Should My husband and I take a professional tour of the windmills outside of Amsterdam or is it easy to take public transportation and do this on your own as a self guided tour?

Are you talking about the windmills at Zaanse Schans? This is an open-air museum with 8 windmills to the north of Amsterdam. Yes, you can catch a train there (Zaandijk - Zaanse Schans) and do it on your own.

https://www.dezaanseschans.nl/en/pla...accessibility/

There is also a collection of windmills at Kinderdijk, near Rotterdam, but that is a bit further away (you have probably seen the photos). There are also odd windmills in Amsterdam. The Molen van Sloten, in the outskirts of Amsterdam, is one you can visit and go inside:

https://molenvansloten.nl/en/visitor...rmation/route/

There is no language barrier. English is very widely spoken in Amsterdam and if you want to do it on your own you can. You may have other reasons for doing a tour (such as, you get a lot of information that you wouldn't otherwise get). Hope that helps you make up your mind.

Lavandula

Thanks for the help!

The windmills at Kinderdijk are in their original locations. Train to Rotterdam then river boat to Kinderdijk. There is no comparison to between this collection and the ones at Zaanse Schans which were brought there. You can see a large windmill with a museum inside in Leiden, train from Amsterdam.

It's true, the Kinderdijk windmills are there purposely to drain the polder there, and always have been there for that purpose, while the ones at Zaanse Schans are there with other buildings as part of a museum and were transplanted there. But the OP did ask about access from Amsterdam, and we know nothing else about timing or duration of trip or whether it is feasible to travel a bit further afield.

Lavandula

You can have a beer in an Amsterdam windmill: the one that Brouwerij 'tIJ is housed in. I'ts a lovely spot