Netherlands Travel Answers

hi, sure you can do both easily. The cheesemarket starts at 10, be there earlier or you may not see a thing. Take a train from Hoorn to Alkmaar (there are 2 per hour at 20 and 50 mins past the hour). Journey takes 25 minutes, costs 4.50 euro. You can walk from the station to the cheesemarket, about 15 mins, very nice walk into the old town center. After your visit to Alkmaar, return to the station and take bus 129, direction Purmerend. Get off the bus at busstop Schermerdijk (bus ride 20 mins). There are 2 buses per hour, at 22 and 52 mins past the hour). The normal rate is 2,07 euro but since you will probably buy a ticket in the bus, it may be about 4 euro. When you get off the bus, it's a 3 minute walk. Info about the windmills at Schermerhorn: museummolen.nl/index.php?lan... For your return trip, do the exact same thing the other way round: bus to Alkmaar, train to Hoorn. In that case, buy a return ticket Hoorn-Alkmaar vv in the morning which saves time. Just 1 small warning: you may find yourself spending more time in Alkmaar than you had planned. It really is nice. For an idea, see my Alkmaar page: "Alkmaar from the inside" - Alkmaar by ATLC

The cheese market during the summer may take you 3/4 of a day. But it's fun to see and worth the time.

3/4 day? Sorry, but no. The actual ceremony is 10-12.30 hrs and they keep to it by council ordonnation. That's because at 12.30 the café's are putting out their chairs and tables. The whole square should be empty by then. However, if you want to be sure, contact the local tourist office: kaasmarkt.nl/content/contact...

The ret of the afternoon after the cheese market is for lunch and exploring the town. You can be out by 3 which basically is 3/4 th of the day.

Some more things to do on my Alkmaar page, Alkmaar - Alkmaar, Netherlands At the tourist office (in the Waag, right where the cheesemarket is) we got a booklet with a description of a city tour, we walked almost for two hours and enjoyed it a lot... Cheers, Dennis

With the great weather we have you might see if you can join a boat tour from for instance the De Rijp village. I envy you, staying at Hoorn. I was there some weeks ago and I just love the town and its harbour. PJ

Thank you all very much for your responses, especially ATLC for your detailed tips. FYI, I just discovered that Hoorn has its own cheese market in the summer on Thursdays. It takes place at 12.30h, as well as 20.00h. I will definitely check it out today. With that being the case, I may just bypass Alkmaar for now as my days are more occupied with visiting my aunt. However, I would still like to try to make some time for the windmill village. Besides the one in Schermerhorn Village are there any others closer to Hoorn? If so, what and where are they located along with train routes. Thank you again!!!

As I said earlier, you can easily spend much more time in Alkmaar. It's a lovely city, as you can see from my Alkmaar page. The question, however, was: can our poster do both cheesemarket and Schermerhorn windmill in one day. My answer is definitely yes! There are windmills in most places in The Netherlands. On the outskirts of Hoorn there is Molen de Krijgsman. It's open on Thurs/Fri/Sat. Details (in Dutch) at http://www.broodbakken.nl/ There's also a lunchroom and a shop. The sympathetic idea behind this is that the people who work in the bakery there are young people with special needs. Molen de Krijgsman Noorderdracht 61 1696 AC Oosterblokker Phone 0229 - 261 471 If you can cycle I'd advise you to borrow your aunt's bike to get there! If not, try this website: http://9292.nl/en It helps you find your way around with public transportation. You can put in your address (where you are staying) and the address of where you are going.

How about a ride with the old steam train to nearby Medemblik; see: "The Hoorn-Medemblik tourist steam train" - Opperdoes Transportation Tip by pieter_jan_v PJ

The small electric boats at de Rijp offer a really nice ride through the village waterways and I have details on my de Rijp pages. The windmills at Schemerhorn by the way are in my opinion the best ones to visit in Holland.

Ah yes, I still want to do that ride! I saw the steam train at Medemblik but didn't have time to board. De Rijp is a lovely, typical Noord-Holland village. 25% of the world whale industry was situated around there. 2 centuries ago, of course...

Another idea: "Museum Broekerveiling" - Zuid-Scharwoude Things to Do Tip by ChielG PJ

Hello again, Today I took the Intercity train from Hoorn to Alkmaar train station and from the nearby bus station went to Schermerhorn windmill village. It was an awesome site to see. I would have loved to check out Alkmaar, but had to visit my sick aunt. I promised her I will return this year or next at which time I will certainly make time to visit Alkmaar along with the other lovely Dutch villages. Thank you all for your informative responses. Much appreciated. Fatima

Welcome! Glad it all worked out.