Amsterdam private tour to windmills, cheese farm and villages
Description
Experience Holland with Holland Windmills, our small and local tour company. We are born and raised here and love to show you the best places during your holiday in Holland. We also love telling you stories about Holland! See famous windmills, taste cheese, try wooden shoes and walk through scenic villages. We know the best sights, what to visit and where to eat. Let us take you places where the crowds don't go and explore Holland at your own pace. Cheaper than a taxi, better than a big group tour and a lot more comfortable than organizing everything on your own. Ideal for couples, families and friends!
Tour Options
Itinerary
Here we have the opportunity to visit the best windmills in Holland. In the Seventeenth Century the Zaanse Schans was the biggest industrial area in the world. A Dutch windmill basically was a little factory. Each windmill was custom build for producing various products like paint, cooking oil, paper and wood. On the bank of the river Zaan hundreds of windmills were grinding, pounding, sawing and crushing. Products of the Zaanse Schans were exported all over the world. The dozen windmills on the Zaanse Schans are still fully operational. On a good windy day we’ll see them turning at full speed. Entrance to one of the windmills is included in this tour.
The village of Edam lies on a dike next to a big fresh water lake. Edam is famous for cheese making. It’s also a good place to try some Dutch seafood, like herring.
At this family owned cheese farm they tell you everything you always wanted to know about cheese and wooden shoes. Of course there is a large variety of cheeses to taste from as well as fruit whine and typical Dutch cookies and you can buy your favorite cheese, clogs and all kinds of souvenirs.
Monnickendam is one of the oldest towns in Holland and incredibly beautiful. We drive through the old center passing the old church with it’s amazing bell tower and watch typical Dutch vessels in the harbor. Monnickendam is a nice place to have lunch.
In the centre of Waterland is the village of Broek. Although it's only a fifteen minutes drive from Amsterdam, Broek in Waterland feels completely different from the cosmopolitan city. Most of the old houses, farms and even the church were made out of wood. Stone buildings were too heavy for the soft soil. There are still many beautiful large wooden houses with gardens full of flowers. It’s very peaceful and quiet and we’re pretty much the only touroperator that goes there because large busses with tourists are not even welcome.
Waterland is called the wetlands of Amsterdam, with old villages, fields and hundreds of ditches. It’s a landscape with narrow waterways called ‘sloten’, meadows, reeds, cows, sheep, horses and birds, farms and church towers on the horizon. This area is mostly peatland and also full of lakes. The landscape does not get more Dutch than this anywhere else.
Highlights
What's included
Pickup Locations & Times
Pick up time is 9:00am. When you want to start the tour at a different time feel free to ask. We pick up from any hotel, Airbnb address or location in Amsterdam within a radius of 6 miles (10 kilometers) from the city center. For a pickup (and/or return) from Schiphol Amsterdam Airport or another location outside the 6 miles radius we charge €50,- cash payment on the day itself. That is because the airport is 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the city center so it’s costing us extra time and we pay over 2 euros per liter gasoline. Please note: after you have made a booking it is not possible to increase the amount of passengers without extra costs!
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Service animals allowed
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
Reviews(270)
Philip our guide was very friendly and knowledgeable. He clearly loves his job. I very much appreciated the history and engagement throughout the day. I highly recommend
Thanks Shaun! It do love my job if I get guests like you and your daughter. Wonderful day!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Highly recommend this private tour! Thank you, Teun, for an amazing day exploring the windmills, cheese farm, and beautiful villages. Everything was perfectly organized, and having a private tour made the experience so relaxed and enjoyable. Five stars all the way!
Hi Jamie, Thanks a lot for this fantastic review. It was a great pleasure to show you and Deborah around and wish you both a lovely sea cruise. Kind regards, Teun Holland Windmills (touroperator)
Great cultural experience. Knowledgeable, helpful, pleasant guide. Bucket list item. Perfect for travelers of any age.
Thank you so much for this very kind and positive review! Kind regards, Holland Windmills
Fantastic tour guide, Wind mills history, cheese farm, great food. Got to see churches, towns and all the history to go along with it.
Thank you Mark! Very glad you liked it. Safe sailing, Philip
The tour itself was excellent, our tour guide Phillip was very knowledgeable, especially about the windmills, he even arranged for us to go up into a mill that nobdy else was allowed to go in. He even went out of the way to pick up one of our grou that at the airport that did not come on his original flight. The only reason I gave it a 4 instead of 5 is because he does not seem to like Americans and had a lot of snarky comments about them.
Thank you, Kathi! My First 4 star review!!! No worries, I love Americans. I am just a snarky sort of person. Just ask my Russian friends :) or for that matter, everybody else! Very glad to be of service and happy to hear you enjoyed the tour!
This was a private tour. Just 3 of us and our driver/guide. It was wonderful with a hotel pickup. We learned so much and could make any extra stop we wanted to for photos or more photos. No rush, personal, comfortable, fun, educational and our guide/driver Philippe was so personable and a wealth of knowledge. He made the day extra special and a great experience.
Thanks for joining me! It was a bit of a drive but I am glad we managed to visit both Germany and Belgium. Safe travels, Brgds, Philip
Philip was great! We had such a good day, and even our teenagers stayed engaged and interested. We had a behind the scenes tour of the windmills, and spent the rest of the day seeing the countryside.
Thank you! I’m very glad you liked it as much as I did. Safe travels, Brgds, Philip
We booked multiple tours while visiting Amsterdam and this tour was a BIG hit with our group. Phillip was entertaining and knowledgeable. He took us off the beaten path and we thoroughly enjoyed touring with him and highly recommend this tour!
Thank you! I very much enjoyed touring with your group too. Safe travels, Brgds, Philip
My husband and I had the most amazing experience touring the Holland windmills and surrounding countryside with Teun. Teun is a wealth of knowledge and didn’t hesitate to answer any questions we had. In addition to touring the windmills, we visited several cute small towns outside of Amsterdam and ate lunch at a lovely restaurant near a beautiful marina. We visited a cheese farm where they also demonstrated how wooden clogs are made, but the real treat was touring a small local family dairy farm with baby cows! Thanks Teun for making our tour of Holland one we will always cherish!
Very thankful for this great review and so glad to have provided you with a cherished memory! Also very good to know you’re safe back home and happily reunited with your daughters and the pets. Wish you alll the best and hope to see you again. Kind regards, Teun Holland Windmills
This was such a great way to see the historic windmills, the countryside, small towns and visit a cheese factory and clog making demonstration in a private schedule. Totally stress free and our guide Teun was friendly, knowledgeable, good driver and flexible with our time as we were running a bit late. Such a great way to experience some of the most touristic sights without being coralled in a big bus. Very satisfied and would highly recommend this for anyone looking for a private experience.
Hi YooJin, Thank you very much for the kind and positive review and for your help translating for your father. Could not have asked for a better help and it was a great joy to have you and your parents as my guests. Wish you all the best! Kind regards, Teun Holland Windmills
