Amsterdam side trips

The first time I went to Amsterdam way back in Dec/Jan 2014, I visited both places on tours.

Volendam - The highlight was trying kibbeling for the first time, which can be done all over the Netherlands. The only other thing I can remember is walking between a canal and the backyards of some quaint homes. In one of the backyards, a man was rinsing off his bike. One of the tour group members took his picture. The look he gave the photographer was not a nice one. I felt very much like a tourist and quite unwelcome. Personally, I wouldn't visit this town because the Netherlands has so many other postcard perfect towns that are not overrun with tourists. Two of my favorite towns are Hoorn and Enkhuizen. If I was in the Netherlands again, I would definitely revisit these spots. They are easy train rides from Amsterdam, with Hoorn being closer.

Zaanse Schans - Having all the windmills together is fun, and it was the first time I climbed inside of one. So, I'd say it's the more worthwhile of your two options. However, it is definitely a tourist attraction. Also, it is not the only spot where you can visit windmills. A better alternative would be Leiden. You can climb inside a windmill at De Valk Windmill Museum. Then, you can explore the rest of the town, which is lovely. There are canals, gardens, multiple museums, and a university. It is a more well-rounded experience. Plus, it's a quick train ride to reach Leiden from Amsterdam.

We really enjoyed Haarlem especially the Ten Boom museum and the !lovely square by the cathedral and did not find it as touristy as Delft or a couple of other towns nearby..

I also like Leiden, and the original windmill Laurie described is very interesting. Make sure you take a canal cruise, where the bridges are so low the captain must lower the roof, and passengers must then duck.

Haarlem is also a charming day trip with an excellent canal cruise, and is a short train ride from Amsterdam. Make reservations for the Corrie ten Boom house as soon as possible. The free tickets are gone months in advance. The info in the RS Guide is no longer correct.

Enjoy this wonderful and unique area, with very friendly people . Safe travels!

Wonderful info! Thanks for the replies.

I went to Zaanse Schans as well. I enjoyed it, but it was very, very mobbed with tourists (and this was late March). It's also a bit of a walk from the train station, so if you're taking the train to get there, just know that you have about a 10-15 walk to the windmills from the train station.

Thank you for your great responses. Great info!

We went a year ago February. Zaanse Schans was not my favorite as it was overcrowded even in the winter. Volendam was ok, but you don't need a lot of time there. We did these along with Marken on a bus tour, which we regretted as soon as we got on the bus.

For an extra day, I would opt for somewhere else. We did two other day trips on our own, one to Delft and the other to Gouda, and those were much better. One reason is we were on our own not on a tour, but also the towns were just more interesting.

It would help to know why you’ve narrowed it down to either Zaanse Schans or Volendam. If you give us a little insight in your interest or even when you’re here, you’ll get better and more specific answers as to what other options might be available.

Have an extra day in Amsterdam

"Extra" as in added on to another 4 or 5 in Amsterdam or as in "a 24 hour layover from a flight through AMS"?

I thought Volendam was "okay" as part of a ride we did out from Amsterdam, through some pretty countryside, and with Volendam as our "turn-around" town. Part of the Edam-Volandam-Marken trio, I think I liked Edam more, but also enjoyed the countryside ride most.

Zaanse Schans was indeed super busy with tourists (like us). We also did it as a bike ride from Amsterdam and found it easy to get to, easy to find bike parking, and interesting to see the scenic windmills, but not really our "thing". We did find an isolated dock on the canal that was a lovely spot for our picnic lunch! That was fun - at the north end across from the Molenmuseum. Another situation where we found the ride home through the countryside & Pumerland & Landsmeer more fun than Zaanse Schans. I think "working" windmills and investigating them is very interesting to some folks, so worth it for folks like that to visit ZS. For me, it was pretty and we got some surprisingly good photos despite the crowds, but I've now seen hundreds of windmills in different states of upkeep to know I find them interesting, but am not super drawn to them.

So, to answer the "worth a visit", I find it relative to the overall time you have, any prior time in Amsterdam/Netherlands already, and why either of those rose to the top of your "side trips" options.

Dutch_traveler, you are correct. I should have been more specific in my inquiry. Thank you for bringing it to my attention. Here's the complete information. We are joining a small group tour in Amsterdam, visiting several countries. We are going in a few days early to have more time to explore Amsterdam. The tour group is then only spending one day in Amsterdam and the second day there is an optional tour to Volendam and Zaanse Schans. We very seldom do a tour, preferring to travel on our own and do our planning but this tour looked interesting overall. As we looked into this optional tour to Volendam and Zaanse Schans, we felt it might not be what we normally like to do. We very much like to "wander and get lost" finding wonderful neighborhoods in a new city with "off the beaten track" sites, cafes, etc.

From what everyone is saying these two locations, while having some benefits, appear to be very touristy and crowded, which was our initial impression. So, that being said, is our time better spent exploring more of Amsterdam, visiting another city nearby on our own or joining the optional tour? I'm not on these blogs a lot before we travel to a new area but do find very good info when I reach out. Again, thanks for everyone's help.

Beautiful places always attract visitors, but some are as already noticed really touristy like Zaanse Schans, Volendam and ofcourse Amsterdam too. Think it's worth looking for some alternatives, like the following places.

As already suggests you can go to Hoorn and Enkhuizen. Between Hoorn and Medemblik runs a steam tram, the latter a bit lesser attractive, nevertheless charming enough for a walk, but for most here off the beaten path. Medemblik has a medieval castle you can visit, open every day of the week except Monday. From there you can take the ferry to Enkhuizen. Worth visiting is the Open Air Museum there. The train station is very close to the historic center, if you like Hoorn you can hop off on the way back to Amsterdam.

https://kasteelradboud.nl/ (Dutch only)
https://www.stoomtram.nl/en/

With good weather you can bike as Tom R remarks through the countryside north of Amsterdam, or along the river Vecht between Amsterdam and Utrecht. For this you can take the train to Breukelen and rent bikes there. The best part to my opinion is between Breukelen and more north Vreeland. However south of Breukelen are some nice spots too to enjoy all the way too charming Maarssen or even Slot Zuylen (open to public) close to Utrecht. Rent e-bikes in case there is a strong wind.

https://slotzuylen.nl/ (Dutch only)

‘s Hertogenbosch is also an option, is beautiful and has a very pleasant vibe. Takes an hour with the train from Amsterdam. You can combine it with a visit to Heusden, lovely historic town along the Maas river. Takes a half hour with the bus from ‘s Hertogenbosch. Having time left you can always add Utrecht to this trip.

If you really want to go off the beaten path Dordrecht is the best place to my opinion. Somehow much overlooked but very charming. If off interest you can take from there the waterbus to the world famous windmills of Kinderdijk and after your visit the waterbus to Rotterdam. Delft and Leiden are along the railway line to Amsterdam and so easy to visit.

It’s not something everyone would be interested in (or doing at 7:00am!), but we loved going to Aalsmeer to see how they move all the flowers around to sell worldwide. HUGE indoor space with little vehicles zipping around placing containers of cut flowers where they need to be placed. You walk on a walkway above all the action. Look it up on youtube and see my post (from 2019) to see if this would interest you: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/netherlands/bus-to-aalsmeer-floraholland-flower-auction

I'm investigating all these wonderful suggestions. We love doing the research and all of you have challenged us to do more investigations before our trip. Thank you for some unique ideas.