Best of Dutch Countryside: Giethoorn, Windmills, Secret Villages
Description
Enjoy a full-day tour visiting The Most Famous Dutch Iconic villages of Zaanse Schans, Giethoorn and a beautiful Local Farm with an informative guide. Explore traditional windmills ,waterways, landscapes, clog factories and cheese makers up close. Take a boat ride through Geithoorn’s picture-postcard canals with views of the beautiful houses and gardens. You will also have a chance to choose to visit a Dutch dairy farm or a peaceful local fish village. *All tours are designed with great care; *small size groups to guarantee personal attention; *Professional, friendly and knowledgeable tour guides: *Have fun, make new friends world wide; * Plenty of free time for exploring on your own, easy, comfortable and relaxed, * Perfect for all members of the family;
Tour Options
Itinerary
Visit traditional wooden windmills, distinctive green wooden houses, view the typical Dutch landscapes of the polders, dikes. Your guide will give interesting facts about the village and some information related to landscapes, windmills and history. (30 minutes driving)
The wooden shoe workshop is located in Zaamse schans, Learn about the history of traditional Dutch clogs. Attend a workshop with demonstration of how clogs are made.you' ll have free time to explore the wooden shoe workshop.
The Cheese Farm is located in Zaamse schans,Attend a professional demonstration to know how cheese is made. In the farm, you will have chance to taste more than 25 different types of Dutch Cheese. Right after guided section is over in the farm, you' ll have free time to explore the village and the shops on your own.
At the farm, you will have a chance to taste fresh milk, and you can see the surrounded nature of farm land. More over, you can take memorable photos with Netherland’s productive cows. ( 30 minutes driving )
5 .Experience the "Venice of the Netherlands" where there are no main roads and all transport is on the water of the many canals. With an hour boat trip, you will sail across the old village and the Bovenwijde lake to explore unique thatch-roof cottages and arch-shape wooden bridges. After the boat trip, you' ll have free time to explore the village and the shops on your own, after than going bak Amsterdam ( 3 hours driving )
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
Reviews(109)
We had a great day and a great guide, Nico. This was one of my favorite experiences while in The Netherlands.
We had an excellent experience and our tour guide was knowledgeable and very friendly. Would recommend this tour. Teresa
Nico, our tour guide, was excellent and we would do another tour with him in a heartbeat! He gave us excellent instructions for meeting up with him, and he provided comfortable transportation and consideration of our preferences. He gave us a lot of insight into our destinations as well as general history and culture of the Netherlands. I appreciated that he gave us time on our own to explore along with thoughtful suggestions of how to spend our short pockets of free time. We will definitely seek him out during future trips, thank you Nico!
This excursion should not be offered during “off season” or should be changed in order to maximize the 9 hours. Our driver, Alex, got all flustered and turned around due to street closings in Amsterdam. We walked about 10 minutes to meet him because he couldn’t get to our hotel. The second group was picked up 30 minutes late because the driver had them walk to another location instead of getting them in front of their hotel. We drove past their hotel twice trying to get to the location he had them walk to. The first stop to Zaanse Schans was great. Windmills and cheese making demonstration. Long drive to Geithoorn was uneventful with no commentary as to what we were seeing enroute. The boat ride was nice, but the restaurant where the boat docked was closed. The town was pretty much closed. There were only a couple of restaurants open for lunch. It’s off season. I’m sure this tour would be wonderful during the season. Do not schedule this during the off season.
Thank you for sharing your feedback. First, we would like to clarify that on the day of your tour there was a major government conference in the center of Amsterdam, which caused unexpected road closures across large parts of the city center. These closures were announced with very short notice and were completely outside of our control. Because of these restrictions, our driver Alex tried to pick you up as close as possible to your hotel. The alternative meeting point was less than a 5-minute walk, not 10 minutes. Unfortunately, many streets around hotels were blocked, making it impossible for vehicles to stop directly in front of some locations. To avoid getting stuck in traffic and causing the tour to run much longer than planned, the guide also asked the second group to walk to a nearby meeting point. This was done only to keep the tour running smoothly and to save time for all guests, not to create inconvenience. Due to the same road closures, reaching that point was also more complicated than expected. Regarding the destinations, Zaanse Schans and Giethoorn are both open year-round and many guests actually enjoy visiting during the quieter months because it is less crowded. However, as you mentioned, winter/low season naturally means fewer restaurants and shops are open, which is normal in smaller villages. Guests choose the travel season themselves, and this is something we cannot control. We understand that the unexpected city closures and the quiet season may have affected your experience. However, these circumstances were temporary situations beyond our control, and our guide did his best to manage the situation and ensure the tour could still take place. For this reason, we feel that judging the entire tour negatively due to citywide security closures and seasonal factors is not entirely fair. We appreciate your visit and hope future travellers will still enjoy discovering places like Zaanse Schans and Giethoorn with us in any season.
Alex was knowledgeable and accommodating. Very pleasant. He even made sure we had wonderful music to listen to while on the long drive.
Our guide was the best. He had us in the right place at the right time for each of the tours. I would not hesitate to use him again.
Alex, our guide, arrived on the dot. Excellent tour and very informative, courteous, and knowledgeable guide. The tour is exactly as advertised and well worth the money spent.
Alex was great. I enjoyed the trip. It was Magical. I am glad we booked it. Netherlands culture and history is just so amazing . I enjoy it. This is a day long tour and worth every second! Next time I will plan to come with my kids.
An excellent way to see it all! The personal care and one on few allowed us the most informed day, Alex you’re the best! Paul & Giulia
Very knowledgeable and pleasant he was passionate about the area and of Amsterdam. The first stop was not of interest but the other two stops were great
