Amsterdam

Giethoorn and Zaanse Schans Day Tour Small Group Incl. Boat Ride

Badge of ExcellenceAmsterdam, Netherlands
Day Trip to Giethoorn and Zaanse Schans Incl Boat Cruise Max 7P
  • 10 hours (approx.)
  • Pickup offered
  • Mobile ticket
  • Offered in: English

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Overview

It can be easy to forget that an entire country exists outside of Amsterdam, but this small-group tour makes it even easier to get out and see it. A great way to combine visits to two of the Netherlands’ most interesting historical and cultural attractions, Zaanse Schans and Giethoorn, this full-day tour includes everything you need for a good time, from cheese tastings to a boat trip and some windmills.
  • Learn about cheese, clogs, diamonds, and windmills in Zaanse Schans
  • Take a boat cruise around the car-free town of Giethoorn
  • Fun and affordable group trip with a maximum of 19 travelers
  • Includes hotel pickup, transportation, guided tours, and boat cruise

What's Included

  • Air-conditioned vehicle
  • Bottled water
  • Including One Hour Boat Cruise in Giethoorn (13 Euro)
  • All Fees and Taxes
  • Guided Private Tour for Cheese, Wooden Shoes and Diamond Factory
  • Lunch

Meeting and Pickup

You can head directly to the meeting point, or request pickup

Meeting point

  • ibis Amsterdam Centre
    Stationsplein 49, 1012 AB Amsterdam, Netherlands

    This meeting point is 2 minutes walking from Amsterdam Central Station. Please be prepared and wait in front of the hotel from 8:30.

Pickup points

Select a pickup point

Start time

08:30 AM

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

Pickup details

This tour offers hotel pick-up service for certain hotels in Amsterdam. You could check if your hotel is on the pick up list. If not, you could meet us Amsterdam central station, or check your nearest hotel pick up point. The list covers 95% hotels in Amsterdam (we make sure the pick up point is less than 5 minutes walking from your hotel). If your hotel is not on the list, you could write down your hotel name and address, we will check it if it is possible to pick you up from your hotel, or nearest meeting point. Otherwise you could meet us at amsterdam central station. One day before the tour, our tour guide will contact you to confirm your pick up time and location. We pick up between 8:00 - 9:00. If you have any questions, send us an imessage or whatsapp message. It will be much more efficient than calling. Please be prepared and wait in front of your hotel 5 minutes in advance before our arrival. Please note: we don't pick up from the airport area, north side of IJ river and outside highway Ring A10.

What To Expect

Additional Info

  • Confirmation will be received at time of booking
  • Not wheelchair accessible
  • Stroller accessible
  • Service animals allowed
  • Near public transportation
  • Infant seats available
  • Most travelers can participate
  • This tour/activity will have a maximum of 19 travelers

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

  • For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
  • If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.
  • Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.
  • Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.
  • This experience requires good weather. If it’s canceled due to poor weather, you’ll be offered a different date or a full refund.
  • This experience requires a minimum number of travelers. If it’s canceled because the minimum isn’t met, you’ll be offered a different date/experience or a full refund.

Traveler Photos

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Reviews

4.5
36 reviews
Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews
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Reviews by Viator travelers.
Showing 1-10 of 36 reviews
A charming visit
lillian_g, May 2024
The guide/driver was informative and helpful. We love touring Zaanse Schans which was really quiant and oretty. Giethoom was crowded on the day of our visit
GO AGAIN! We Did… 👏🏻
RobertandNancy_D, May 2024
While we had previously visited the windmills, the added wooden clog demo, together with the new attractions at the site made this intentional re-visit WELL worthwhile
Not what I expected
Aimee_A, Jan 2024
The beginning of the tour was nice. We loved seeing the cheese making process and the clogs. I appreciated that the first stop was only a 30 minute ride from London. The tour guide had umbrellas which was nice. The stops were both touristy and did not feel authentic. Although this was a small group tour, my family was most of the tour. There was only 1 additional guest. I asked the guide to delay the tour to 9am from 8:30am so we had more time for breakfast and he refused saying there were others on the tour. He could have had the courtesy of contacting that 1 additional guest to make our morning easier. The second stop on this tour was not worth it at all in my opinion. It was a 1 1/2 hour drive to go to a super sleepy town were everything was closed. We were rushed at lunch because we had to make a boat trip by a certain time only to find out we had the boat completely to ourselves and the time could have been changed. The guide was more of a driver than a guide. We were told we only had a few options for lunch and then found other restaurants to be open. I feel a better experience would have been having lunch pre-ordered and serving it on the boat ride which has tables. The boat ride was quite boring. I would not recommend this tour at least not in the wintertime.
Response from Host, Jan 2024
Dear Aimee, Thank you for your review. We have certain schedule for the tour, we can't change the time just because you have more people. Only private tour is possible, but you didn't book our private tour. It is the same for the boat tour in Giethoorn. Boat has also a time schedule. If you are late for your flight, the flight doesn't wait you even the flight has only you on board. You have to respect rules when you are traveling. Lots of travelers love to go Giethoorn in wintertime because it is so quite, so authentic, it is nice to visit it as local citizen. But your review is so special, you feel one village is touristy, and another village is sleepy.
This trip is the one to take!
barbarajbarnhill, Oct 2023
Our tour guide Leiden was wonderful! He picked us up promptly at our hotel. We met another couple and a family who joined us. The day was VERY RAINY, but we saw everything that was included in our trip. Leiden brought along a large umbrella for each person. He is very knowledgeable and enjoys his work of sharing the history of Amsterdam, it's people and the places we visited. He used our phones to take pictures of us with windmills as the background, wearing pairs of wooden shoes and the wooden shoes in the shape of heart on the building where the demonstration took place. If we bought something, he put the bag in his backpack, so our gifts wouldn't get all wet. We really enjoyed this trip and seeing the beautiful countryside outside Amsterdam. Ask for Leiden, he is an excellent guide!
Fine, but wanted independence
Bree_W, Oct 2023
We got to visit some traditional Dutch places which I loved. What made me give it 3 stars is all the experiences (besides the boat ride) are free and can be enjoyed at your own leisure in the first stop… however, you’re with a group and you’re pace is dependent on others. Which slowed us down significantly and impacted our time to explore ourselves. Made me feel rushed and trapped honestly. I wish they would’ve told us you had a choice to go around. Now the second spot was similar but different. You go on an hour boat ride. But I would’ve rather explored on foot with my time vs being on the boat for an hour. Same thing where I wished it would’ve been communicated I could go off. Otherwise, it’s great transportation and the guides nice. But recommend making it what you want since it’s not limited by a time table persay. Go do you, I wish I had!
Response from Host, Oct 2023
Dear Bree, Thank you for your feedback. If you don't want to follow us and want to discover the village by yourself, be my guest. You could always ask our tour guide to do so. We never force our travelers to do something. The same thing for the second village. If you don't want to join the boat ride, you could speak up. If you don't tell, we don't know what you want. Enjoy your further trip!
Girls Trip
Lauren_M, Sep 2023
Great small group tour. The towns we just beautiful and I think it was one of our favorite days! The drive time was minimal. Instead of driving all day we spent a lot of time at each location.
A Great Day!
Senora_G, Sep 2023
Leidse was the host with the most! He was very engaging, informative, and very funny. This excursion was one of the highlights of me and my son's trip to the Netherlands. We had a very nice time, so much that we didn't want to part ways. Book this trip or you will miss out.
Interesting to see hoy...
JoseA_R, Aug 2023
Interesting to see hoy they make cheese, shoes and the wind mills. Guide was very nice. We had a good time
Picture Perfect
Kyle_S, Jul 2023
This was a great day trip!! Both villages were picture perfect and it was such a relaxing day! Our tour guide, Kai, was helpful and knowledgeable!!
Lovely tour
Jessie_S, Jul 2023
Koen was an excellent guide. The bus was very comfortable. I very much enjoyed both villages. The session at the cheese factory was my favorite. Giethoorn was wonderful. We got to see the village through the boat tour and had plenty of extra time to explore.
Worth the time and money.
Derrick_H, Jun 2023
Interesting history learning of the areas. Very lay back and relaxing riding the boat on the canals and lake .
Wonderful day!!
Donna_T, Jun 2023
Geithoorn had been on my bucket list for at least 15 years! We have come from Boston and Koen, our tour guide, was so kind and knowledgeable and helpful! He even assisted us with our transportation plan for the next day! The Dutch cheese, factory and wooden shoe factory were very entertaining, but Giethoorn was wonderful!
Must visit
Aja, Jun 2023
The tour is on point. Everything went smooth. Liedse was friendly, very informative and helpful. The places were great and worth the visit.
Fabulous day trip
jasneet_s, Jun 2023
Awesome tour and awesome tour guide. Koen reached out a day before and was in constant communication. The tour was informative and we had enough time to explore on our own
Awesome guide and tour!
Ryan_O, Jun 2023
This tour was great from beginning to end. I love that our driver/guide picked groups up at their hotel - that was something that goes a long way when you’re not familiar with the city you’re visiting. For the tour itself, our guide had audio players so we could hear him speak as we walked through all the places we were visiting - this was amazing. He had a great sense of humour and was a very informative guide. 10/10 would recommend.
Beautifully Scenery and Picturesque Towns
Lori_S, May 2023
What a lovely day the five of us had. It was nice to get out of Amsterdam and see some of the countryside. Zaanse Schans was fantastic, so fascinating to see wooden shoes being made and who knew the block of wood held so much water. The cheesemaking demo and especially sampling was delicious and the windmills made for a picturesque scene. Giethoorn was so pretty and the canals are much more narrow than in Amsterdam which made our canal cruise so scenic. Koen, our driver and guide from Amsterdam as marvellous. He gave us lots of background information on the sites during our drive and answered all of our questions. Thank you again Koen for helping to make this a memorable day.
Great introduction to the Netherlands
Jamila_T, May 2023
Our tour guide, Koen, was very knowledgeable about the areas we visited on the tour and went above and beyond to make this a fun and memorable time. We were collected and dropped off at our hotel despite it not being on the list, and squeezed in all of the itinerary even after a half-hour traffic delay. This tour is great if you want to get the most out of Zaanse Schans and Giethoorn comfortably in a day. You'll get plenty of free time to take in the sights as well as a guided tour of the highlights. Highly recommended if you like a good balance of both.
Even the rain couldn't ruin this amazing tour!
Josephine_C, Mar 2023
WE LOVED THIS TOUR. Koen our tour guide was amazing. We spent about 2.5 hours at Zaanse Schans (be sure to go up in one of the windmills for an amazing experience) and about 2 hours at Giethoorn. Between the two, we drove around the entire IJsselmeer lake - a gorgeous view even in a slight drizzle. Plus, Koen takes wonderful photos, as you'll see here. Finally, do not miss the distillery at Zaanse Schans behind the wooden shoe building - Proeflokaal De Tweekoppidge Phoenix. Try the Conjum or the Friendship Caramel Vodka and take some home because you can only buy these delicious liqueurs there!
The windmills and the...
Safini_M, Nov 2022
The windmills and the peaceful Giethoorn is really relaxing and healing for me. It's was a great trip and better than using the public transport.
Perfect day and weather
Elizabeth_H, Oct 2022
Loved Giethoorn cruise and houses Our guide Koen was very informative and went beyond his role with one of our party

From $131.83

Price varies by group size

up to 24 hours before the experience starts (local time)

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