Paintmill De Kat — Attraction in Zaanstad

The Paint-mill - De Kat is definitely worth seeing from inside too, as long as the windmill is working. It costs 5€ to get in. This windmill, "De Kat" is the only remaining working windmill in the world which makes paint. It was built in 1646 as an oil mill. In 1782 the mill was destroyed by fire but the mill was rapidly rebuilt again. The mill was in use until 1904 and then was partially demolished. The mill is grinding raw materials such as chalk to make pigments for paints in the traditional way. The mill is owned by the Vereniging De Zaansche Molen. Close by Amsterdam, you can get there by train, bus or cycling. It is a lovely place to visit if you want to see and experience some of the Dutch country side with a typical windmills, ditches, wooden houses, warehouses, ditches and fields. What you see today on the Zaanse Schans is how a living and working community in the Zaan district looked back then. The heyday of the Zaan district was preceded by an important invention. the crankshaft by fellow countryman Cornelis Corneliszoon from Uitgeest in 1594. The crankshaft made it possible to convert the horizontal wind direction of the mill blades into a vertical sawing motion. This allowed mills to suddenly saw much more wood at an industrial level than was ever possible by hand. This provided an enormous amount of additional construction possibilities, especially the shipbuilding. The great location, as on the water and under the smoke of Amsterdam, was ideal during the Golden Age. Thanks to its entrepreneurial spirit, the Zaan district grew into a center of commercial shipbuilding in Europe in the 17th century. No less than 26 shipyards launched between 100 and 150...

I visited The Netherlands last year with my school and Zaanse Schans was our very first stop. It indeed is definitely an interesting place to visit, especially if you are fascinated by old windmills and traditional Dutch architecture. The windmills look really beautiful and they let people to even come inside the windmills. The sellers here were also very kind to people.

What spoiled the experience for me was the strong wind, which is common in this area, but combined with a large number of people, it made the tour less comfortable. Another minus, however, is the price. Everything was incredibly expensive. Even the cheese, even the shops selling souvenirs, even the mentioned entraces to the windmills. I mean indeed, it is one of the most visited places, and of course it will be a bit overpriced, but I had a budget, and because of it nobody bought anything and I was so desperate to at least try the cheese. (They thankfully had samples of it inside the store, so we ate there haha). And the and last biggest minus of it - card payment. We spent there 2 hours and I needed to use the bathroom. The bathroom is near, there is also a museum next to the place, but both of these places only accepts cards, no cash. I could just freak out. At that time I still didn't have a card and I didn't know The Netherlands is focusing on card payment more, so my friend had to buy me everytime. Please just accept cash...

Worth a Visit! The windmills and the place are stunningly beautiful!

We visited as a group of three and decided to skip the guided tours and hop-on hop-off options—they seemed overpriced and focused too much on things like cheese factories and wooden shoes. Getting there from Amsterdam is actually very simple by public transport. Take a train to Zaandijk, then hop on a Sprinter (they run about every 20 minutes), which brings you close to the village and saves you the 25-minute walk.

Once in the village, there’s a small boat that runs back and forth to the windmills for just €1–2 per person—a convenient and fun way to cross. You can also take Uber to Zaanse Schans and back to Amsterdam, which cost around €30 one way—still cheaper and more flexible than the tours.

The best part about planning your own visit is the flexibility: you can spend just an hour or two exploring instead of being locked into a 6–8 hour guided trip.

Overall, definitely worth visiting—especially if you do it...