Volendam

I personally wouldn’t spend an entire day in Volendam. You can pretty much see it all in 1 or 2 hours. When will you be visiting?

If you go after March 5 you can visit the Volendam Museum. It was such an unexpected, delightful, heartfelt local museum I could have gone back that day for a second visit. We were the only ones visiting it on an afternoon in April 2018. There were 3 local people sitting in a room in the museum drinking tea who were so happy that we had some questions to ask them. The displays were historic but yet many were so recent, within my frame of understanding in the 1950s. Whole rooms of real houses in the town were replicated in the museum. I was fascinated.

By the time we got to the crowded harbor area, we didn’t stay much longer and got on the bus to see our next town. That day we visited Volendam and Marken by bus in that order with a special 10€ ticket purchased at the bus station /kiosk behind Amsterdam Central.

I am so glad we went to the Volendam museum that day, it was a highlight for me. https://www.volendamsmuseum.nl/

Thanks. We are staying with a friend and thus there -- and had thought to just go into Amsterdam for the day but we have been there many times and will be spending 3 days there on this trip and the idea of exploring a different smaller town has appeal. The museum sounds interesting.

What else to see in the town? We are slow travelers and just hanging out is good, but would hate to miss any beautiful views, or lovely parks, or charming streets.

You will understand when you get there, but there really isn’t that much to see and do in Volendam. Volendam is a historical fishing town, so the main sights are the harbor and the fishing stands. In addition you can have your photo taken while wearing traditional costumes or visit the museum, but that’s about it.
Even if you’re a slow traveler, you can easily combine Volendam with Edam and Marken.

I agree with Dutch_Traveler about the appeal of Volendam outside of the harbor and one or two streets parallel to the harbor. We too are very slow travelers but didn’t find much to keep us in Volendam after we’d seen the museum and harbor area. OTOH we spent much more time looking at charming streets in Alkmaar, after we watched the cheese market for awhile, and loved walking around on Marken. The oldest church was wonderful, museum—ok, lots of laundry flapping in the breeze, interesting architectural detail on the houses, charming gardens and lovely outdoor cafes. It was an easy boat ride from Volendam.

thanks -- we will probably go into Marken or Edam that first day and then into Amsterdam on the full next day then. We will see what our friend is free to do