Schiphol Layover Private Tour - Windmills, Countryside, Amsterdam!

Schiphol Layover Private Tour - Windmills, Countryside, Amsterdam!

This is a genuinely backroads tour, where the focus is on having a relaxed and engrossing day out, where we'll avoid tourist cliches and tourist traps.

You'll explore (in car or minivan) the charming countryside area just to the north of Amsterdam known as Waterland. There you'll pass through three tiny rural villages and also stop at a dike bordering a lake where the guide will explain the eternal Dutch battle with water.

You'll stop at the unspoiled harbour town of Monnickendam. This is one town over from Volendam - where all the big tour buses stop. No tourists in Monnickendam and it's gorgeous!

We'll then drive to the Beemster and visit a Dutch family farm. Not a tourist farm, an actual working farm. We'll be the only tourists there and if they have time the farmers may come and chat for a bit (not guaranteed).

After that we'll visit a working windmill from the 1600s and can have a picnic lunch there if you like.

We can also include a bit of Amsterdam on the tour.

Itinerary
This is a typical itinerary for this product

Stop At: Stichting Schermer Molens, Noordervaart 2, 1636 VL Schermerhorn, Netherlands

We'll visit an original, working windmill from the 1600s that is set in charming countryside (not the overly touristy Zaanse Schans) and Rory (the guide) will bring you inside and all the way up the top and explain how it works.

If you choose, we can have a picnic lunch at the windmill (we'll pick up supplies en route).

Please note, from December to March this windmill is closes and so we'll pick a different windmill - there are various other ones, but with different days of operation so which one we go will depend on the day of the week.

My default is to avoid Zaanse Schans - the famous windmill complex - as it's overly touristy.

Duration: 30 minutes

Stop At: Monnickendam, Monnickendam, North Holland Province

We'll stop at the unspoiled harbour town of Monnickendam, with architecture largely from the 1600s. Rory will give a guided a tour, and we have the option to stop for coffee and Dutch apple pie.

Duration: 1 hour

Stop At: Droogmakerij de Beemster (Beemster Polder), Rijn Middelburgstraat 1, 1462 NV The Netherlands

We'll visit a Dutch family farm in the Beemster Polder.

Duration: 20 minutes

Stop At: Amsterdam, Amsterdam, North Holland Province

We'll drive through Amsterdam city centre so that you can check that one off your list. If you've already been to Amsterdam and prefer to go direct to the countryside we can do that too.

Duration: 20 minutes

Pass By: Ransdorp, Ransdorp, North Holland Province

We'll drive through the tiny village of Ransdorp.

Stop At: 1026 CD Durgerdam, Netherlands

We'll stop at the dike village of Durgerdam at the edge of the IJsselmeer lake, the largest lake in Western Europe, and Rory (the guide) will explain the eternal Dutch battle with water.

Duration: 10 minutes