Private Half Day Tour to Zaanse Schans from Amsterdam

9.30: Pick up from your hotel in Amsterdam (or another for you convenient time)

10.00: We arrive at The Zaanse Schans. This is a unique area where people live and work, with museums, windmills, shops and old crafts. The site gives an excellent picture of the Zaanstreek in the 18th and 19th centuries. Walking between the traditional timber houses, warehouses and windmills at the Zaanse Schans, you get the feeling that you’re back in the long-gone past. We walk along the dike next to the river Zaan and enjoy the sight of multiple industrial windmills. As we were brought up in a windmill we can tell you everything about them.

10.15: A visit to the last paint mill in the world “De Kat”. It was originally built in 1781. It is an octagonal mill with a rotating cap and external gallery. Since its restoration and partial rebuild in 1960 it has been fitted out to grind couloring materials as pigments. After a explanation how the windmill works, you have the opportunity to climb up the windmill and make beautiful pictures on the external gallery..

10.45: A visit to the chocolate shop. It is a good chance that you can smell the chocolate already in the air when you enter the Zaan region. For over two centuries the Zaan region has been the largest cocoa industry in the world. Cocoa beans are processed and roasted over here. Do you want to try some local chocolate or make your own hot chocolate from local raw cocoa powder? This is the place to be!

11.00: Cheese tasting: At the cheese farm of Henry Willig we will have a Gouda and Edam cheese tasting. They are in the top 10 of the world cheesemakers. If you are a cheese lover… you are in cheese heaven! They have 30 flavors and design the cheeses specifically for travel.