52.63° N · 4.75° E
The cheese carriers on the Waagplein every Friday from late March to September, the Cheese Museum and a boat trip under 20 bridges. Half an hour from Amsterdam.
What to do
Each plan says how long it takes, who it's for and whether you can book.
Market · 3 h · Carriers, barrows and the Waag scales, every Friday from late March to September from 10:00 to 13:00. Free.
Museum · 1 h · From cow to cheese in the old weigh house on the Waagplein, with a treasure hunt for children. €7; €3 for ages 4 to 12.
Boat · 45 min · A guided trip along the canals from the Mient, under bridges so low you have to duck. €10.50; April to October.
Itineraries
Days and weekends already planned out, with how to get between each stop and who to book with.
Plan the trip
Each choice narrows the next: the season shapes how best to travel, and how you travel decides where you stay and where you eat.
When to go
A Friday between late March and late September, to see the cheese market from 10:00 to 13:00; in July and August there is also a market on Tuesday evenings. Canal boats run from April to October. In winter, with no market, Alkmaar is a quiet canal city.
How you travel
Choose how you're travelling and we'll tell you where to stay, how to get around, where to eat and which services you'll need. We only show the ways of travelling that make sense here.
Alkmaar is north of Amsterdam and you reach it by train from Amsterdam Schiphol airport, which has direct flights from Madrid, Barcelona and almost all the big Spanish cities. From Schiphol there are trains to Alkmaar, direct or with a change in Amsterdam. The normal thing is to sleep in Amsterdam and come on a Friday morning.
Alkmaar is a perfect trip without a car: a train from Amsterdam, fifteen minutes on foot to the market square and the whole centre on foot. The budget per person per day includes sleeping in the centre, food and tickets.
Who you're with
A trip with a toddler is not the same as one with a teenager. Pick yours to see what works and what to bear in mind.
The cheese market is a spectacle that all ages understand: men running with barrows, cheeses flying towards the lorries and a giant set of scales. Afterwards, a boat that makes you duck and a museum with a treasure hunt.
With small children, Alkmaar is short and flat: the market in the morning, the boat and the museum, and back by train at midday.
For teenagers, the cheese market has something of a competition and a theatre about it, and the boat with bridges that almost brush your head amuses them. The cannonball house has its own siege story.
Where to stay
We show you what suits the way you travel.Change how you travel
Why we like it: A 50-room hotel in a monumental building in the centre of Alkmaar, a few minutes from the Waagplein, with a restaurant and its own parking.
Why we like it: Eight rooms above the Wolf restaurant, on the Mient, a minute from the cheese market square and the boat jetty.
Why we like it: A hotel in a former prison building in Alkmaar, with rooms and suites in the old cells and the D'arrêt restaurant.
Services for this trip
Where to eat
From set lunch menus to Michelin stars. We mark the price level and what to order at each place.
What to order: a lunch from the menu with local produce; much of it can be ordered gluten-free or lactose-free.
What to order: dinner with the wine pairing, or a lunch on the terrace opposite the Waag.
What to order: the five-course menu, and swap the dessert for the cheese selection.
Map
The places to stay and services on the map are the ones for the way you travel. Turn on the layers you want and tap a point to see its details.
Nearby
The closest places, whichever country they are in.
52.47° N · 4.82° E
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52.38° N · 4.64° E
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Tips
The best spots by the barriers fill up early.
On market days it leaves every 20 minutes from the Mient.
Cheese to take away is sold around the square.
The market starts at 10:00 and lasts three hours.
Alkmaar is a canal city north of Amsterdam with a custom that has become a spectacle: the cheese market. For more than four centuries, on Friday mornings the Waagplein has been covered with round yellow cheeses laid out in rows on the ground, and the carriers, in straw hats whose colour shows their guild, take them to the scales at a brisk pace on wooden barrows. Buyers taste, haggle and close the deal with a clap of hands. It is theatre, but with real cheeses and a carriers' guild founded in 1593.
By train, about 35 minutes from Amsterdam Centraal to Alkmaar, with frequent trains. From the station it is about 15 minutes on foot to the Waagplein, along a signposted route through the centre. By car it is about 40 kilometres; Alkmaar has some eight public car parks around the centre, with signs showing where there is space, and a cheap one in Overstad, five minutes on foot away.
In 2026 it was held every Friday from 27 March to 25 September, from 10:00 to 13:00, and in July and August also on Tuesdays from 19:00 to 21:00; the 2027 dates are announced at the start of the season. It is free. The cheeses, of about 13 kilos, are placed eight at a time on barrows, weighed in the Waag, the weigh house, and the porters load them onto lorries. The cheese girls and boys explain to visitors what is happening.
To see it properly, arrive before 10:00 and stand by the barriers on the square or on the Waag side; by mid-morning it is very crowded. Afterwards, go into the Cheese Museum, inside the Waag itself, and take the canal boat, which on market Fridays leaves every 20 minutes from the Mient, beside the square.
Stroll through the centre: the Verdronkenoord and the Luttik Oudorp, two canals with terraces; the Grote Sint-Laurenskerk, the city's great Gothic church, and the Stedelijk Museum, with old paintings and the Bergen School. Look for the Huis met de Kogel, one of the last two wooden houses, with a cannonball from the Spanish siege of 1573 embedded in it. Eat at De Nachtegaal, opposite the old town hall, or, for a long lunch, at Wolf, with a terrace on the gracht facing the Waagplein.
For most people, Alkmaar is a half-day trip from Amsterdam. But if you want to reach the market without an early start or carry on to the coast, the Wolf, with eight rooms on the Mient, is a minute from the square; the Grand Hotel Alkmaar is in a historic building in the centre, and De Oude Gevangenis is in a former prison.
On a Friday from April to September, for the market; in July and August, also on a Tuesday evening. Boats run from April to October. Out of season there is no market, but the Waag with the Cheese Museum, the canals and the museums are still there.
Questions
On Fridays from late March to late September, from 10:00 to 13:00; in July and August also on Tuesdays from 19:00 to 21:00.
Nothing, it is free and in the street.
About 35 minutes by train from Amsterdam Centraal, and 15 minutes on foot from the station to the Waagplein.
Yes, for a quiet walk along the canals and the Cheese Museum, but the spectacle is the market.
Yes: with the Zaanse Schans, which is on the same train line towards Amsterdam.
Geocaliahttps://www.geocalia.com/en/the-netherlands/alkmaar
