Zaandam

Step into a living postcard of Dutch heritage in Zaandam, the picturesque heart of the Zaan region just 20 minutes from Amsterdam, where the world-famous Zaanse Schans open-air museum brings 18th- and 19th-century Holland to life with working windmills, traditional wooden houses on stilts, historic workshops demonstrating clog-making, cheese production, and tin-smithing, and the green-painted windmills of Het Jonge Schaap and De Kat spinning against the sky over the Zaan River.

Wander the charming Zaandam center with its colorful historic gabled houses along the Dam, explore the Claude Monet-inspired blue house where the Impressionist painter stayed in 1871, cycle the scenic Zaan trails past working mills and meadows, or simply relax in cozy cafés with fresh stroopwafels and strong Dutch coffee amid the gentle creak of windmill sails, river breezes, and the unmistakable sense of stepping into classic Dutch countryside charm.

Zaandam isn’t just a destination—it’s the authentic, windmill-dotted soul of Holland’s Golden Age—plan your Zaandam escape today!

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