Zaandam

Details

Category: North Holland - places to visit

Zaandam is a medium-sized city just north of the Dutch capital of Amsterdam. It is just a short journey from Amsterdam.

Zaandam is part of the municipality of Zaanstad (consisting of 7 towns of which Zaandam is the biggest), in the Zaan Region.

Directly outside the train station Zaandam is a shopping esplanade (currently being completely rebuilt), bike rental, taxis and a hotel. It takes a ten minutes walk through the rather dull shopping esplanade (called Gedempte Gracht) to get to the slightly more atmospheric area where you can find the pubs and restaurants. That area, with streets like the Zuiddijk and Prins Hendrikkade, is located at the waterfront of the river Zaan.

In all honesty, the centre of Zaandam is not very special, except for a few nice pubs and a venue with live music. The centre is currently a big construction site, as the town council is putting a big effort in reconstructing and rebuilding the city centre under the name "project Inverdan". This project consists of the building of a complete new town hall adjecent to the railway station, a brand new hotel which looks like a pile of wooden houses from the Zaan Region, a shopping mall/apartment complex (Hermitage) and bringing the water back in the Gedempte Gracht shopping mall.

You can explore the typical Dutch landscape with completely flat meadows and windmills around the city. The Zaan Region is possibly the oldest industrial area in the world (as it was not driven by steam but by wind), and it is shown in many old buildings.

VVV Agentschap Zaandam, Ebbehout 31 (near the railway station), ☎ +31 20 201-8800. 24 hours. This tourist information centre has cycling maps, hiking paths and advice on where to go in the region.

Map of Zaandam

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