51.89° N · 4.64° E
The World Heritage windmills half an hour by boat from Rotterdam: two museum mills, a boat trip between the sails and the pumping station. Entry €21, or €32.50 with the WaterShuttle from Rotterdam.
What to do
Each plan says how long it takes, who it's for and whether you can book.
Visit · 30 min · An 18th-century drainage windmill inside, with the miller's house and the gears. Included in the €21 admission.
Boat · 30–60 min · The De Hopper boat among the windmills, with stops to get off and on; from April to October, the Cruiser makes a longer trip. Included.
Boat · 30 min · From the Erasmus Bridge to the windmill entrance along the river, with a free bike. Return €19.50; with admission, €32.50.
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
From April to October, with the WaterShuttle running daily from Rotterdam and the long boat trip past the mills. In winter it opens shorter hours, the Rotterdam boat runs only Friday to Sunday and the site closes for a few weeks in January.
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.
Kinderdijk is a trip that works for all ages: windmills you can go inside and see the miller's life, a boat that stops where you want and a pumping station with machines that move. Children aged 4 to 12 pay €9.
With small children, Kinderdijk is flat countryside, boats and animals. Under-4s pay neither admission nor the WaterShuttle.
For teenagers, what is interesting about Kinderdijk is understanding how a country lives below river level, and the bike. With a hire bike they can tour the dykes on their own.
Where to stay
Why we like it: A holiday park for families in the Alblasserwaard polder, with cottages and lodges, an indoor pool, an adventure farm and shows. Recommended by Kinderdijk.
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 sandwich on the terrace over the water, looking at the first row of windmills.
Map
Turn on the layers you want and tap a point to see its details.
Nearby
The closest places, whichever country they are in.
Tips
The WaterShuttle from Rotterdam is quicker than the car and drops you at the door.
On busy days the last WaterShuttle to Rotterdam is full: catch one earlier.
The ticket is 10% cheaper.
It goes on the WaterShuttle for free and the dykes are perfect for cycling.
Kinderdijk is the picture most of the world has of the Netherlands: a row of enormous windmills along a canal, in a green polder lying below the level of the river. But it is no stage set. The mills were built in the 18th century to draw the water out of the polder and pour it into the river Lek, and today, together with the pumping stations that replaced them, they form a water-management system declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997. Several are still lived in by their millers. You can visit on foot, by bike and by boat, and the best way to arrive is along the river.
From Rotterdam, take the WaterShuttle, a fast boat that leaves from the Erasmus Bridge and drops you at the entrance in about 30 minutes. It costs €9.75 one way and €19.50 return, or €32.50 with entry included. In season it sails daily; in winter, only Friday to Sunday. The other option is bus 489, which leaves from the Kralingse Zoom metro station every half hour, every day, and takes about 35 minutes to Kinderdijk Molenkade.
From Amsterdam there is no direct connection: you take a train to Rotterdam, about 40 minutes on the Intercity Direct, and from there the boat, or the metro and the bus. Allow an hour and three quarters door to door. That is why the easiest thing is to do Rotterdam and Kinderdijk on the same day, or to stay overnight in Rotterdam.
By car, it is about 95 kilometres from Amsterdam. From mid-March to 1 November you can only park at the Alblasserdam Transferium, with a free shuttle to the entrance, for €9.75; in winter, parking is at the entrance itself, for the same price. The car park is only valid with a ticket to the mills.
The ticket (€21; €9 for ages 4 to 12; 10% off online) covers everything you visit: the two museum mills, Nederwaard and Blokweer, the boat trip between the mills, the Wisboom pumping station, the film and exhibition at the De Fabriek station, and a free audio guide on your phone. Start with the film, which explains in a few minutes what you are looking at, and carry on on foot or by boat, which lets you hop off and on.
An hour if you only want to see the mills; two to three hours to do the route with the two museum mills, the boat and the pumping station, and the whole day if you hire a bike and carry on along the polder dykes. It is flat, but the site is large: there is a good walk between the entrance and the Blokweer mill.
From April to October, when there are more boats and the Cruiser, a longer loop around the surrounding area. In winter it opens from 10:30 to 16:00 and closes for a few weeks in January (in 2027, from 4 to 21 January). Go early: the coaches arrive mid-morning. Sunset beside the mills is beautiful, but the site closes earlier.
Yes. Dogs on a lead are allowed throughout the site, in the mills and on the boat; the only place they cannot go is the café in the visitor centre.
Questions
By train to Rotterdam, and from there on the WaterShuttle from the Erasmus Bridge, about 30 minutes, or by metro to Kralingse Zoom and bus 489. In total, around an hour and three quarters.
€21 for adults and €9 for ages 4 to 12; under-4s go free. Online, 10% less.
The ticket gives access to the museum mills, the boat and the pumping station; the money goes towards looking after the place.
Yes, from 10:30 to 16:00, except 25 December and a few weeks in January.
Two to three hours to see the main sights; half a day including the journey from Rotterdam.
Yes, on a lead, including on the boat; it just cannot go into the café.
Geocaliahttps://www.geocalia.com/en/the-netherlands/kinderdijk
