Amsterdam Highlights & Zaanse Schans

Itinerary
This is a typical itinerary for this product

Stop At: Zaanse Schans, Schansend 1, 1509 AW Zaandam The Netherlands

Meet your guide and driver outside the hotel.

Our escapade to wind, cheese and clogs starts with a wonderful scenic countryside drive out of Amsterdam over the typically Dutch landscape of polders.

The windmill village Zaanse Schans is an open air museum that houses a collection of working windmills, wooden houses, barns and shops dating back to the 18th and 19th century. The Zaanse Schans is one of the popular tourist attractions of the Netherlands. It houses seven museums: The Weavers House, the Cooperage, the Jisper House, Zaan Time Museum, Albert Heijn Museumshop, Bakery Museum.

Once by the green facades of Zaanse Schans windmill village, we will observe a clog-makers workshop and visit a working windmill.

Duration: 3 hours

Stop At: Catharina Hoeve Cheese Farm, Zeilenmakerspad 5, 1509 BZ Zaandam The Netherlands

Amsterdam and its surroundings preserved the centuries-old tradition of cheesemaking. Every day these cows are being milked twice, and every morning, the farmer starts the production of cheese using the milk of the previous evening and from the early morning. There, you will watch and learn how the milk turns into cheese, then taste some already-made cheese.

After some free time enjoying the charming riverside setting, we will make our way back to the Dutch capital city.

Duration: 1 hour

Stop At: Herengracht, Amsterdam The Netherlands

As we return to Amsterdam, we will discover the historical canal belt and town center full of culture and stunning architecture.

Amsterdam has more than one hundred kilometers of canals, about 90 islands and 1,500 bridges. The three main canals, Herengracht, Prinsengracht, and Keizersgracht, dug in the 17th century during the Dutch Golden Age, form concentric belts around the city, known as the Grachtengordel. The most exciting feature of the canals are the houseboats. By origin houseboats were a way to deal with the Amsterdam housing shortage, however, nowadays they are still in high demand. Some of the houseboats once were cargo vessels and are now converted into houseboats, other boats were built specifically for this purpose. In Amsterdam you find these houseboats along the canals and the Amstel river and in the former Amsterdam docklands.

Duration: 1 hour

Stop At: Dam Square, Amsterdam The Netherlands

Dam Square is a town square in Amsterdam. Its notable buildings and frequent events make it one of the most well-known and important locations in the city and the country. On the west end of the square is the Royal Palace, formerly a city hall. Beside it are the 15th-century Gothic Nieuwe Kerk (New Church) and the Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum. The National Monument, a white stone pillar erected in 1956 to memorialize the victims of World War II, can be found on the opposite side of the square. Also overlooking the plaza is the upscale department store De Bijenkorf. These various attractions have turned the Dam into a tourist zone.

Duration: 30 minutes

Stop At: Centraal Station, Stationsplein 9, 1012 AB Amsterdam The Netherlands

We will pass the many museums at the museum district and experience the unique atmosphere of Amsterdam before returning to your hotel or cruise port.

Amsterdam Centraal is the largest railway station of Amsterdam. It was designed by Dutch architect Pierre Cuypers, who is also known for his design of the Rijksmuseum, and first opened in 1889. It features a Gothic/Renaissance Revival style building and a cast iron platform roof spanning approximately 40 metres. It's the main transportation hub of the city, linking the railway, the metro of Amsterdam and the city buses.

The tour ends with a return transfer to your cruise ship.

Duration: 30 minutes