Zaanse Schans Windmill Tours

The windmills of the Zaanse Schans are the reason most people come to this open-air museum on the Zaan river, just north of Amsterdam, and there are several ways to see them. The village is free to enter, and you can walk between the mills and the neighbouring workshops at your own pace, but a tour, whether on foot or by boat, adds context. Roughly ten windmills stand along the water, and each did a different job in the industrial life of the Zaan region, which was one of the first great industrial areas of Europe.

The mills worked as machines. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, hundreds of windmills lined the Zaan, and they ground grain and spices, pressed oil from seeds, sawed timber for the shipyards, made paper and ground pigments for paint and chalk. Each type had its own construction, and a visit shows the differences: oil mills have heavy wooden presses driven by cams, sawmills have a frame saw that goes up and down, and paint mills use stones to grind pigments. A few of the surviving mills can be entered, and a miller will explain how they work and sometimes demonstrate the machinery, with the sound of creaking timbers and the smell of seeds and wood. Tickets for the mills are bought separately, and the opening times depend on the wind and the season.

Boat tours show the mills from the water, which is the way they were meant to be seen, since the river was the main highway for goods. Public cruises run on the Zaan with commentary about the mills and the surrounding architecture, usually taking about half an hour, and they go past the line of mills and the green wooden houses on the bank. Private cruises can be arranged for groups for longer periods, and there are special trips with meals or drinks, or seasonal flower cruises on a historic boat. Booking ahead is advisable in summer, and conditions can affect sailings, so check the cancellation terms.

On land, visitors can combine the mills with the clog workshop, the cheese farm, the Zaans Museum and the Zaans Houten Huis, a wooden house in traditional style, and there are walking routes through the village and along the river. The Zaanse Schans is about twenty minutes from Amsterdam by train and a short walk from the station, and it is open every day, though individual attractions keep their own hours.

The tours suit families, photographers and visitors with limited time who want to see classic Dutch scenes. Go early or late in the day to avoid the crowds, and allow two to three hours.