Private Guided Keukenhof Gardens and Zaanse Schans Tour
Description
We’ll visit The Zaanse Schans, a charming historic preservation village filled with traditional houses and iconic windmills. You’ll have the opportunity to explore the windmills, watch clogs being crafted, and enjoy a delightful cheese-tasting experience. Afterward, we’ll head to Keukenhof, the world’s most stunning spring garden! The gardens are open from March 20th to May 11th, 2025, and feature around 7 million spring flowers, including tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, and crocuses. Keep in mind that the flowers don’t all bloom at the same time, so the display may vary throughout the season.
Tour Options
Itinerary
You will be picked up from your hotel in Amsterdam.
We arrive at The Zaanse Schans. This is a preservation village with a variety of historical houses, warehouses, and working industrial windmills. It feels like you’re traveling back in time! You will experience how life was between the 18th and 19th centuries. We’ll enjoy a pleasant stroll passing the old wooden houses with their preserved original details, like ceremonial doors and carved lintels, taste local chocolate at the chocolate shop, concluding with a visit to a working windmill.
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.
Wooden shoe craft demonstration. Always wanted to know how a clog is being made? Join the wooden shoe craft demonstration and find out. In the clog museum we will tell you everything about clogs. You can even try or buy a pair of wooden shoes!
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.
Transfer
Visit the most beautiful spring garden in the world! We’ll spend two hours here to enjoy all the springflowers. Lunchtime included.
Return to your hotel
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
Reviews(7)
Had an awesome day visiting windmills and viewing tulips with Esther! She had great insight into how windmills work and millers operate, being a miller’s daughter herself (hence Windmill Girl!). She also knew all the best photo spots and took great photos! Super friendly and generous, too, with great taste in music. We had a super fun day with her!
Thank you so much Terry! It was great having you and your family! I m glad you enjoyed! Warm regards, Esther
Esther was friendly, informative, and a pleasure to spend the day with. She took good care of us, sharing interesting background and facts about Amsterdam (and the Netherlands), guiding us through Zaanse Schans, and ensuring that we stopped at every possible scenic tulip field location along the way to Keukenhof. Added bonus, she'll capture your photos during the tour and share them with you at the end. Thank you Esther!
Thank you Melissa! I am glad we could make some beautyfull pictures in the Tulip Fields! Lovely memories! Warm regards, Esther
This tour is well paced- just the right amount of time at each stop. Esther was engaging and provided so many interesting details for contact- definitely a highlight of our trip. We HIGHLY recommend this tour!
Thank you for joining Kimberly en Kirk! What a lovely day we had together exploring the tulip fields and windmills. I am so glad we could check this off your bucket list! Warm regards, Esther
Incredible trip! Esther was fun, friendly and informative. Loved the local knowledge and ties to the area. Early in flower season she made sure we saw as much as possible, just one among many efforts made to see that we had an exceptional day. Highly recommend, well worth the money filled with great memories.
Thank you Tara, for your lovely review. I truly enjoyed our day together with your daughter, and I am so happy we found some blooming tulip fields! Wishing you a wonderful time in London, and hope to see you again! Warm regards, Esther
Our guide’s name was Esther and she is a native of Nederland and actually grew up in a working windmill that her parents still own and operate today. Bring a local means that she has additional information and unique perspectives to share as you go from place to place. We did the windmill and tulip tour. It was March 21st so just a bit too early to see the tulips in bloom. We did still see fields of yellow daffodils which were pretty, but the tour was quite expensive and we were a bit disappointed that the tulip farm didn’t offer a “low season” rate or at least throw in lunch or something. I would definitely recommend hiring Esther as your guide, but if you’re going to see the tulips, she tells us that mid-April until end of May is the best time to go.
Thank you for your lovely review David and Erica. I truly enjoyed our day together. The Keukenhof gardens are only open for seven weeks a year, and it all depends on Mother Nature what will be in bloom during that time. Due to last week’s night frost, nature is running a little behind schedule. I’m so glad you enjoyed the daffodils! Hopefully, we’ll meet again! Warm regards Esther
This was absolutely one of the best things I’ve ever done. Esther was THE BEST!! Dutch charm and beauty on all levels. Esther is so professional and at the same time so easy to talk. We will be back.
Thank you so much! I loved our beautiful day together and hope to see you back again!
Had such a great time on our day trip from Amsterdam. We learned a lot and Esther was passionate and a fantastic guide. I would gladly recommend them— you will have a blast.
Thank you so much Jordan! Hope to see you again!
