Holland's Best Cheese, Tulips, and Windmills

Edam

Edam is a beautiful little canal-side town full of drawbridges, cheese, gardens, and picturesque canal houses. It’s a nice town to relax in and stroll around for a couple hours. In summer, the town reenacts a cheese market for the tourists.

Alkmaar Cheese Market

The cheese market is why visitors flock to Alkmaar. This market is one of my most memorable cultural experiences in Holland. The elaborate demonstration shows how the cheese is weighed and sold. The bidding process is carried out by hand clapping to bid the price down or up. My favorite part was watching the porters carry the balls of cheese to the Weigh House. Girls dressed in traditional Dutch clothing walk around offering cheese samples to the crowd. Be sure to get there early for a good spot!

Kinderdijk

Windmills are abundant in Holland’s countryside, but to see 19 water-pumping windmills at once, head to Kinderdijk! This village holds the largest concentration of old windmills in the Netherlands. The windmills at Kinderdijk even operate on Saturday afternoons in summer.

Keukenhof Gardens

The world’s largest garden is one of the most spectacular sights I’ve seen in Europe. Major Dutch growers plant customized plots of bulbs (approximately 7 million) and visitors eagerly await the colorful display in spring. After visiting the gardens, I enjoyed exploring the countryside between Haarlem and Leiden for even more fields of tulips. Spring is the time to visit Holland!

Gouda

Gouda was a must on my cheese tour of Holland. I even learned how to correctly pronounce it (khow-dah). The town hall in the center of the main square is Holland’s oldest town hall. Don’t miss the Red Lion Windmill or the Weighing House. Gouda also has a cheese market in summer. Walk to the back of the town hall to sample the cheese!