IS ZAANSE SCHANS A *TOURIST TRAP*? (netherlands travel guide)

In this episode, Michelle and Alex explore the Zaanse Schans, a beautiful open air museum about 20 minutes north of Amsterdam. Is this TikTok-famous park actually worth a trip or is it just like the infamous €10 stroopwafels at Van Wonderen in Amsterdam: nothing but a tourist trap?

Episode 141 · Filmed on July 24, 2024 · Zaandijk, The Netherlands

⚙️ Our filming gear (these are affiliate links and support our channel):

0:00 What are we doing here?
0:40 Oh no, what have we done?!
1:21 Zaans Museum
2:49 Verkade Experience
4:17 What is Zaanse Schans?
4:44 SO MANY TOURISTS!
4:54 We need a drink (the Polderwandeling)
6:02 Wow, the food here is actually good
6:24 The first windmill of the day
7:33 The first Albert Heijn store!
8:01 The history of Zaanse Schans
8:51 More windmills and an old Zaans song
9:53 The largest windmill panorama
10:38 THEY LOVE THE STROOPWAFELS
11:30 THEY LOVE THE CHEESE
11:52 The strange history of the Duivekater
13:31 An old spice mill
14:14 The oldest building at Zaanse Schans
14:32 De Hoop op d’Swarte Walvis
15:30 We're obsessed with this right now
16:06 So... is Zaanse Schans worth it? (part one)
16:49 What did we get to eat?
17:21 Zaanse mustard soup *so good!*
18:13 So... is Zaanse Schans worth it? (part two)
19:00 WE FORGOT SOMETHING!
19:40 Wrap up

#netherlands #expatlife #zaanseschans

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WHO IS BUNCHARTED?

We're Michelle and Alex, an American expat couple living abroad in the Netherlands. 🇳🇱

In 2020, we quit our jobs to travel the world, and... well, that didn't happen. So in 2022, we decided to make an even BIGGER change: to pack up our lives (and our cats 🐈) and move from Austin, Texas, in the United States, to the Netherlands. Subscribe for new videos like this every week!

[w.hartman]

In the short time that you have been in the Netherlands, you have seen more of the country than most Dutch people themselves👍

[Rimpelmans]

As far as I know those small windmills were not made to make a tiny amount of coco, but were made to pump water out of the polder. My father has pictures of my childhood home in the early 20th century with one next to it. When I was living there it was already replaced by an electric "gemaal" a few 100 meters down the road though.

[hvrijsse]

Nice that you liked it. I was born and raised there. The small windmill is a "Schelpenmolen" - it crushed sea shells into smaller pieces that were used on roads.

[kristlummi]

We visited Kinderdijk last week and we loved it so much more than we expected to. Learned so much about the windmills and got to tour one which was incredibly impressive.

[daviddevos]

Je kan ook nog het Zuiderzeemuseum bezoeken. Daar heb je denk ik meer aan dan aan de Zaanse Schans.

[guidokreeuseler]

What's really fun about the Zaanse Schans is that people from the area around it also just go there when they want a little outing not too far from home when it's nice out. Seriously, I'm positively certain that there are Zaankanters whose favorite Pancake Place is (the?) one on the Zaanse Schans.
Also, the village itself is just "open", no entree-fee or ticket required, so if you're in the neighbourhood, you can just go there if you like to get chalk or cheese, a stroopwafel or oldschool candy.

[dikkiedik]

This was great fun... I live close by. It was my playground when it was built. Some of the houses came from a street in the village where I live. I walked through the street to school. I have ancestry that developed the process of hulling barley with a windmill. I think you missed the production processes in the windmills. The windmills and houses are originals but relocated to Zaanse Schans. The locations where the windmills stand today were originally occupied by other windmills that caught fire or were demolished.
I love the way you liked the windmill panorama painting. Frans Mars and my grandmother were cousins, so I share some ancestry with him. I met him a couple of times. He was also one of the founders of De Zaansche Molen society for preservation of windmills. I have some work of him too.
I would have loved to guide you a bit there, maybe next time.

[LorenzoPoulainDrums]

I loved this video!
I'm from De Zaanstreek. Our history is very fun to know about!
Thanks for checking out a bit of it 🙂

Family of me even lived in the house right in front of Mosterdmolen De Huisman, next to the antique museum. Which was quite interesting, because of all the tourists.

Oh and.. yeah, the Duivekater needed some butter.
Duivekater is top tier 😁

[BabzV]

Weet je wat zo leuk is Alex en Michelle aan jullie videos, natuurlijk jullie twee 😁, maar al die leuke anekdotes van m'n landgenoten over plekken in Nederland die ik ken en ook onbekend zijn voor me.

Thanks for another good one guys! 😃🌷

[norseman]

I was there in mid-June and it was great. The weather was perfect and the crowd size was pleasant.

[smotz]

het eerste kleine molentje is een poldermolen. bedoeld om delen van de polder droog te malen. aan de overkant van de Zaan is het Czaar Peterhuisje. niet veel te zien maar historisch zeer belangrijk.

[WimVeen]

It's a beautiful place the Zaanse Schans. I should go there again, cause alot has changed throughout the years. Thanks for showing!

[ruudvanwuyckhuise]

One of your best videos. So natural.

love you guys. Van harte welkom in Nederland. People like you we can't have enough. Goed gedaan Alex, goed gedaan Michelle.

[peterf]

M: "Good luck making inappropriate jokes today."
A: "I do love a challenge."
We can sense the pain it took to visit such a touristy area, but the sheer duty to buncharted2 obviously ruled the day. 😀
Your devotion to see it all, and do it all is to be respected. Cheers on the Patreon. It's actually a guilt-relief to be able to reimburse you for the vast amount of entertaining content you guys create. Also, nice to flip the script and see the silver lining of the good side to Zaanse Schans... as usual even the most touristy things in NL still have a core value that can't be denied.

[rafierafie]

Thank you for reminding me of the existence of duivekater. I'm gonna have to try to make it myself sometime.
You were right that you should eat it with some butter on top. Also it's said that it tastes better when it's at least a day old.

[JasonRamosNJ]

Weather was amazing on your day! I will be visiting late August. Its my 12th visit to the NL but always find something new to do! We are coming to a WWE wrestling show in Rotterdam. I have to squeeze in Zaanse Schans! Thank you for your videos!

[KlaasSimon]

The little windmills are ä "Weidemolen". They were placed in the meadows as small watermills, to pump water out of the ditches.
My mother-in-law, lived on the other side of the Zaan. So we visited the Zaanse Schans often. But we still have to visit the Zaanse Molenhouse.
You can see a lot of small "Openluchtmuseums". In my neighbourhood even 4, Nijbeets (how the peatworkers lived), Damwoude, Ezinge and Orvelte. All worth visiting.

[jackbpace]

I really want to try that mustard soup now.

[Rimpelmans]

This week's CGI budget was well spend on that exploding frietje. 😂

[sanderdeboer]

Next time visit Zaandam as well, obviously the famous hotel with the zaanse huisjes next to the train station. An extreme toerist hotspot these days.

You can visit the old Verkade factory which now houses our library, a school for backers (where you can buy and eat the things the students have made), plus a restaurant next to the zaan. And it is opposite the still working Verkade factory where they make Sultana.

And visit the Monet sites including the blue house which is also near the Tsar Peter museum. In the Monet atelier you can find replicas of all his paintings of Zaandam.