NORTH OF AMSTERDAM
Map: North of Amsterdam Day Trips
▲Hoorn, Enkhuizen, and the Historic Triangle
While cities sprawl to the south, the idyllic area north of Amsterdam is wonderfully dotted with Dutch clichés: cutesy cobbled villages, gently spinning windmills, and locals who you can imagine will actually wear wooden shoes from time to time. This region holds some of the quaintest easy day trips from the city. (While you could stay the night in some of these towns—Edam is the most tempting for its village cuteness—side-tripping from Amsterdam is so simple that I wouldn’t bother.)
Some of these northern destinations once fronted the Zuiderzee (“South Sea”), but generations of land reclamation reshaped this part of the country, converting the stormy inlet into a pair of tame, freshwater lakes: the Markermeer and the IJsselmeer. To deepen your understanding of these places, read the “Taming the Zuiderzee” sidebar (see here).
DESTINATIONS
Each of these is reachable from Amsterdam by public transportation: train, bus, or boat. But if you want to explore Flevoland, it’s much easier by car.
▲Alkmaar and Zaanse Schans
Allow a half-day for either destination.
Alkmaar: This likeable town is jammed with gawking tour groups on Friday mornings (late March-Sept) and Tuesday evenings (July-Aug), when it holds ye olde traditional cheese market (worth ▲▲).
Zaanse Schans Open-Air Museum: Packed with windmills (and greedy shops), this museum is easy to reach from central Amsterdam (15-minute train ride plus 15-minute walk). Or you can visit it on your way back from Alkmaar (40 minutes by train, then a 15-minute walk).
▲▲Edam, Volendam, and Marken
Figure on a day (leaving Amsterdam by 10:00) to visit these picturesque villages in the region aptly called Waterland. If you have only a half-day, choose Edam.
Edam: Mellow out like a hunk of aging cheese in this quiet town. While it’s short on sights, the tiny main square and peaceful canals will win you over. The Edam Museum is closed Monday and its cheese market is held Wednesday morning.
Volendam: A transit hub for the Waterland region, this workaday town has an extremely touristy seafront promenade and a boat across to Marken.
Marken: Once an island and now connected by a causeway to the mainland, this time-warp fishing village preserves traditional buildings and lifestyles.
▲Hoorn, Enkhuizen, and the Historic Triangle
The two towns of Hoorn and Enkhuizen, on the former Zuiderzee, combine for a day of fascinating sightseeing (leave Amsterdam in the morning for a train to Hoorn, explore that town and its museum, then train over to Enkhuizen for the Zuiderzee Museum).
Hoorn: This strollable town boasts the fascinating Westfries Museum—a creaky old house crammed with an engaging collection from the Dutch golden age (may be closed for renovation during your visit; if so, a temporary exhibit should be on view).
Enkhuizen: This town is worth a visit for its excellent open-air Zuiderzee Museum (worth ▲▲, outdoor museum closed Nov-March), with an emphasis on seaside lifestyles.
Historic Triangle: To slow things down even more, you can connect Hoorn and Enkhuizen with this time-consuming but quaint loop trip via historic steam train and boat.
Flevoland
Worthwhile only by car, the reclaimed polder land around the former Zuiderzee makes for a fun day of joyriding—cross the sea on the Houtribdijk road, get a dose of the youngest (1986) province of Flevoland (its capital, Lelystad, is home to some land-reclamation museums), and visit Schokland, an old fishing island left high and dry by the draining of the Zuiderzee.