Amsterdam to Zaanse Schans Train: A Step-by-Step Guide

Zaanse Schans is the easiest village day trip from Amsterdam to do on your own, because a direct train stops a short walk from the windmills. The picture below shows the whole trip. Volendam, Edam and Marken take a bus and a ferry instead, and Step 4 explains them.

Step 1: Take the Amsterdam to Zaanse Schans train

The train from Amsterdam Centraal to Zaandijk Zaanse Schans takes 17 to 19 minutes and has no change. According to the Zaanse Schans website, the trip takes around 17 minutes. In the NS journey planner, the Sprinter, the slower local train, runs 17 to 19 minutes. NS is the Dutch national railway.

A single ticket costs €4.20 in second class at the full 2026 fare. NS changes its prices every 1 January. In NS's planner, 3 to 4 trains left per hour on a weekday morning, mostly from platforms 5a and 5b, so you will not wait long. Check the departure board at Centraal for your own platform.

Pro Tip Pay with a contactless bank card if NS accepts yours, because a single-use chip card from a machine adds €1.60 to the €4.20 fare.

Get off at Zaandijk Zaanse Schans, the station both NS and the village name. The Zaanse Schans website tells visitors to plan the trip at 9292.nl or ns.nl, so use either one on the day.

Step 2: Walk from the station and choose your windmills

The village is a 15-minute walk from Zaandijk Zaanse Schans station, according to the Zaanse Schans website. From 1 April to 1 October, a bicycle taxi also runs between the station and the village. The site says you can cycle to the Zaanse Schans, but not on the site itself, because the bridges and paths are too narrow.

The village is free to enter every day of the year. The Zaanse Schans site says most places are open daily between 9:00 and 17:00, and hours change with the season. The windmills and some museums charge an entrance fee, which you pay at each one.

Here are the prices the official pages show:

• Paint mill De Kat costs €7.50 for adults and €3.75 for ages 4 to 17. It is open daily from 9:00 to 16:30, and the I amsterdam City Card gives free entry.
• The Zaans Museum costs €17 for adults, and Museumkaart holders and I amsterdam City Card holders enter free.
• The Zaanse Schans Card costs €29.50 for adults. It includes the Zaans Museum, the Weaver's House, Museum Zaanse Tijd, the Windmill Museum, two mills of your choice and the digital audio tour.

Paying per mill is cheaper if you only want one or two. The card makes sense when you also want the Zaans Museum, because the museum alone costs €17. The Zaanse Schans guide on this site lists the mills and the tours that go there.

Step 3: Compare the train with the bus and the car

The train is the best way to reach Zaanse Schans, and the village's own website says so. It reports that EBS buses leave from Amsterdam Centraal, but that "there are currently detours due to works in progress". It adds that you should take the train instead.

The same page gives no bus line number and no bus travel time. No operator page we could open gives a bus 391 time or fare either, so this article gives none. Treat any bus as a trip you plan on the day in the journey planner.

Driving costs more than the train before you leave the car park. The parking fee for a passenger car is €15.00 for the whole day, you cannot pay by the hour, and you pay by debit or credit card only. Public transport is the site's advice, because parking is limited.

Key Takeaway The train costs €4.20 and takes about 17 minutes, while parking alone costs €15.00 for the whole day.

The cheapest way to a village is usually the one the village itself recommends.

Step 4: Reach Volendam, Edam and Marken by bus and ferry

You cannot take a train to Volendam or Edam. The Edam-Volendam tourist board says in its practical information for Edam that there is no train connection. EBS buses leave from the IJ side of Amsterdam Centraal, on lines 310, 312, 314, 316 and 318. Line 317 runs only in rush hour.

Line 316 is the one that serves both towns. In the MeerPlus timetable valid from 20 October 2024, a weekday bus leaving Centraal at 10:10 reached Volendam Centrum at 10:35. The same bus reached Edam Busstation at 10:48. Weekday buses left about every 15 minutes in the morning.

The 2024 timetable is more than a year old, so treat the minutes as a guide. A MeerPlus notice says line 316 runs every 15 minutes on Sunday daytime. Check the current times before you go.

For Marken, take the ferry from Volendam. The Volendam Marken Express listing says the crossing takes about 30 minutes. An adult pays €10.00 one way or €16.00 return, and a bicycle costs €2.00 one way. The listing says times vary by season and gives the company's address as Haven 39 in Volendam.

No official source gives the bus and ferry time as one door-to-door trip, so add up your own: bus, a walk to the harbour, the ferry, and the way back. Expect a long day.

A full-day tour to Zaanse Schans, Edam, Volendam and Marken covers all four stops by bus. It costs from €33 per person for 6.5 to 8 hours. You get the bus, a guide in English or Spanish, a visit to Zaanse Schans, a stop in Edam, entry to the cheese farm at Volendam, entry to the clog workshop and a visit to the fishing village of Marken. Food and drinks are not included.

Step 5: Decide between going alone and a guided tour

Go alone if you only want Zaanse Schans, because the train is cheap and quick. The trip costs €4.20 each way plus whatever mills you choose, and you leave when you like. A guide is worth paying for when you want the stories behind the mills, or when you want Volendam and Marken in the same day. Day tours out of Amsterdam compare more trips of this kind.

The Best Travel Destinations' count of GetYourGuide listings for the Amsterdam area in October 2026 found 37 that go to Zaanse Schans, and the cheapest is €16.88 per person. The village itself is free to walk into.

Two of those listings suit a reader who wants the village only:

• The guided Zaanse Schans windmills and cheese tour costs from €16.88 per person. Tour Company runs it, and GetYourGuide shows a rating of 4.4 from 5,223 reviews. The listing includes bus transport, pickup and drop-off, a clog-making demonstration, a visit to a cheese farm and a cheese tasting. Entry inside the windmills and the Zaans Museum is not included.
• The Zaanse Schans small-group tour costs from €43 per person. Zaan Tours runs it, and the rating is 4.8 from 2,573 reviews. You meet at LOT61 at Oosterdoksstraat 4, by Amsterdam Centraal. The listing says windmill entry fees, a local guide, round-trip transport and a clog-making demonstration are included. It shows 3 hours, though its title says 3.5, and it does not state a group size.

The cheaper tour lists three meeting points, and which one you get depends on the option you pick, so check yours before you book. The small-group tour is in English only. The day tour runs in English or Spanish, is run by Guides and Tours, and starts at De Ruijterkade 153. It has a rating of 4.8 from 5,713 reviews. All three show free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.

None of the three suits everyone. The listings say the Zaanse Schans tours are not suitable for people with mobility impairments, and the day tour's bus is not adapted for wheelchairs. If you use a wheelchair, check the walk from the station yourself, because no official page used here describes it.

The train is the wrong choice if you want Volendam and Marken in one day with no timetable work. The tour is the wrong choice if you want a long, slow morning in the mills. Pick the train for the village alone, and the day tour for all four places.