The working, inhabited village Zaanse Schans functions as an open-air windmill gallery on the Zaan river. Popular with tourists, its mills are completely authentic and operated with enthusiasm and love. You can explore the windmills at will, seeing the vast moving parts first-hand.
The impressive Zaans Museum shows how wind and water were harnessed.
Trains (€3.10, 17 minutes, four per hour) run from Amsterdam Centraal Station (direction Alkmaar) to Koog Zaandijk, from where it's a well-signposted 1.5km walk.
The mill with paint pigments for sale will delight artists – you can see the actual materials used in producing Renaissance masterpieces turned into powders. Ask to see the storeroom where ground pigments are for sale.
The other buildings have been brought here from all over the country to re-create a 17th-century community. There's an early Albert Heijn market, a cheese maker, and a popular clog factory that turns out wooden shoes as if grinding keys (which has a surprisingly interesting museum). The engaging pewtersmith will explain the story behind dozens of tiny figures while the soft metal sets in the moulds.
Once you've finished exploring the village, take a boat across the Zaan river. It runs on demand.
