Windmills near Amsterdam: where to see them in 2026

Windmills are one of the images travellers come to the Netherlands to find, and you do not have to go far to see them. Amsterdam still has several within the city limits, one of which can be visited with a guide; the Zaanse Schans is about twenty minutes from Central Station, and Kinderdijk, the largest group of windmills in the country, makes a half-day trip from Rotterdam. This guide compares the easiest sites to reach, explains what you will see at each and what to know before you go. Prices are those found in October 2026.

Windmills near Amsterdam at a glance

Site	From Amsterdam	Admission	Best for
Zaanse Schans (Zaandam)	Bus 800 or train, 20 to 30 min	Village free; one mill €7.50	Working windmills, a first visit
Kinderdijk	Train to Rotterdam, then boat or bus	Path free; ticket €21	19 windmills, UNESCO-listed polder landscape
Molen van Sloten (Amsterdam)	Tram 1 or 2	€8 with guided tour	A guided tour without leaving the city
Molen De Gooyer (Amsterdam East)	30 min walk from Central Station	Exterior only	A windmill and a brewery in town
Molen De Adriaan (Haarlem)	Train, 15 min	€7.50	Rebuilt mill on the Spaarne
Molen De Valk (Leiden)	Train, about 35 min	€6	Museum mill in the heart of an art city
Schiedam windmills	Train towards Rotterdam	€8.50 (museum mill)	Among the tallest traditional windmills in the world

Adult prices found in October 2026. Windmills are fragile wooden machines: the stairs are steep and most are not wheelchair accessible.

Zaanse Schans, the working windmills

The Zaanse Schans, in Zaandam, is the most visited site. On the banks of the Zaan, around ten windmills stand in a row beside green wooden houses, workshops and museums. They are not just scenery: several mills still work, grinding pigments, pressing oil or sawing timber. In the 17th and 18th centuries the Zaan region was one of the first industrial areas in Europe, and its windmills powered sawmills, oil mills and spice mills.

The village is free to enter in 2026; the planned admission charge has been postponed until spring 2027 at the earliest.
Mills to visit: De Kat, the paint mill, opens daily from 9am to 4.30pm, and Het Jonge Schaap, a rebuilt sawmill, from 9.30am to 4.30pm. Entry to one mill costs €7.50 (€3.75 for young people); the windmill association's combined ticket (windmill museum and all open mills) costs €15.
Zaanse Schans Ticket: €29.50 (€20 for ages 4 to 17) for two mills of your choice and the participating museums, including the Zaans Museum.

Come early in the morning: from 10am, tour coaches arrive in large numbers. Opening hours, access by bus 800 and by train, and visiting tips are covered on our dedicated page.

Kinderdijk, the great windmill landscape

Kinderdijk, east of Rotterdam, is the largest group of historic windmills in the Netherlands: 19 drainage mills, 16 of them built between 1738 and 1740, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997. Here the mills were not gathered together for visitors: they have stayed where they were, along the canals that drained the polders of the Alblasserwaard.

The path past the windmills is free, on foot or by bike.
The ticket (€21, €9 for ages 4 to 12, 10% off online) gives access to two museum mills, the Wisboom pumping station, a film and a boat trip.
Getting there: train to Rotterdam Centraal, then the WaterShuttle from the Erasmusbrug (about 30 min) or bus 489 from Kralingse Zoom metro station.

Allow a full day from Amsterdam. If you only see one windmill site in the Netherlands, this is the one that best shows the role windmills played in the struggle against water.

Amsterdam's windmills

The Sloten windmill and its visitor building by the water

Amsterdam once had hundreds of windmills on its ramparts and in its polders. Several still stand within the city limits; most are lived in and can only be seen from the outside.

Molen van Sloten, the only mill you can visit

The Molen van Sloten (Akersluis 10), a polder mill from 1847 that is still in working order, is the only windmill in Amsterdam open to the public all year round. Visits are guided, every hour from 10am, and include an audiovisual show on Rembrandt, the son of a Leiden miller, and a scale model on Amsterdam and water.

Open daily from 10am to 5pm (last tour at 4pm); from 2 November to 21 March, 10am to 4pm. Closed on 1 January, 27 April and 25 and 26 December.
€8 per adult, €6.75 for ages 12 to 17 and over 65, €4.50 for ages 4 to 11, guided tour included.
Tram 2 to Oudenaardeplantsoen or tram 1 to Baden Powellweg, then a few minutes on foot.

De Gooyer, the brewery windmill

De Gooyer windmill, on the Funenkade, is the best-known windmill in the centre. This corn mill, set up on this spot in 1814, is described by its owner, Stadsherstel, as the tallest wooden windmill in the Netherlands. It is not open to visitors, but the Brouwerij 't IJ brewery at its foot has a terrace with a close-up view.

The city's other windmills

Riekermolen: a windmill from 1636, moved in 1961 to the banks of the Amstel near the Amstelpark, beside a statue of Rembrandt. It is lived in and not open to visitors, but the ride along the Amstel is pleasant by bike.
De 1200 Roe (Haarlemmerweg 701): a polder mill from 1632, lived in, whose sails often turn; it is not open to visitors as they come down almost to the ground.
Krijtmolen D'Admiraal (Amsterdam North): a chalk mill from 1792, open on open days; in 2026, still on Saturday 10 October from 10am to 3pm and Sunday 20 December from 4pm to 7pm.

Haarlem and Leiden, two windmill towns

De Adriaan windmill on the Spaarne in Haarlem

Fifteen minutes away by train, Haarlem has its windmill right in the centre, on the Spaarne: Molen De Adriaan (Papentorenvest 1a). The guided tour lasts about 45 minutes, in groups of twelve every half hour: book online.

From 1 March to 1 November, daily from 10.30am to 5pm; in winter, Friday to Sunday from 10.30am to 4.30pm.
€7.50 from age 12, €3.50 for ages 5 to 12; children under 5 are not admitted because of the steep stairs.
In 2026 the windmill is covered in scaffolding for repairs, but remains open.

In Leiden, about 35 minutes from Amsterdam, De Valk windmill towers over the Beestenmarkt. Standing 29 metres tall, it dates from 1743 and is the last of the 19 windmills that once lined the ramparts; it has been a museum since 1966 (Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm, €6, free with the Museumkaart). Our Leiden page covers the rest of the city, from the Rapenburg to the museums.

Schiedam, the giant gin windmills

Schiedam's Noordvest canal and its windmills

Next to Rotterdam, Schiedam was the capital of jenever (Dutch gin): its distilleries needed malt, ground by very tall windmills built to catch the wind above the rooftops. Eight are still standing, among the tallest traditional windmills in the world; De Noord, from 1803, reaches 33.3 metres and houses a restaurant.

De Walvisch museum mill (Westvest 229) and National Jenever Museum (Lange Haven 74): Tuesday to Sunday, 11am to 5pm. Mill only €8.50, combined ticket €15, free with the Museumkaart.
Schiedam combines well with Kinderdijk or a day in Rotterdam.

The Keukenhof windmill and National Mill Day

In spring, Keukenhof has its own windmill, open during the tulip season: from its gallery, the view stretches over the bulb fields.

Every year, on the second weekend of May, National Mill Day (Nationale Molendag) opens the doors of a great many windmills across the country, including mills that are usually closed to the public. In 2026 it took place on 9 and 10 May; in Schiedam, that weekend is your chance to climb the tallest mills.

Tips for visiting a windmill

The wind decides: a windmill only turns if there is enough wind and the miller is there. On still days, the sails stay put.
Flat shoes: you climb up very steep miller's ladders; bulky bags get in the way.
Never walk under the sails when the mill is turning, and keep behind the barriers: the sails come down almost to the ground.
Museumkaart: it gives free entry to De Valk windmill and the Schiedam museum mill; see our guide to day trips from Amsterdam for train tickets.