Boat trip Zaan region

The center of Zaandam received a controversial metamorphosis at the beginning of the 21st century. Images of the new town hall, the stacked house hotel and the shopping canal, inspired by traditional Zaanse timber construction, are spread all over the world. You can shop here with a touch of cultural history. In the chains and boutiques along the Gedempte Gracht or in the unique shops along the Westside.

For even more history, take the Zaandam City Walk, visit the Czar Peter House or see the center through the eyes of the French impressionist Monet. More on https://www.zaans.nl/nl/ontdek-de-zaanstreek/stadshart-zaandam

The Zaanse Schans is a unique part of the Netherlands, full of wooden houses, mills, barns and workshops, where you can imagine yourself in the Holland of the 18th and 19th centuries. See how a sawmill works, watch a weaver or make chocolate yourself. Together with museums such as the Zaans Museum and the Verkade Experience, the stories about Zaan history are brought to life.

Are you coming to a world-famous part of Holland? The Holland of windmills, industries, green wooden houses and Dutch icons such as Albert Heijn, Duyvis, Honig and Verkade. Come to the Zaans Museum at the Zaanse Schans. A visit includes a free audio tour!

Verkade Experience. The Verkade Experience is located in the middle of the Zaans Museum, an experience for young and old! Here you imagine yourself in an early twentieth-century chocolate and biscuit factory, where the original machines are still running and the history of Verkade comes to life.

Claude Monet In 1871, the world-famous French painter Claude Monet visited the Zaan region and was so inspired that he made at least 25 paintings here. In the Zaans Museum you can see De Voorzaan and Westerhem and an interactive presentation with all his Zaan works.

More on Zaans Museum en de Verkade Experience

The Czar Peter House is one of the oldest houses in the Netherlands. Peter the Great lived in this house during his stay in the Netherlands in 1697. The tsar came to the Zaan region especially to study shipbuilding.

The museum is a wooden house that has been converted by a stone roof. The wooden house was built in 1632, making it one of the oldest wooden houses in the Netherlands. It has been preserved due to the fact that Peter the Great inhabited it for 8 days in 1697 during his stay in the Netherlands.