Doing some of the best excursions from Amsterdam is one of the possibilities you should consider if you are going to visit the Dutch capital. The places to see in Amsterdam will give you 2 or 3 days, so if you have an extra day, it’s worth visiting one of the many places of interest that are located in the vicinity.
These are the 4 best excursions from Amsterdam that we have done.
THE BEST 1-DAY EXCURSIONS FROM AMSTERDAM
Visiting Zaanse Schans, the windmill village of the Netherlands, is one of the best excursions from Amsterdam. And also, of the easiest to carry out, since this population is located to little less than thirty minutes of train of the capital.
In Zaanse Schans we can visit the bucolic landscape that we all associate with the Netherlands. That is to say, meadows, streams, sheep, farms and, above all, windmills. Many windmills, because in Zaanse Schans have been preserved more than a dozen of them. They are just a small part of the hundreds who populated the Zaandam region before the advent of electricity.
Even now we can visit several mills that are still performing their functions. Subject to payment, of course. These are the last reminiscences of a past to which we do not want to turn the page definitively. Some of them are dedicated to making oils; another has become a sawmill; and one more has been manufacturing paints with natural pigments. The truth is that it is worth entering them, to know the mechanism of operation.
On this excursion from Amsterdam you can also visit the clock museum, a cheese farm and a craft clogs factory.
MARKEN AND VOLENDAM, THE MOST POPULAR EXCURSION FROM AMSTERDAM
Another of the best excursions from Amsterdam is the one that allows to know the bucolic villages of Marken and Volendam. This is the most popular tour from Amsterdam. You can get here by public transport, by bus. However, if you opt for an excursion organized in Spanish (at a very good price) you will also get to know Zaanse Schans, the little village of the mills I told you about, during the same day.
Marken and Volendam are two small villages linked by ferry (and also by bus) on the banks of the Markermeer, an artificial lake with a rectangular morphology that is separated from another lake, the Ijsselmeer, by a dike.
These little villages are an ideal excursion from Amsterdam, as they allow you to enjoy two very bucolic enclaves, with the inevitable streams, drawbridges, farms, wooden houses and even a few mills. In these two enclaves you can also enjoy the cuisine of the region, based on fish. The truth is if it’s the most popular of the Amsterdam excursions it’s for a reason, so if you can combine it with a visit to Zaanse Schans I’m sure it’s ideal.
KEUKENHOFF, THE TULIP GARDEN OF AMSTERDAM
The third of the best excursions from Amsterdam is actually a seasonal excursion. The Keukenhof is a famous and beautiful park located not many kilometers from Amsterdam, which is known for the millions of tulips that are cultivated there year after year. Tulips of dozens of different colors and species, decorating many flowerbeds in a spectacle of frankly fascinating color.
The only problem is that if you want to visit the Keukenhof you will have to travel to Amsterdam during the flowering months in spring. The Keukenhof is generally open from mid-March to early May.
Keukenhof Park has been one of the spring stars in the Netherlands since it first opened its doors in 1950. Since then, the design of the flowerbeds is dedicated to something related to Dutch culture. In order for everything to be ready in March, work has begun many months earlier. Already in September, for example, the 7 million bulbs needed for flowering begin to be planted.
In addition to the tulips, true stars of the Keukenhof, in this park you can enjoy other types of flowers. For example, the dozens of species of orchids exhibited in the Beatriz Pavilion.
ALKMAAR AND THE MOST BEAUTIFUL CHEESE MARKET IN HOLLAND
You know that Holland is a cheese country. Of these, the Gouda and Edam varieties are two of the best known. With this premise, it is not uncommon for one of the best excursions from Amsterdam to refer to the world of cheese. Specifically, to one of the weekly cheese markets held during the summer months.
The best of them all is, without a doubt, the Alkmaar cheese market. It is held every Friday, between April and the end of September, from 10.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. You don’t come here to buy cheeses in retail (which, of course, you can also buy). In Alkmaar we come to know what has been, for centuries, the purchase and sale of cheese wholesale. Gouda cheesemakers from the region bring their cheeses here, which will be bought wholesale by retailers. The ritual celebrated right in front of the Alkmaar town hall is the most folkloric, with sellers and buyers dressed in old-fashioned costumes and with a tremendous racking of cheeses that go from here to there, being weighed in the Waag or public balance of the city and being tested by potential buyers before being purchased. To do this, a small circular hole is drilled in one of the pieces of the batch.
The truth is that visiting Alkmaar is something you can’t miss if you’re in the region on a Friday morning during the summer months.
And here’s a list of the 4 best one-day excursions from Amsterdam. As I say, if you’re going to visit Holland, don’t settle for its capital. Spend at least a couple of days visiting his surroundings. You won’t regret it.
And here’s a list of the 4 best one-day excursions from Amsterdam. As I say, if you’re going to visit Holland, don’t settle for its capital. Spend at least a couple of days visiting his surroundings. You won’t regret it.
