Edam, the village that gave its name to the round cheese, half an hour from Amsterdam.

Edam is a canal village on the shore of the old Zuiderzee, now the Markermeer, which in the 17th century lived off shipyards and cheese. That round cheese with its red wax rind left from here for half the world and took the village's name. Today Edam has barely a few thousand inhabitants, a cheese square with its weigh house of 1778, merchants' houses, drawbridges and a church too big for its size. It is only 20 kilometres from Amsterdam, but most coaches go straight past to Volendam, which is a blessing: it is one of the quietest villages in Laag Holland.

How do I get there from Amsterdam?

Edam has no train. From Amsterdam Centraal, leave by the IJ side, the one behind the station, and take EBS bus 314, which runs every quarter of an hour and takes about 30 minutes to Edam Busstation; other EBS lines also come, the 310, 312, 316 and 318. You pay by tapping a contactless card on the reader when you get on and off. From the stop it is about ten minutes on foot to the Damplein, the centre. If you arrive by air, take the train from Schiphol to Amsterdam Centraal first.

By car it is about 20 kilometres along the N247. Parking is free throughout Edam, but the centre is a blue zone: with a parking disc you get an hour and a half. To spend the day, leave the car in one of the free long-stay car parks on the south side, next to the bus station, and walk in.

What is the cheese market like?

On Wednesdays in July and August, from 10:30 to 12:30, the square of the Kaaswaag fills with round yellow cheeses. They arrive by boat along the canal, as they did centuries ago, and village volunteers in period costume unload them, weigh them and close the deal with a clap of hands. It opens and closes with a bell, usually rung by a well-known guest. In 2026 there were eight Wednesdays, from 1 July to 19 August, and an evening market on Saturday 8 August with the canals lit up. It is free.

It is smaller than the one in Alkmaar, which is held on Fridays from March to September, and more intimate: you do not have to fight for a place at the barrier. If you are in Amsterdam for a week in summer, you can see both.

What to see in Edam?

Start in the Damplein, with the town hall of 1737, where the tourist office is, and opposite it the Edams Museum, in the oldest stone house in the village, from around 1540, with a cellar that floats on the groundwater. Very close by, on the Spui, The Story of Edam Cheese explains in half an hour why Edam cheese is round and ends with a tasting of more than fifteen cheeses. Follow the canal walk to the Kaaswaag and the Speeltoren, the carillon tower that outlived its church, and head north to the Grote Kerk, with 32 stained-glass windows from the 17th century, which is open from April to September in the afternoons; some guides take you up the tower.

In summer, end the day at the Strandbad, the village beach on the Markermeer, with a water slide and a paddling pool for little ones. On Saturdays at 14:00 there is a guided walk from the Damplein, in Dutch.

Where to eat and sleep?

For an unhurried meal, De Fortuna serves breakfast and lunch from Wednesday to Sunday in a garden over the canal; the Paviljoen Strandbad is open every day with a terrace on the lake, ribs and fish from Volendam, and La Galera is the Italian in the centre, with a courtyard. If you stay overnight, the Hotel De Fortuna spreads 23 rooms across five old houses beside the water; the Hof van Holland has twelve new rooms on the Lingerzijde, and the Camping Strandbad, ten minutes on foot away, has pitches beside the lake and hikers' huts. Sleeping here changes the visit: at dusk, when the visitors leave, the canals fall silent.

How much time, and how to combine it?

Half a day is enough for the village; a full day if you add the museum, the church and the lake. The easiest is to combine it with Volendam and Marken, ten minutes away on the same bus or by bike along the dyke: Edam in the morning, Volendam and the boat to Marken in the afternoon. By bike, the route from Amsterdam to Edam through the Waterland polders is flat and signposted.

When to go?

On a Wednesday in July or August, for the market. From April to September the Grote Kerk is open in the afternoons and the Strandbad has its beach. In winter there is no market or church, but the Edams Museum is open Tuesday to Sunday, the cheese tasting runs all year and the village is almost yours.