I've been researching some open air museums in the Netherlands and I've come across these two: the Zuiderzee in Enkuizen and the Zaanse Schans. They both look great. During my week-long trip to the Netherlands, we'll be based in Amsterdam and we want to take a day trip to an open air museum. I'm wondering if we should go to both or just pick one. If we pick one, which one we should choose?
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
33832 posts
In a whole week I'd probably visit both. They are very different. Zaanse Schans is very close to Amsterdam, is a collection of different windmills, extremely touristy, lots of tour buses, good exhibits, good for a quick taste of old Dutch activities.
Enkhuizen is an open air museum a bit further north, much more visited by schoolchildren and Dutch families. The language is not an obstacle there. It is fun to see the kids dress up. The smoker cranks out lovely herring, there's a good pancake restaurant in the museum, it is fun to arrive from the station by landing craft, generally a really well done place.
Posted by
the Netherlands
2487 posts
Enkhuizen, if only to avoid the tourist crowds.
You can combine it with a visit to Hoorn, which you'll pass on the way to or from Enkhuizen. Historical former port town. One of the founding fathers of the Dutch East India Company.
Posted by
Seattle, WA, US
1005 posts
Enkuizen would be my top choice. Zaanse Schans is just overcrowded and jammed with tourists. Seem like there were lots of Dutch locals at Enkuizen. I'd take the boat from the train station to the far end of the complex and then walk slowly back into town.
Posted by
Michigan USA
378 posts
We went to Zuiderzee in 2011 and here are my notes from the visit:
We first went into the indoor museum. Other than a boat display, this was separate and seemingly had little to do with the outdoor museum. The displays there seemed to be arts and crafts installations but there were no English descriptions so we couldn't make much sense of it. The best room was one with blue modeling clay and molds where you could make your own sculpture. I don't have a creative bone in my body so I tired of it quickly but the others enjoyed making a sculpture. We moved onto the outdoor museum. It was five areas of buildings brought from around the Zuiderzee area. Each building had a sign telling where it came from, what it was, and who owned it. The signs were in English as well. But generally, the buildings were empty and they had nothing to help you understand what life was like. On certain days of the week, they had local re-enactors, however Monday was not one of those days.
In the recreation, they had lots of canals as well separating areas and buildings from each other.
We stopped at the museum restaurant for lunch. The selection was pretty limited here but it was something to eat.
Fairly soon after lunch, we took the boat back to the train station. All in all this museum didn't work for us. Perhaps it's more lively on the weekend. The town was pretty though.