You're not just looking at windmills. You're floating through the birthplace of the industrial world, a river valley that once powered more machines than anywhere else on earth.
In the 1600s, this single stretch of the Zaan ran over 1,000 windmills supplying the entire world with timber, spices, paint and whale oil. It's the place where the modern world was invented.
During your 25 minute cruise you will see:
All 10 UNESCO windmills of Zaanse Schans, seen from the water closer than any path gets you. The world's earliest industrial cacao and chocolate factories, still standing on the riverbank. The whale hunting facilities that once made this region the oil capital of Europe. Traditional Zaanse Houses and the tea houses where merchants traded goods from across the Dutch empire. And a few surprises your guide has saved for the water.
Your skipper tailors every cruise to the group on board. Everyone leaves knowing something they didn't expect to learn.