Day Trip Across The Netherlands
Intro
We had the weekend to do whatever we wanted, so my friend Michaela and I decided to go on a day trip to the countryside of The Netherlands. On Sunday, May 19, 2024, we visited three locations, Zaans, Marken, and Volendam. The tour was six hours long, it ended up being closer to seven hours, and in those seven hours we were able to explore these three locations.
What was it and the process of getting the trip
Looking into these day trips was a little challenging. Michaela, the girl I went on the trip with, and I looked into a few tours we were interested in, but they were either all booked or too long. We wanted to go on a short trip, three or four hours, but by the time we were ready to purchase tickets, there was only six or twelve hour trips. We ended up going with a six hour trip (wich was the best decision in the end) and we took the tram to the meeting spot. Once we met up we rode on a two storied bus to the locations. The classic tickets, which included going to the locations and a cheese demonstration, were 37 Euros. To get extra experiences, like seeing how a windmill works, going into a clog making factory, and a boat ride from Marken to Volendam, was an extra 15 Euros. We liked the idea of walking around and exploring these towns ourselves, and that worked out best for us. This trip was definitely worth 37 Euros.
Where we went
We went to three locations; Zaans, Marken, and Volendam. The first stop was Zaans. Here we saw windmills and had a short cheese tour of a cheese museum. We learned about the history of cheese and tried a few different cheeses. Then we got up close to some windmills. Since we bought the “classic” tour, we were unable to go into them, but it was still really cool to see them up close. The second place we visited was Marken. Marken is known for its clog making factory. We were unable to go into the factory, however, we got to try on clogs and explore the town. The town was really small, but very beautiful. The last place we went was Volendam. In Volendam we went to a cheese shop and were able to try lots of different cheeses, and dutch cheese dip, which is a dip for your cheese (I am obsessed with it now). Volendam also had a stroopwafel tasting. The day we were there was a holiday, so people were out celebrating and socializing. This was fun to see and helped me see what the culture in The Netherlands was like. My favorite place was Zaans because of the beautiful windmills and we spent the perfect amount of time there. Each place had its own unique charm, and I would go back to each of these places.
Conclusion
One of my favorite parts of this day trip was exploring the countryside a little bit more. Being in The Hague and Amsterdam, we weren’t able to see much of the countryside, so going on this tour was a different and fun experience. This was one of my favorite parts of the trip to The Netherlands. It allowed me to explore new places on my own, learn a little more about the culture, and see a different side of The Netherlands.
Videos
Since I had so much footage of each place, I decided to separate the videos into three videos, one of each location. The first video is Zaans, the second is Marken, and the third is Volendam. Enjoy!
