Traditional Holland: Clogs, Cheese & Windmills

This private Amsterdam shore trip takes you off the beaten path into the traditional Dutch countryside for a day built around clogs, cheese, and windmills.

After meeting your guide, you drive out through the scenic countryside to a local farm, where you can hand feed the friendly cows and watch a craftsman shape a pair of wooden clogs the traditional way. Naturally, you also get to taste the cheese, made from the milk of the very cows you just fed.

From the farm you continue to the former fishing village of De Rijp for a stop with free time for a typical Dutch lunch (meal not included). Later in the afternoon you reach Edam, a town first established around 1230 at a dam on the river that gave it its name, close to what is now the IJsselmeer. Edam grew wealthy on shipping and the cattle trade after receiving city rights in 1357, and by the 16th century its weekly cheese market, granted by Emperor Charles V in 1526, had made Edammer one of the most recognized cheeses in the world. While you are here you can walk the cobbled streets past canal houses and gardens, and sample the cheese if you like.

Finally, you stop at a working windmill in the Beemster, a polder drained between 1607 and 1612 using 43 windmills to pump water out of what was once an inland lake. The reclamation was considered so advanced for its time that De Beemster was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999, one of the best-preserved examples of the land reclamation techniques that shaped much of the modern Netherlands. Your guide explains how the windmills did the work before mechanical pumps existed, and at the end of the day you return to the pier having seen a side of Holland most visitors miss.

• Mobility: Due to uneven surfaces, steps, and walking distances, this itinerary is not suitable for guests using wheelchairs. Please contact us for alternative sightseeing options, including private driving tours that may better accommodate your needs.