Day Trip from Rotterdam: Kinderdijk Windmill Village
Kinderdijk is a village just up the river from Erasmus Bridge in Rotterdam and is a UNESCO World Heritage site. While staying in Rotterdam, I took a day to travel to Kinderdijk and explore this iconic windmill village.
The majority of Netherlands is actually below sea level and the Dutch have been successfully managing water for centuries. You can learn about the Dutch water management systems and take in the beautiful windmills of Kinderdijk!
You can walk or bike around Kinderdijk for free, which a lot of local families do on a nice day. There is a path along the water with windmills on either side. Even on a cloudy day, it is a beautiful view. Most of the Kinderdijk windmills were built in 1740.
How to Get There
My hostel in Rotterdam organized weekly day trips to Kinderdijk – this is actually how I found out about this nearby village! Taking a tour to Kinderdijk simplifies the task of getting there, but you can easily visit without a tour.
I took the waterbus from Erasmusbrug which was super easy. The ride is only about half an hour and you take a direct route – no stops! There are a couple of other waterbus routes, including one with an earlier stop if bringing a bike. This is a simple way to travel if you are visiting and don’t have a vehicle.
Another option is to drive – the drive is roughly half an hour as well. I’ve read that parking may be an issue when driving.
Museummolens
I highly recommend paying to visit the museummolens, or museum mills. At the beginning of the path, the auxiliary pumping station contains a multiscreen movie which explains the function of windmills.
Nederwaard Museum Mill is the first one you will come across that you can go inside. The museum mill is staged to show what it looked like for a family to live inside. The Hoek Family actually inhabited this mill starting in the mid 1700s.
Further down the path, the second windmill you can visit is Blokweer Museum Mill. This museum mill was built in 1630, older than the surrounding mills. At this museum mill, they have a garden with ANIMALS to show the life of miller. The animals personally excited me a lot, especially the two goats named Milly and Molly. 😀 Despite my excitement, the goats did not seem very interested in my affection. *Sniff sniff*
Small destinations are so underrated! Would you visit the Kinderdijk windmills?
5 Comments
Kara Simone
Sounds like a fun trip!! It must be gorgeous there. I hope to visit The Netherlands one day!
Kara – theupsideksb.Wordpress.com
Jenn
What a beautiful place! I love the idea of a Waterbus, and of course the windmills are gorgeous too.
simplyjolayne
I love all of the windmills. And taking a waterbus instead of the train or regular bus just seems to add to the experience.
jeanine
This is a fantastic place and love the water bus, hopefully we will get back to The Netherlands soon
GrowingAnOnlineBusiness
What a lovely trip, Holland is just so pretty, thanks for sharing.