-casting demos. Watch a shoemaker fashion wooden clogs using traditional methods and have a walk through the shoe shop. It’ll give you an interesting insight of how clogs are made nowadays with modern machinery. After this visit, I finally understood why clogs are so iconic in Netherlands.

For a fun photo memento, you can stop by a shoemaker’s shop and try on traditional Dutch clogs and costumes.

4. Wander around

I’m so amused at how all the houses here are green! This little area full of traditional Dutch houses makes me feel like I’m being transported into a Snow White & The 7 Dwarfs era, somehow. It looked so free of pollution, so serene. Even the air here smells purer.

Also, visit the workshops of local craftspeople and the souvenir shops with unique Dutch jewellery.

5. Munch on Dutch sweet treats

Rows and rows of candies!

When you get hungry, pop into a bakery for a taste of the sweet white duivekater bread.

Otherwise step inside Albert Heijn, the village’s oldest shop, to get a bag of candy.

I went into a shop selling all kinds of traditional Dutch candies and bought this gingerbread cookie coated with chocolate (picture below). I absolutely LOVE IT. I can’t seem to find it anywhere else. Does anyone know where I can find it? I can’t even manage to find the name of this cookie. The only thing the shopkeeper told me was that they are known as coins, distributed to children during the Christmas season as little treats.

You can also enjoy a boat trip or a canal cruise, another excellent way to see Zaanse Schans and the surrounding villages.

What to know before visiting Zaanse Schans, Netherlands

1. Wear comfortable shoes

You should wear comfortable shoes for exploring the outdoor area as the roads can be uneven.

2. Not fully wheelchair-accessible

Something I noticed personally and I want to mention here is that not all areas are wheelchair-accessible due to the historic nature of this area. Bridges and parking are still wheelchair-accessible though. Jonge Schaap is the only wheelchair-accessible windmill you will find here.

3. Some shops accept cards

Most shops and restaurants in the neighbourhood also accept credit and debit cards and the ATMs are located at the Zaanse Schans parking office.

When to go to Zaanse Schans, Netherlands

Even though there is so much to do in the Zaanse Schans no matter what time of year you choose, the fact remains that much of the village’s charm lies in its outdoor attractions, so the best time in my point of view is late spring and summer.

Since winters in the Netherlands are known to be rainy and windy, if you’re planning your visit in winter time, don’t forget to wear warm layers of clothes under a waterproof jacket.

This Zaanse Schans tour from Amsterdam was worth every sight and every experience.

If you are someone visiting this Netherlands for a short time and want to see everything that is iconic of the Dutch, then a trip to Zaanse Schans is worth it.