We're heading to the Netherlands in a few weeks, and it looks like we're going to just miss the end of the cheese markets. We had originally put Alkmaar and Gouda on our list of possible day trips and are wondering if it's still worth it to go if the cheese markets aren't on. What other things are great to do there? We like cheese generally - are there other cheese related things to do?

I saw that Alkmaar has a cheese museum and a beer museum - are these good places to visit?

Is either place easy to combine with visiting another city? If you had to pick one between the two, which would it be?

thanks for any tips!

I've never been to Alkmaar, but it is on my itinerary for April 2011, so I can't comment yet on this city. However, I have been to Gouda (pronounced how-dah) several times, and have found it to be a very charming little city.

The Stadhuis on the Marktplein reminds me of a fairytale castle on the outside (inside are boring administrative offices), complete with a figurine carillon on the right side of the building, which enacts the granting of the city charter every half hour.

St. Janskerk has a magnificent collection of 70 stained glass windows, of which many date back to the 16th century. The windows depict bible scenes as well as Holland's history.

Gouda is also known for their clay pipes and pottery, and thus there is a museum of pipes and pottery, however I've never visited. Instead, I've gone right to a potter - Adrie Moerings Pottenbakkerij at 76 Pepperstraat. I have a couple of his pieces that I brought home as souveniers.

Gouda is very compact, and can be done in 2-3 hours. We usually combine it with Utrecht, which is an easy 22 minute train ride away. Utrecht, which is a larger university town, is also worth a visit for it's Domkerk and Domtoren, and their mechanical musical instrument museum, het National Museum van Speelklok tot Pierement. Utrecht's canals are different than Amsterdam's, in that Amsterdam's are at street level, and Utrecht's are at basement level, so there are lots of restaurants and cafes that open up right on the water. In many places you can find stairs that lead down to paths that run along the canals.

Hope this helps with your decision making.

Robyn

Alkmaar's cheese museum is interesting enough, and the town is quite nice, but I'm not sure it is worth a day trip if this is your first visit to the Netherlands. If you are travelling by car you could combine it with some other interesting places in Noord Holland, but by public transport I would stick with Robyn's suggestion.

The G is pronounced more like the ch in Loch - it is a back of the throat gutteral sound. But Dutch people will understand Gouda pronounced Gowda too

Thanks for the advice! Gouda and Utrecht seem right up our alley.

Originally (back before we realized the dates of the cheese markets) we were thinking of combining Alkmaar and Zaanse Schans to see the windmills. It looks like Alkmaar is further away from Amsterdam (our base) so would it still make sense to just take a short trip to Zaanse Schans by itself? Are there other places that would be good for windmills? So far other trips we were considering were Delft/Den Haag and Haarlem/Zandvoort (and hopefully a short trip out to Muiderslot Castle). If any other places with windmills are short detours from those, maybe it would make sense to combine it there. Thanks!

Zaanse Schans makes sense. A short train ride away. You get the train from Amsterdam to Koog-Zaandijk and then walk for 15 minutes to Zaanse Schans.

Or Kinderdijk maybe if you are going to Gouda and Utrecht, although thinking about it you wouldn't have time to do all three in a day. You can get a bus from Utrecht or Rotterdam to Kinderdijk.

http://www.kinderdijk.com/

We did a 'country' walk just outside of Alkmaar (Oudorp), where there are several privately-owned windmills along the river. The green area was perhaps a park, seemed like one, with paved pathways, sheep, birds etc. (bit like a nature preserve). Very enjoyable to us anyway. We did attend the cheese market, which was fun to watch, but didn't go inside the museums.

Utrecht has a 'windmill museum' where you go go inside for a tour given by the owner, who is trying to re-establish it as a working sawmill. (Molen de Ster)
http://www.houtzaagmolen-de-ster.nl/sawmill/index.html

Here are our photos - around pix#89 starts w/Alkmaar, then Utrecht... (skip Amsterdam pix if you like - Alkmaar starts after the Queens Day photos...)
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/...hotos-_-Sharee

<b>Travelnut</b> - Nice photos! Where did you find information on the "Windmill Walk" in Alkmaar? Is there a map available from the VVV, or are there signs in the town pointing towards the walk. How far out of town is it?

Robyn

Robyn,
Look at a Google satellite map of Alkmaar. Zoom in a bit, and you will see Oudorp about a mile east of the city center. Just north of that, probably less than a mile, you will see a green area and the words Hoornsche Vaart.Zoom in a bit more and you will see a road called Molenkade that runs alongside the canal. There are, I believe, four windmills along this canal, one of which was being rebuilt when the satellite photo was taken. If you search Flickr for Hoornsche Vaart, you will see some nice photos.
Hope this helps,
Carol

Robyn - - GandCT has it exactly! I zoomed in using Google 'satellite' map view, and saw those windmills. That was it, had to go look. So just followed the google street map across a canal, then followed along the other canal, cut thru the park, walked back the way we came. Took about 2, maybe 3, hours to just wander around - a most pleasant afternoon.

Thank you, GandCT and Travelunt, for the information. I checked on Google Earth, and it looks like it's an easy walk to the windmills. Are they operating and open for viewing?

I got real excited when I saw Nieuwburg Castle at the end of the path (I have the 3D layer turned on), but research shows that only the footprint of the building and walls remain. Did you walk around the former castle complex?

Robyn

hetismij - Would you know off hand if there are bikes for rent at the Koog-Zaandijk train station, or in the vicinity? We're planning on visiting Zaanse Schans in April 2011, and I thought that cycling might be a more pleasant way of getting across town and the bridge, and up the road where the windmills are located.

Robyn

Thanks everyone for all the tips! We also went onto Google maps and looked up the windmills near Alkmaar. Looks like a nice walk!