Amsterdam private tour to windmills, cheese farm and villages

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.