The Dutch landscape is pretty much unimaginable without windmills and that’s why when visiting the Netherlands, windmills should be on your bucket list. Read further to find out which are the best places to see windmills in the Netherlands. Contact online >>
The Dutch landscape is pretty much unimaginable without windmills and that’s why when visiting the Netherlands, windmills should be on your bucket list. Read further to find out which are the best places to see windmills in the Netherlands.
The first windmills in the Netherlands appeared somewhere in the 12th century along the coast. They were used for grinding grain. Later on, in the 15th century there appeared the first polder mills that were used to drain the water from marshlands or lakes so that land could be reclaimed. Much later on, there appeared saw mills, oil-production mills, paper mills, and dye mills among others.
Today, there only about 1000 windmills left in the Netherlands, but in the heyday of the windmills in the 19th century, there were about 9 000 windmills in the country.
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When you travel in the Netherlands, you will spot for sure a windmill or two, but there are two places that are famous for their windmills: Kinderdijk, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the windmill village of Zaanse Schans. At least one of these places should be on your bucketlist.
Here is map with the best places in the Netherlands where you can see windmills:
I won’t exaggerate if I say that Kinderdijk is perhaps the most popular and most visited attraction in the Netherlands after Amsterdam, of course. Contrary to what most would think, Kinderdijk is not that close to Amsterdam. It’s closer to another lovely Dutch city – Rotterdam. Still, with an hour and 15 minutes from Amsterdam, the windmills at Kinderdijk make it a great day trip from the Dutch capital.
Kinderdijk is the place to go to admire the outstanding water-management skills of the Dutch. This is also why Kinderdijk is included on the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list. The system of 19 windmills built in the beginning of the 18th century has been used to pump out water from what once was a bog.
Zaanse Schans is a small open-air museum village, where one can see how life was in the 18th and 19th centuries in the Low Lands. The village was created in the 1960s-70s, when lots of historical buildings and windmills have been transported there from other parts of the Zaan area.
At only 20 km from Amsterdam, Zaanse Schans is the easiest day trip from Amsterdam to see windmills. Each museum/windmill has its own paid entry, but you can buy a Zaanse Schans Card for 23,50 EUR, which will give you access to most of the attractions.
The 11 remaining polder windmills in the Schermer (De Schermer) area are part of one of the greatest projects of the Dutch to reclaim land from the water. For 3 years the Scher Lake (Schermeer) was pumped out with he help of 52 polder mills and in 1635 the lake disappeared completely.
Today, you can visit The Museum Mill in Schermerhorn, which is a part of a complex of 3 polder windmills. The polder mills could pump out up to 60 000 l of water per minute, which is absolutely amazing. You can visit the miller’s home in the mill and climb all the way up to the ridge to see from very close how the mill is actually working.
The Museum Mill is only 40 km from Amsterdam.
This is perhaps the most famous single windmill in the Netherlands. The cityscape of Haarlem is absolutely unthinkable without De Adriaan. The foundation of the mill was part of the old city defense wall, but the mill was built in 1778. It was used to produce cement from tuff stone.
In 1932 the icon of Haarlem burned down in a fire and it took 70 years to restore it in its complete glory. The windmill was open again in 2002. Today there’s a museum in the windmill and you can visit it with a guided tour.
Where else in the Netherlands can you see two of the absolute Dutch icons together: tulips and windmills? At Keukenhof, of course. Although the windmill is not the main attraction in the biggest tulip garden in the world, it’s absolutely lovely.
From the top of the mill, there’s amazing view to the tulip fields and the park. You won’t learn much about the windmills in general but you’ll have a gorgeous view.
One of my favorite places to see windmills in the Netherlands, is the little town of Heusden. Located in North Brabant, close to Den Bosch, Heusden looks as if the time has stopped a few centuries ago. Completely restored, according to a map of 1649, Heusden is a perfect example of a fortified town.
There are three windmills in Heusden. Most people don’t know that, but the windmills haven’t been there all the time. Although they were put there in the 1970s, they organically blend with the landscape and today Heusden is unthinkable without its windmills.
In the lovely fishing village of Wemeldinge in Zeeland, you can find two windmills: De Hoop (1866) and Aeolus (1869). De Hoop was built as a grain mill and the miller lived there until 1900. During WW2 the mill was significantly damaged and it wasn’t until 1980s when it was completely restored to its previous glory. Today, the windmill can be visited on Saturdays (1 pm – 4 pm), and sometimes it’s put into operation by a volunteer-miller.
Aeolus, named after the Keeper of the Winds from the Odyssey, is the 2nd grain windmill in the village. It was functioning until 1963 using only the wind as a driving force. Most of the windmills in those days were driven also with the help of motors. The mill can be visited the last Saturday in the month, from 10 am till 3 pm.
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need to leave Amsterdam in order to see windmills. There are 8 windmills in Amsterdam itself! Check out the map above for the exact locations of all windmills in Amsterdam.
This is the easiest windmill to see in Amsterdam. It’s located not very far from the city centre. The windmill was built in the beginning of the 19th century at the place of a windmill from the 16th century. It was a part of series of corn mills on Singelgracht (the waterway that encircles the centre of the city) and it’s the only one which has survived till the present day. De Gooyer windmill cannot be visited, but next to the mill is the local ‘t IJ Brewery, where you can taste some of the best craft beer in Amsterdam.
Address: Funenkade 5, 1018 AL Amsterdam
De Otter is a saw mill located not very far from the city centre. The saw mill was built in 1631 and was part of group of saw mills in what today is the Western part of Amsterdam is. De Otter was recently completely renovated and since 2019 is working again. Built around 1631, it’s the oldest windmill in Amsterdam, that hasn’t been moved around.
Address: Gillis van Ledenberchstraat 78, 1052 VK Amsterdam
This polder windmill is located actually just outside of Amsterdam in the village of Sloten, which is part of the Municipality of Amsterdam. The Mill of Sloten is a working one and can be visited daily. Actually the original windmill of Sloten was the one that was moved to the banks of Amstel River – the Rieker Mill (De Riekermolen). The current Mill of Sloten was placed there in 1991. The Mill of Sloten is open for guided visits.
The Rieker Mill is just outside of the city centre, at the southern end of the Amstel Park on the Amstel River. This polder mill stood originally in the village of Sloten and was moved to its present place in the 1960s. You can see the mill working on the weekends in the summer.
Address: De Borcht 10, 1083 AC Amsterdam
D’Admiraal is the last remaining chalk mill in the Netherlands. It was built in 1793 and it’s still working. The Chalk Mill d’Admiraal is open for visits every second Saturday of the month in the summer. The entry is free of charge.
If you are not travelling by car in the Netherlands, the best way to visit the windmills will be an organized day tour from Amsterdam. However, you can easily visit Zaanse Schans and Haarlem by public transport from Amsterdam. If you are staying in Rotterdam, Kinderdijk can be even visited with the water bus.
Here is my selection of tours from Amsterdam.
At Exploring the Netherlands, we love windmills and even the logo of the website is a windmill, but you should have already noticed this by now. So, when travelling in the Netherlands, make sure you visit at least one attraction that includes a windmill, as there isn’t anything more Dutchy than a windmill in the middle of a polder. However, you won’t need to go far, if you stay in Amsterdam, to see a windmill, as there are windmills even in Amsterdam. For the most fairy-tale-like experience, a visit to Kinderdijk or Zaanse Schans is highly recommended.
Do you need some extra help to plan your trip to the Netherlands? Join the dedicated Exploring the Netherlands Facebook Group, where you can get tips from other travellers and locals. Or perhaps you have questions or comments? Join the group and I’ll be happy to answer them.
Wind power has been used as long as humans have put sails into the wind. The next step was the use of wind to provide mechanical power. In the 1st century AD the Greek engineer Heron of Alexandria invented a wind-driven wheel to power an organ. The earliest windmills were built in Persia since at least the 9th century and were used to grind corn and pump water.
The first windmills in Europe appear in the 12th century. While it is possible that crusaders may have been inspired by the vertical-axle windmills in the Middle East, this is not very likely since the European windmills were of significantly different design. All the old windmills in medieval Europe rotated on horizontal axles. Two centuries later, areas of the Rhine River delta were drained by the famous Dutch windmills.
The long wave breaker in the Greek harbor contains three medieval windmills which once ground the grains unloaded from merchant vessels in the harbor.
Öland is Sweden’s second largest island and rather sparsely populated, with most of the land consisting of farm land and woods. The wooden windmills of Öland, some 400 in number, have become the very symbol of the island. They were mainly built to serve the needs of individual farms. All of them are now protected monuments.
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