Home > Amsterdam > Small-Group Zaanse Schans Half-Day Tour from Amsterdam
USD $40.00
Small-Group Zaanse Schans Half-Day Tour from Amsterdam
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Take a 3-hour half-day tour to the countryside and explore Zaanse Schans in a small group. See how a clog maker is making the famous Dutch wooden shoe, visit a cheese farm and a working windmill. Spend half a day outside Amsterdam and enrich your trip by touring the Dutch countryside.
Start from Amsterdam's city center, and visit the famous village of Zaanse Schans with your local guide. Enjoy a guided tour of this unique little town with its traditional crafts, typical Green wooden houses and of the majestic windmills of course.
Visit a clog maker and see how the traditional Dutch wooden shoe is being made as well as a cheese farm and traditional crafts. Last but not least, you will also visit an industrial windmill (entrance fee included in your ticket). Experience the power of those windmills, which are fine little factories on its own.
Enjoy spending a half-day outside of Amsterdam to see Holland's countryside. At the end of your Zaanse Schans tour, your guide will bring you back to Amsterdam.
GREAT TOUR — highly recommend. We were only three persons on the tour, with an extremely knowledgeable and friendly guide. Went at a slow pace to accommodate the two ladies over age 70. Everything we wanted from the tour was met.
Review by: Rosemar C, December 2017
best one... planning to visit again in Amsterdam...
Review by: mikeandjune, November 2017
We were picked up from the meeting spot in the middle of Amsterdam and driven to Zaanse Schans which is only about 30 minutes away. Very pretty place , went through a windmill and sat through a cheese tasting, saw some clogs being made which was really very good to watch. Well worth a visit._br/_ The guide was very nice but didn't keep everyone together and very difficult to hear, he also needs to sharpen up his driving skills but all in all it was a great trip
Review by: Jena R, November 2017
Good experience for the money! Guide knew what he was talking about.
Review by: Martin S, October 2017
This tour was excellent. Our tour guide was highly knowledgeable, as he was from the area. We enjoyed watching the wooden shoe demonstration and seeing the windmills. Lovely little place.
Review by: Tinajoe53, October 2017
Quick tour of famous working windmills. Way too much sales pitch. The clog maker was bored to death during his presentation, and should be replaced. The cheese hostess quoted each sentence as if she was reading. They charged for samples of got chocolate. But the windmills and green homes are wonderful. The pewter lady was quite interesting as well. Great cheese samples also!
Review by: yeeyin, October 2017
The Zaanse Schans trip is excellent, the local guide provide us the most insightful story about the village. It is really a small group, only 9 of us and all of us have different tour package. I chosen the 3 hour package which only visit the Zaanse Schans in the morning and back to Amsterdam by 2pm which allowed us to have more time in Amsterdam. This is highly recommended for the price and arrangement. By the way, due to the traffic, they come to pick us up a bit late, they even wait for another 5 minute for the missing guest.
Review by: roban.sinead, October 2017
Great trip. Really recommend! There were 9 people on my tour. Our guide Bart was very knowledgeable and super organized. I had the perfect amount of time to explore on this tour, then get back into central Amsterdam for a full day of activities there.
Review by: Petra E, October 2017
This trip was amazing. Ray our bus driver was fantastic he also took us back by boat. Ingrid was our tour guide she was so knowledgeable and fun. I would definitely recommend this tour .
Review by: lmatthewscma, October 2017
Really enjoyed this tour. Zaanse Schanz is a beautiful area. Very informative and friendly guide who had personal knowledge of the area. Would definitely recommend this tour.
Review by: vkdipaolo, September 2017
Great tour! Our tour guide was very knowledgeable, on the ride there we saw much of the countryside and Zaanse Schans was wonderful to see and experience.
Review by: Olga S, September 2017
This was a great tour! The windmills are fascinating--especially the paint mill--but we really liked seeing the clogs being made too. The houses are beautiful and we were able to go inside one of them and learn even more about the culture of the Netherlands. Highly recommend this quick tour!!!!
Review by: Hanna G, September 2017
Highly recommended. I traveled alone and joined a group we were only 7 in the van. _br/_ Bart is such an enthusiastic and knowledgeable tour guide. Well worth your visit.
Review by: Amy O, September 2017
A good tour with lots to learn, but also felt a lot of pressure to buy things from the shops.
Review by: Marilyn S, September 2017
We loved it.
Review by: Miklós F, September 2017
Nice guide and travel mates a family of four in a small van. Spectacular destination, interesting presentations. Highly recommended!
Review by: Xavier H, August 2017
As expected! Tour was quick, got to see the main sights of Zaanse Schans, and the group was small so you don't feel like a cow being herded. One downside was the van, we were stuck in backward seats in a small mini-van which caused us some motion-sickness until the highway.
Review by: Lisa D, August 2017
This is a great way to see a taste of Amsterdam! The guide was great. I had my elderly mother with us and our guide was beyond patient. Thank you for all the history. Don't hesitate to take this tour!!
Review by: Chad J, August 2017
Great Tour, small group and a very personal experience with a great guide that was in character throughout the experience.
Review by: Niall R, August 2017
The team were wonderful we were met at the pre-arranged place and were promptly put into a minicab and taken to the destination. Ou tour guide was local to the area and very knowledgeable. The tour itself was enjoyable and even though it was raining as we climbed one of the windmills it didn't dampen our spirits. The clog making was a really interesting and skilled process. Although i must say the highlight aside from feeding the goats was the exquisite cheese making shop we almost exceeded our baggage allowance coming back with the amount of various flavours of gouda bought._br/_ All in all a really well planned and ran trip, would advise anyone who wants to briefly get away from the bustle of the city and get an insight into traditional rural Dutch life to give this one a go.
Review by: John S, August 2017
Another excellent tour of the clog factory, cheese factory and the old windmills all in the same area that has been preserved for future generations. Also Albert Heins original store.
Review by: Nicola D, August 2017
This tour is not to be missed! Our tour guide Bart was very knowledgeable, funny and engaging. The village is beautiful and well worth the visit. I would definitely recommend this tour.
Review by: Dorothy Anne C. M, August 2017
This tour was very nice, enjoying the visit to a little Dutch village which included actually seeing inside one of the occupied homes escorted by our delightful guide who was dressed in period attire. She brought us through the entire village and general store where we saw all the wares necessary for daily living in the old days - dry goods, meats, beverages and ales, cheeses, beans and flours and breads, sweets, etc. We visited a working windmill, the last of the original wooden ones. The gift ship featured a most interesting display of wooden shoes actually used in the past for people and animals, and one of the locals gave an interesting demonstration of creating wooden shoes on machines of old. It was amazing how the blocks of wood used to make the shoes are so wet, making it necessary for the shoes to dry before they're ready to wear. The scenery was beautiful as well as interesting.
Review by: Kelly, August 2017
We arrived at the meeting point in front of the hotel in plenty of time, but the appointed time came and went... after several calls from the bellman at the hotel, Bart, our guide finally showed up 30 minutes late. Turns out this was a private tour, just the 2 of us, so that allowed us flexibility to take our time admiring the windmills at the beautiful Zaanse Sachans village. We saw a working windmill crushing rocks, a cheese making demonstration and a workman demonstrating how to make a wooden clog. This was a very interesting heritage society presentation of a traditional working village. Bart turned us over to his father, the owner of the tour company, for a ride back to the city, where we requested to be dropped off at the Rijkesmuseum - no problem, if I can find it. A good morning, i recommend it.
Review by: catherine s, August 2017
We really enjoyed this trip. It leaves from a very central, easy to find location and the guide was very punctual. We were on our way within five minutes of meeting up and Zaanse Schans was a quick 20-minute journey. Bart was an excellent guide, he had lots of information which made the trip very interesting to us. The village itself is beautiful with so many photo opportunities. So much can be fitted into such a short trip, including shopping for souvenirs!! These were very reasonably priced, to our surprise. I would definitely recommend this small group tour to anyone on a short stay in Amsterdam. The one thing I wasn't keen on was the fact that when I read about this tour on Viator it didn't give a start time. I took a chance anyway hoping it wouldn't be very early in the morning. All worked out fine as it was a 10 am start. This, however, wasn't apparent until I printed my confirmation after paying. I would stress that this is not the fault of Bart and Zaan tours as I have since been on their website and the start time is listed there before payment is requested.
Review by: Judith K, June 2017
Our guide was great, able to give a 'local's' story and focus on highlights of the village.
Review by: Miroslava V, June 2017
Nice and interesting , a chance to understand duch living! Friendly and helpfull guide. Don and #39;t miss it !
Review by: Steven T, June 2017
We had a great day with Bart. He met us at the prearranged location right on time. There were only four people on this tour which made it really enjoyable. Bart provided a lot of interesting information about the history of the area. When we went into the cheese workshop and the wooden shoe workshop, he was able to get someone to demonstrate the process involved in making each thing. We had front row seats for both demonstrations. Going inside the windmill was the highlight for me. It was amazing to see the mechanics of how it operated. At the end of the tour, Bart dropped us off at Dam Square which was the location for our Free Walking Tour. I would definitely recommend the small group tour as it made it much more personable and time efficient.
Review by: Susan O, June 2017
Nice 1/2 day tour with a smallish group we had about 10/12. The village in Zaanse Schans is really quaint and picturesque and really shouldn't be missed on a visit to Amsterdam. We could have spend more time to see it all but covered most of it. Our guide and driver Marcus was great and we learned a lot about the history and workings of the windmills, clog and cheese making. Was fun for the kids in the group too. Marcus was nice enough to drop us off at the museum at the end.
Review by: JS, June 2017
Enjoyed every bit. The guide was very professional and I could feel safe in a strange land.
Review by: lgordon60, June 2017
My family and I had a thoroughly enjoyable tour of Zaanse Schans, a beautiful and historic community. The Dutch windmills were fascinating. Bart was our guide for the tour. He was very knowledgeable, patient, and had a great sense of humor! We enjoyed learning about clog making and loved the cheese sampling!
Review by: mcmanusbob, June 2017
We had the opportunity to join Bart for this tour. It is not only beautiful, a trip through history, but you will have a guide with deep knowledge of the area. I highly recommend the time to take this tour with this tour group.
Review by: liv2jump16, May 2017
Bart was a knowlegable and enthusiastic tour guide. We really enjoyed this tour!
Review by: Marsha R, May 2017
Amazing experience! A step back into time! We were on short schedule in Amsterdam, but wanted to see countryside and windmills, so booked this tour. Bart, our driver and guide arrived on time, and it was just four of us. A 30 minute drive out of the city. Highly recommend! A small group tour is only way to go and Bart actually lives in this small town and is an expert guide - we stopped at each windmill and he gave us the history and explained the workings of the windmills. We got to climb up into the top of the mill and see the inner gear workings. The wind kicked up and we saw the 'miller' go up and adjust the sails - which was pretty cool. Much to do here - cacoa mill, the mill where limestone is ground to make paint, a lumber mill, visited the cheese shop and got to sample and purchase. He did not rush us and was very patient. This tour is purely educational - a step back into time where history comes alive. Tour was a trip highlight and I highly recommend Bart! He was very flexible and gave us exactly what we were looking for - don't miss this tour!
Review by: Katherine S, April 2017
Great tour- perfect amount of time and our guide was very knowledgeable about the area! Highly recommend!
Review by: RENJU J, April 2017
Small group and friendly guide Bart. Zaanse is a must see place if you enjoy history
Review by: Ariana J, April 2017
beautiful city, our guide was awesome and knowledgeable, explain the history of the city and the all the mills, and museums to perfection. I would recommend this tour 100!
Review by: Fotini P, March 2017
Bart was a wonderful tour guide. made us feel so welcome to Holland, like we were hanging out with a friend. He never missed a beat and not only gave us the expected info and experience, but all his local insider stories and info, as well. We got waaaaaaaay more than our money's worth with this tour. We have raved about this tour to everyone one we know. It's the top 1 tour you MUST take when visiting Amsterdam.
Review by: Claudio D, March 2017
In spite of an awful day weather-wise, our guide Bart was prompt and cheerful! He is from the area so takes pride in the region and is very knowledgeable. It was a wonderful day out of the city and being dropped off closer to our flat in the rain and wind was very much appreciated.
Review by: Santina T, February 2017
Best Tour! If your looking for a short and very informative tour this is it. Bart was very informative and the best tour guide. We toured the windmills, learned about how to make chocolate, clogs, and learned much about the function of windmills. Bart definitely knows his history. I would recommend to anyone. Thank you Bart!
Review by: bruce z, February 2017
personal tour with owner of company. Zaan tours. Nice young man that provided great tour. Its just a tour of the small town but you will see an actual working windmill, cheese making, and wooden shoe making. A great way to get a taste of country of Nether for a short time.
Review by: Kevin C, February 2017
Excellent tour. Guide's family has lived in the area for many generations. Very knowledgeable. I was the only booking that day and instead of cancel the guide took me on what was a private tour.
Review by: Sally W, February 2017
We arrived at the meeting point a little early but our tour leader, Bart, was already there waiting for us. We expected a small group but it was in fact just the 2 of us so we had a private tour.
Review by: engelhardtj, February 2017
I booked this tour for myself and I would highly recommend it! The windmills are absolutely amazing! I ended up being the only person on the tour so I got my own private guide for the day. Bart from Zaan Tours was so knowledgeable about the area and was a wonderful guide!
Review by: Erue, February 2017
Ended up having a informative private tour for under $40. What an experience to visit another beautiful UNESCO site outside of Amsterdam. Everything went as expected and beyond... food, entertainment, scenery, people, created for an unforgettable adventure!
Review by: Edryan Rivel G, November 2016
I have experienced tours being cancelled due to lack of bookings, but Bart and Zaan tours are just amazing. I booked for this small group tour, and turns out I'm the only one in it. Bart did not cancel, and he proceeded with the tour. This is the highlight of my Amsterdam trip. This tour is highly recommended, and Bart is more than highly recommended. :
Review by: newtownsqkitty, October 2016
We met our tour guide Bart and his associate Ray in the morning. The group took two vans and we were the only two in Ray's van, he pointed out a lot of interesting things along the way. We arrived at Zaanse Scchans parking lot and met with Bart and the the other group Bart led us on a tour of this Unesco site and provided historical information and insight. He was able to answer any questions that popped up. We weren't aware you could take a boat ride back to Zaandam so we opted to pay a little more and do that. Ray piloted us there and we had lunch in Zaandam then met Bart for the ride back to town. Great tour!
Review by: Lasitha G, October 2016
It was a very nice tour considering the limited time limit. If you are a traveler on a tight schedule this is the one for you. Also must mention that Bart our tour guide was excellent in all aspects. Would highly recommend this to anyone.
Review by: Melsa, September 2016
Fantastic tour with Bart everything we had hoped for. Good size vehicle comfortable ride. Once at the site Bart was very knowledgeable. He knows the different trades people and they seem to come and speak with his group promptly. Really enjoyed our visit and glad we booked this tour.
Review by: Rahul O, September 2016
A different flavor of Amsterdam. I enjoyed the sights.
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