When thinking of the Netherlands, two images popped into my head: tulips and windmills. Matt had looked up a visit to Kinderdijk from Rotterdam, but we decided it probably wasn’t in the cards for us because it would be an insanely expensive uber ride. So, we called it a loss and had moved on until our friend Tessa talked about taking a day trip to Bruges, Belgium and making a stop along the way at the UNESCO protected windmills of Kinderdijk!
NEED TO KNOW FOR KINDERDIJK WINDMILLS
THERE ARE 19 KINDERDIJK WINDMILLS – these windmills are connected by strips of land within canals and you can walk along this path to the different windmills. These windmills were built in the mid-1700’s and have stood the test of time.
COST OF ADMISSION TO WALK AROUND KINDERDIJK WINDMILLS – Free!!! I love things that are affordable and free is about as affordable as it gets!
COST TO TOUR ONE OF THE KINDERDIJK WINDMILLS – Yes, you can tour the inside of these historic windmills. The price is: ages 0-4: free, 4-13: €5.50, 13+ €8. So, it’s very reasonably priced.
HOURS OF OPERATION AT KINDERDIJK WINDMILLS – November – March: 11am – 4pm daily // April – October 9am to 5:30pm daily – the foot/bike path is open at all times! Holiday hours may vary.
DAY TRIP FROM AMSTERDAM? – If you’re interested in a day tour, you can do so from Amsterdam with an addition stop in The Hague!
THE HISTORY OF KINDERDIJK WINDMILLS
The Kinderdijk Windmills are located where the Lek and Noord rivers come together and creates a polder. I had never heard the word polder before visiting Kinderdijk windmills, so in case you’ve never heard of it either, according to Merriam Webster it’s a “tract of low land (as in the Netherlands) reclaimed from a body of water (such as the sea)”. And that, simply put, explains why the windmills were built – to reclaim the land that often was flooded by the two rivers. These 19 windmills were built to help control those water levels. Although the mills are still in great shape, they’ve been retired. Now automated pumps control the levels, but these beautiful pieces of history still stand.
One of the interesting things about the current usage of the Kinderdijk windmills is that most of them are inhabited! How cool is that? People live in these 350+ year old beauties! And not only that, but many open them up for you to see the inside. Also, in recent history (1997) this site became an UNESCO World Heritage Site!
Our Visit to Kinderdijk Windmills
As I mentioned before, our visit to the Kinderdijk windmills was a stop on a day trip to Belgium. Because of that we were there super early. That meant all we were able to do was walk along the walking + biking path. We visited in mid-April, so it was still quite cool out, but that also meant we got to see it with this awesome fog coming up off the water. One benefit to getting here before it opened, though, is getting a stellar parking spot. We were able to park exceptionally close to the walking path!
I’m so glad that we were able to visit the Kinderdijk watermills because watermills are truly an iconic site in the Netherlands. These beauties show off that traditional style and share a slice of history with the visitors. When we’re back in the area, it would be fun to visit again and get to tour one of the windmills.
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2 Comments
wattwherehow
January 21, 2019 at 8:35 pmThey look even more magical in the dark of winter. Nice shots!
Meghan
February 4, 2019 at 2:03 pmWow, those photos of the windmills in the fog are fantastic! Also, that really is so cool that many of them are inhabited!!