Recently Reviewed Hotels around Zaandam

• Zaanse Schans
  "Wonderful Windmills Weally!"
  "I had read on some other site that this windmill museum was free and it was - sort of. You pay for parking and some of the windmills you cannot access without paying a fee. Overall, an interesting trek back into Dutch history and the important role of the windmill. There are different windmil..."ls for each purpose; one for sawing wood, another for making paint, one for oil, another for milling spices. The spice windmill is one of the free ones so of course we went in that one. It smelled terrific in there! They were milling nutmeg or something similar when we were there. An interesting video is available to watch that talks about the windmills and how/why the ones at Zaanse Schans were saved. The Spice windmill sells various things spice related; salt/pepper mills, individual bagged spices, Speculoos cookies, etc. I would recommend paying the small amount for the ones that do charge admittance. It helps to maintain the windmills. I would skip the gift shop by the par... " More >
• Zaanse Schans
  "So Dutch !"
  "If you are in Amsterdam and want to see something different, more calm and peaceful, then this is the place to visit ! Zaanse Schans is a bit of all the cliches of Holland gathered on one site: the windmills, the polders, the clogs, the cheese, etc... Yes it is kitsch and yes it is touristy, but n..."ever forget that you are a tourist yourself ! It is an easy and affordable place to go from Amsterdam, either by bus or by train. Quaint houses, beautiful landscape, real and operational windmills,... those 6 windmills are the only survivors in an area that used to have over one thousand of them so let's respect this area. However, bear in mind that the site is just next to an industrial area with many factories, if you are after a more authentic and rural experience, then I would rather recommend the windmills of Kinderdijk. A last piece of advice: if you can, visit the area at dawn or at dusk, the museum and shops will be closed (which don't add much to the experience anyway) and so yo... " More >
• Zaanse Schans
  "Zaanse Schans"
  "Very busy, busloads of people, touristy as expected--but an opportunity to see, close up, working windmills, at small cost. Also small museum. We went to working sawmill. Also many shops. Easy by train, walk from station."