Volendam
- Address:Volendam
- Hours:Open daily
- Admission:Free
2:22 PM Monday, May 21
Passing clouds. Mild.
7 day forecast »
For a glimpse into the past, and a drive along the low-lying fields and windmills of North Holland, Volendam is an ideal day trip destination from Amsterdam. Too cute to be true, the quaint fishing village surrounds a picture-postcard harbor lined with wooden houses, where locals still wear traditional Dutch clogs, aprons and bonnets.
Historically, Volendam’s claim to fame was as the harbor for the neighboring town of Edam. More recently, it’s easy to see why artists like Picasso and Renoir were drawn here to paint scenes of the harbor lined with steep-roofed fishermen’s houses, canals and drawbridges.
Today, tranquil streets lined with gabled homes run back from the boat-filled harbor, and the port is fringed with souvenir shops and Dutch cafes. Take a stroll away from the water to get a sense of old Volendam, and drop into the town’s museum to see traditional costumes, harbor paintings, maritime paraphernalia and a massive collection of cigars.
Lunchtime in Volendam is a seafood banquet fresh from the sea, including smoked cod, eels and herring. Order salmon with dill or a bouillabaisse seafood stew in a traditional hotel restaurant.
Latest Reviews All Volendam Reviews »
We are giving the maximum rating to this tour in spite of the fact that we were really misfortunate in this case.
On Friday, when our tour was scheduled, we managed to miss the bus from the very first stop in the village of Marken. It was both ours and the guide's fault as she didn't communicate the hour to return to the bus in both spoken and written form (as our next guide would) and we got carried away with the cheese and wooden clog presentations, plus the shopping in the store and therefore we missed the departure of the tour bus by five minutes! We had to return to Amsterdam by ourselves and we missed pretty much of the rest of the tour.
But, fortunately for us, when we came back to Amsterdam, we went straight to the agency office and the lady in charge proved to be sympathetic to us (it seems that there are a lot of people who actually miss the tour bus during this trip) and she offered us vouchers for the next day's tour, with no extra charges!
Therefore, we give the agency a high five!
The next day's tour was great and in spite of the windy (cold) weather, we managed to stick to our guide like glue and we didn't miss anything. It was preatty rushed at the Zaanse Schans windmills, but this happened because that day was a Sunday and it was really crowded there!
The trip by boat was rather amazing, with seagulls following us all the way.
Marken and Volendam are two fairy tale villages worth visiting!
Not to mention, our extremely organized guide who managed to keep everybody in place!
Loved this excursion!!Make sure you'll take the 6 hour tour,you'll have more time to enjoy both beautiful villages Marken and Volendam and the windmills of course!!!one hour makes big difference!!The boat trip was perfect too!!!!
Continue Reading »Practical Info
Volendam is on Gouwzee Bay, 22 km (13.5 mi) northeast of Amsterdam. You can easily get here from the capital by bus. The nearby fishing village of Marken lies across the bay, linked to the mainland by a causeway and to Volendam by a 45-minute ferry ride.
Behind Volendam, heading inland a few kilometers/miles, you’ll come to the famous cheese town of Edam.
