Zaanse Schans is best known for its collection of well-preserved historic windmills and houses. At Zaanse Schans, the natural windmill village, you would first have a private guided Dutch cheese factory tour, to know how to make Gouda cheese in the traditional way. You could taste more than 26 different flavors of cheese. After that, you will visit a Dutch wooden shoes factory, over here you would watch a live demonstration of making wooden shoes by a traditional clog maker. After that you would have a private Royal Amsterdam Diamond tour, to know the history of diamond, and enjoy the 'Royal Lady' diamond with 268 facets. Of course you would have your own free time to get close to the windmills and take a lot of photos.
This attraction is the first stop at Zaanse Schans. As described above, you would experience this old cheese farm/factory, to have a private demonstration to understand how to make traditional Dutch cheese, get to know the history of this cheese farm, and cheese tasting with more than 26 different flavors.
At this attraction, you would expect to see a live demonstration of making wooden shoes by a traditional clog maker, get to know the history of wooden shoes, and see different types of wooden shoes. You could have wooden shoes try-on here with different paintings / colors. Of course you can take as many photos as you want.
After Zaanse Schans, we will travel to Giethoorn. You would explore the ‘Green Little Venice’ of the Netherlands. You will enjoy free time to explore the sights by yourself and your loved ones. we include 1 hour traditional boat cruise here. But if you want, you could cruise your own boat by yourself, that would have more fun with your family or friends.
You will enjoy 1 hour boat cruise in Giethoorn to see canals, houses, and a big lake behind the village.
Well organized. The guide Mr. Eric provided excellent service and provided a lot of information about Zaanskans and Geithoorn. Overall we give it 5 stars and recommend it highly.
Great day to see 2 areas outside of Amsterdam in The Netherlands. Ranier was an excellent guide. He was very knowledgeable with a great personality. We had rain on our day and he provided umbrellas and scheduled a covered boat in Giethoorn. I would recommend this trip.
Great day tour with just the right amount of time spent in every stop! Brilliant tour guide, that kept us informed of all there is to see and experience throughout the duration of the trip!
Most beautiful cities we've seen in Amsterdam. Kai our tour guide took care of us and was very informative and funny.
Wonderful day and tour guide Leidse was incredible! Impressive knowledge and full of en! This tour will give you great exposure to the true essence of Holland! Highly recommend!
Leidse, our guide, was delightful and very knowledgeable. Hotel pick up was smooth and very convenient. It was pleasant day!
Great way to see a couple of places when you don't have a car. In Zaanse Schans you see the iconic windmills. Watching a clog get made was interesting. The boat trip in Geithoorn was relaxing.
We had great tour it was well organized we had lovely time, beautiful places , comfort ride, easy pick up and drop off, I highly recommend it.
The trip was fun, relaxing and the town was a Quaint picturesque place, a little crowded in the season but worth seeing it once. Rieneir who was our guide was helpful, informative and attentive
Our group of 12 booked a private tour with Koen, confirming multiple times. His communication was atrocious. He ignored messages for weeks, only responding after I escalated to Airbnb support – less than a month before our tour! Then, he suddenly claimed he couldn't honor the private tour, citing a confusing excuse about vehicle sizes and a minimum group size that was never mentioned before. He then canceled our booking, leaving us stranded. His explanation is a blatant lie. He knew about the group size for weeks. Koen was rude, unprofessional, and greedy, clearly hoping we'd be forced to accept any last-minute change. He showed zero regard for our plans. This is about the shocking lack of communication and disrespect. Do not book with Koen. He's unreliable and will likely leave you high and dry. Zero stars.
Well planned and executed. Simon, our tour guide, was very helpful. He gave us interesting nuggets of info about the place, activities, things along the way, etc.
Just returned from an incredible day trip to Giethoorn and Zaanse Schans, all thanks to our fantastic tour guide, Reinier! He was not only knowledgeable about the history and culture of the areas we visited, but also super friendly and engaging throughout the entire day. His passion for sharing these beautiful places made the experience even more special. I would absolutely do this trip again, and I highly recommend Reinier to anyone looking for a memorable tour!
The trip was fantastic. Our guide Koen did an amazing job. He explained every place soo nicely. He took is smoothly to all the places, gave sufficient time for pics as well. Overall a wonderful trip
Loved the cheese making & wooden shoe making demonstrations i Zaanse Schans. The afternoon boat ride h free time in Geithoorn were delightful.
it was a great day. driver picked us up 30 minutes earlier than scheduled but all places we visited were better than the last, we really had a wonderful time
Our favourite part was Giethoorn! It was peaceful & quaint! The windmill and dyke tour was also wonderful! Our tour was really enhanced by our guide Leidse. He guided us on the boat in Giethoorn and made great suggestions for our visit to the windmills. He was engaging, inclusive and knowledgeable.
Koen is an amazing guide and driver. Punctual, helpful, easygoing, knowledgeable and very supportive. He made this tour a very nice experience we will never forget.
Koen was my tour guide and we had a comfortable little van to take our group around for the day. He was very friendly, well organised and I really enjoyed this tour. He contacted me on WhatsApp before the tour to make sure I knew the meeting point, time and registration of the van. I only joined this tour as my booked tour got cancelled but am very glad I did as this one was great. You get to see so much and really worth doing, loved it.
The guide/driver was informative and helpful. We love touring Zaanse Schans which was really quiant and oretty. Giethoom was crowded on the day of our visit
While we had previously visited the windmills, the added wooden clog demo, together with the new attractions at the site made this intentional re-visit WELL worthwhile
We had a great time on the tour; we had a full mini bus (18 people) given it was tulip season. The bus was comfortable and Koen, our guide+driver was very accommodating.
Our tour guide was Reinier. He was exceptional in his knowledge. His personality was great and he made our experience and the whole day just wonderful.
The beginning of the tour was nice. We loved seeing the cheese making process and the clogs. I appreciated that the first stop was only a 30 minute ride from London. The tour guide had umbrellas which was nice. The stops were both touristy and did not feel authentic. Although this was a small group tour, my family was most of the tour. There was only 1 additional guest. I asked the guide to delay the tour to 9am from 8:30am so we had more time for breakfast and he refused saying there were others on the tour. He could have had the courtesy of contacting that 1 additional guest to make our morning easier. The second stop on this tour was not worth it at all in my opinion. It was a 1 1/2 hour drive to go to a super sleepy town were everything was closed. We were rushed at lunch because we had to make a boat trip by a certain time only to find out we had the boat completely to ourselves and the time could have been changed. The guide was more of a driver than a guide. We were told we only had a few options for lunch and then found other restaurants to be open. I feel a better experience would have been having lunch pre-ordered and serving it on the boat ride which has tables. The boat ride was quite boring. I would not recommend this tour at least not in the wintertime.
Our tour guide Leiden was wonderful! He picked us up promptly at our hotel. We met another couple and a family who joined us. The day was VERY RAINY, but we saw everything that was included in our trip. Leiden brought along a large umbrella for each person. He is very knowledgeable and enjoys his work of sharing the history of Amsterdam, it's people and the places we visited. He used our phones to take pictures of us with windmills as the background, wearing pairs of wooden shoes and the wooden shoes in the shape of heart on the building where the demonstration took place. If we bought something, he put the bag in his backpack, so our gifts wouldn't get all wet. We really enjoyed this trip and seeing the beautiful countryside outside Amsterdam. Ask for Leiden, he is an excellent guide!
We got to visit some traditional Dutch places which I loved. What made me give it 3 stars is all the experiences (besides the boat ride) are free and can be enjoyed at your own leisure in the first stop… however, you’re with a group and you’re pace is dependent on others. Which slowed us down significantly and impacted our time to explore ourselves. Made me feel rushed and trapped honestly. I wish they would’ve told us you had a choice to go around. Now the second spot was similar but different. You go on an hour boat ride. But I would’ve rather explored on foot with my time vs being on the boat for an hour. Same thing where I wished it would’ve been communicated I could go off. Otherwise, it’s great transportation and the guides nice. But recommend making it what you want since it’s not limited by a time table persay. Go do you, I wish I had!
Great small group tour. The towns we just beautiful and I think it was one of our favorite days! The drive time was minimal. Instead of driving all day we spent a lot of time at each location.
Leidse was the host with the most! He was very engaging, informative, and very funny. This excursion was one of the highlights of me and my son's trip to the Netherlands. We had a very nice time, so much that we didn't want to part ways. Book this trip or you will miss out.
Interesting to see hoy they make cheese, shoes and the wind mills. Guide was very nice. We had a good time
This is a late review but life does have a tendency to catch up quickly when you return from a fabulous holiday. I went for the day trip to Zaanse Schans and Giethoorn in June and our guide, Koen, ensured that it was a trip each member enjoyed. He waited when I lost my way to the pick-up point and was very polite and cooperative too. It was an amazing experience and one I would recommend to everyone travelling to Amsterdam. If you are lucky, Koen could be your guide for the day too!!
This was a great day trip!! Both villages were picture perfect and it was such a relaxing day! Our tour guide, Kai, was helpful and knowledgeable!!
Koen was an excellent guide. The bus was very comfortable. I very much enjoyed both villages. The session at the cheese factory was my favorite. Giethoorn was wonderful. We got to see the village through the boat tour and had plenty of extra time to explore.
Interesting history learning of the areas. Very lay back and relaxing riding the boat on the canals and lake .
Geithoorn had been on my bucket list for at least 15 years! We have come from Boston and Koen, our tour guide, was so kind and knowledgeable and helpful! He even assisted us with our transportation plan for the next day! The Dutch cheese, factory and wooden shoe factory were very entertaining, but Giethoorn was wonderful!
The tour is on point. Everything went smooth. Liedse was friendly, very informative and helpful. The places were great and worth the visit.
Awesome tour and awesome tour guide. Koen reached out a day before and was in constant communication. The tour was informative and we had enough time to explore on our own
The enite outing was such a pleasure, Koen was extremely professional and he also kept us engaged and made us feel at ease. All the best.... Keep the good work going !!
This tour was great from beginning to end. I love that our driver/guide picked groups up at their hotel - that was something that goes a long way when you’re not familiar with the city you’re visiting. For the tour itself, our guide had audio players so we could hear him speak as we walked through all the places we were visiting - this was amazing. He had a great sense of humour and was a very informative guide. 10/10 would recommend.
Koen is very knowledgeable of the places we have visited. The highlight, of course, is the tour of Giethoorn. Highly recommended!
What a great day out, our guide was great and kept us on time as it’s easy to let time get away from you as these places are just beautiful Would highly recommend
Koen was an amazing guide. He gave us lots of background information on our drive to both villages and readily answered our questions. Thanks again Koen for helping make a memorable day for us. The tour overall was amazing. We got to sample so many different flavours of Gouda cheese, and who knew the fresh block of wood used to make wooden shoes contained so much water; fascinating to watch shoes being made. The canals were much more narrow and more picturesque than in Amsterdam. This is definitely a tour worth taking and seeing some of the countryside
What a lovely day the five of us had. It was nice to get out of Amsterdam and see some of the countryside. Zaanse Schans was fantastic, so fascinating to see wooden shoes being made and who knew the block of wood held so much water. The cheesemaking demo and especially sampling was delicious and the windmills made for a picturesque scene. Giethoorn was so pretty and the canals are much more narrow than in Amsterdam which made our canal cruise so scenic. Koen, our driver and guide from Amsterdam as marvellous. He gave us lots of background information on the sites during our drive and answered all of our questions. Thank you again Koen for helping to make this a memorable day.
The tour guide is super nice. We had a wonderful journey there. The boat trip was also enjoyable as well
Our tour guide, Koen, was very knowledgeable about the areas we visited on the tour and went above and beyond to make this a fun and memorable time. We were collected and dropped off at our hotel despite it not being on the list, and squeezed in all of the itinerary even after a half-hour traffic delay. This tour is great if you want to get the most out of Zaanse Schans and Giethoorn comfortably in a day. You'll get plenty of free time to take in the sights as well as a guided tour of the highlights. Highly recommended if you like a good balance of both.
WE LOVED THIS TOUR. Koen our tour guide was amazing. We spent about 2.5 hours at Zaanse Schans (be sure to go up in one of the windmills for an amazing experience) and about 2 hours at Giethoorn. Between the two, we drove around the entire IJsselmeer lake - a gorgeous view even in a slight drizzle. Plus, Koen takes wonderful photos, as you'll see here. Finally, do not miss the distillery at Zaanse Schans behind the wooden shoe building - Proeflokaal De Tweekoppidge Phoenix. Try the Conjum or the Friendship Caramel Vodka and take some home because you can only buy these delicious liqueurs there!
I have received a cancellation e-mail a day before (in the afternoon) which was so disappointing. At the time most of other tours were sold out and I had only one day left in the country.
Booked this trip in Nov 2022 for Jan 2023. They cancelled the trip one day before... Not very impressed!!! No other offers or any communication! -1 star if i could give it
The windmills and the peaceful Giethoorn is really relaxing and healing for me. It's was a great trip and better than using the public transport.
Loved Giethoorn cruise and houses Our guide Koen was very informative and went beyond his role with one of our party
We had a wonderful time getting out of Amsterdam and seeing the Dutch countryside. The stops we made we fun and interesting. Our tour guide was friendly and informative. I recommend this tour.
Very nice day spent with Kun/Stefan. Very pleasant guide who gave us some local information along the 90 min drive to Giethoorn. Lovely canal cruise there, very enjoyable. Enjoyed seeing Zaanse Schans again. Enough free time in both places.
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