• Zaandam - Zaanstad, the larder of the Netherlands.

Anyone opening a pantry in the Netherlands will find cookies, chocolate and salted snacks from Verkade in Zaandam, salad sauce and peanuts from Duyvis in Koog, cocoa powder from Cacao de Zaan in Zaandijk, cornstarch and macaroni from Honig in Koog. A whole pile of articles, ‘made in the Zaanstreek’. Good chance that such products were bought in the stores around the corner of the Zaan retail group Albert Heijn.

• Weiteveen - Wet meadows that lie just above, or even below, the water table. A paradise for meadow birds. A farm landscape with long ditches, pollard-willows and cows, turning mills and swaying reed beds. You cycle on the dikes and look almost beyond the horizon.
• Papiermolen De Schoolmeester/moulin a papier De Schoolmeester - The very best paper in the Netherlands, perhaps even in Europe, used to come from the Zaanstreek. It was beautiful white, smooth, excellent for writing and was therefore traded as far away as America. The Zaankanters had invented the secrets behind this quality product themselves. At the last remaining paper windmill in the world you see it for yourself how paper was made at that time.
  In the weekend this mill is closed. On Saturday we visit a unique saw mill that is operating on Saturday only.
• Zaanse Schans - The Zaanse Schans is a unique part of the Netherlands, full of wooden houses, mills, barns and workshops. Look inside the warehouse where clogs are made. The cheese dairy and the various mills are also not to be missed.
• Zaandam - We take the bike and along the riverside we return back to Zaandam and take the boat to Amsterdam.

• Admission to the windmill
• Train ticket included
• Bicycle use provided

• Tea and coffee

Immerse yourself in the sprawling wet meadows teetering on the water level, a haven for avian fauna. This rustic farm landscape, punctuated by long trenches, lined with pollard-willows, dairy cattle and operating mills set against waving reed beds, is a sight to behold. Experience small-group biking excursions atop the dikes, the scenery stretching as far as you can see. Welcome to the traditional Dutch countryside and the oldest manufacturing hub of the Netherlands.

This is where numerous windmills once graced the land, of which only a handful stands today; you’ll have the opportunity to tour one such windmill (located outside the tourist hub) for a firsthand look at its workings. During your visit, you’re scheduled to visit the quaint ‘Zaanse Schans’ village, renowned for its cheese delicacies and clog manufacture.

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.