In August 2024, Matthew and I set sail on a Viking cruise on the Rhine River. One of the stops we were most looking forward to was Kinderdijk in the Netherlands. Read on to find out about our experience, get some tips about what to bring and how to spend your time, and decide if this is a must do if you plan to visit.

General Information

When planning your trip, know that you can spend from two hours, to half a day at the village. There is so much to see and do! We almost missed our opportunity to go into the gift shop because we had not planned properly so make sure you set out with some kind of schedule.

The village has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997 and sees thousands of visitors every year. While visiting, you’ll find out how the Dutch slowly mastered the art of smart and sustainable water management while taking in the breathtaking landscape and the captivating silhouette of the 19 mills.

The Address:

Nederwaard 1b
2961 AS Kinderdijk
The Netherlands

Hours of Operation:

March to November 3
Daily from 9 a.m. – 5.30 p.m.

November 4 to December
10.30 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Christmas Day (December 25)
Closed

Tickets:

Adults: $19.50 (Wednesdays $18)

Children 4-12: $8 (Wednesdays $6.50)

Children 0-3: Free

Parking:

Car: $9.50

Motorcycle $2.50

Camper $12.50

There are shuttles from the parking lot.

Things To Do:

• Tour inside two of the mills. They have been preserved as museums and you can get a first hand look at how a miller lives and at all the functions of the mills from the inside.

• Take a boat ride. They have two different experiences you can choose from. The ‘Cruiser’ makes a round trip of 30 minutes (untill October). The ‘Hopper’ sails a fixed route all day long and brings you to Museum Mill Nederwaard and Museum Mill Blokweer. The starting point of both tour boats is the jetty along the Middelkade.

• Have a snack at the cafe.

• Get an awesome souvenir at the gift shop. We picked up several things!

• Enter the Wisboom pumping station.

• Watch a film about the mills inside the secondary pumping station.

• View the floating exhibition-a barge ‘Alles Heeft een Tijd’ (which translates to: ‘Everything Has a Time’).

• Discover rare birds at the Bird Theater.

• Choose from a short or long Audio Tour from an app on your phone.

• Enjoy a walk along the path past the beautiful mills.

All of these things are included in the price of your ticket so make sure you plan out plenty of time to explore and take part in all of the adventures that you want to be a part of.

Things to Bring

Based on our time there, here are some things we brought and some things we wish we had brought.

• Umbrella, rain jacket, rain attire.

• Binoculars-especially if you are bird watching and if you want a close up view of the mills.

• Dress in layers and check the weather.

• Debit/Credit card-it is a cash free facility.

• Bug spray-this is the only place we stopped in three countries that we saw and were bitten by mosquitoes.

• Sunglasses.

• Bottled water.

• Sunscreen/protection.

• It’s a tight squeeze to get through the mill museums so whatever bag you are carrying just be aware of that.

• Camera.

Frequently Asked Questions

Most of these were taken from the website Kinderdijk.com:

• You can buy tickets online or at the ticket desk on site.

• All activities are included with your ticket.

• The village is cash free so bring your debit or credit card.

• You can get a student discount by presenting your student card at the visitor center.

• Visitors with disabilities receive a discount on our admission price. Additionally, companions of visitors who are demonstrably unable to independently visit Kinderdijk are granted free access to the World Heritage site, with a maximum of one companion per visitor.

• They offer group visits for 15 or more people. You can inquire for specific groups on their website.

• Dogs on a leash are welcome at all our locations and tour boats. Only the catering facilities in the Visitor Center and at Blokweer Museum Mill are forbidden for dogs. Obviously, exceptions are made for guide dogs (for those with disabilities) accompanying visitors with the relevant ID cards.

• Kinderdijk World Heritage has three different sizes of lockers available for visitors to store their luggage during a visit. Prices range from 6 to 10 euros.

• The Wisboom pumping station and the Visitor center have special toilet facilities for the disabled.

• Other locations with specific wheelchair accessibility include: the multi-screen film theatre, the footpaths, our tour boat and the mill yards. Unfortunately, due to their narrow entrances and steep stairwells, the other windmill interiors are inaccessible to wheelchairs.

• Kinderdijk World Heritage has two wheelchairs available that can be borrowed free of charge on the day of your visit. These wheelchairs cannot be reserved in advance. Please inquire at the reception in the Visitor Center.

• Piloting a drone is not allowed. Most of the mills are inhabited and it also disturbs the wildlife.

Our Adventure

We were part of a Viking River Cruise group so we had our own tour guide. Our ship actually docked right alongside the village and we were able to walk right over with our guide. We were already intrigued by the incredible landscape that stretched out ahead of us, and we saw some beautiful flowers and a cool slug as we made our way towards the entrance. We stopped at the ticket center so that people could use the restroom if they needed to and then we began our tour.

We paused briefly in between the two pumping stations to get an overview of the village and for the guide to let us know how we would spend our time. We would be walking down to the first mill museum, Nederwaard, and would be going inside the museum with the guide. Afterwards we would be given free time to explore before heading back to the shop. We had about two hours all together so we set off across the bridge towards the visitor center.

As we were crossing the bridge, on one side we had a view of the mills, and on the other side there was a really interesting statue in the water. It is the Beatrice’s Cradle statue.

From the website Kinderdijk.com:

On the night of November 18, 1421: a ferocious storm breaks the dikes and causes one of the worst floods in Dutch history: the Saint-Elizabeth Flood. People died, villages drowned, the Biesbosch was formed.

Inextricably linked to the disaster and the village of Kinderdijk is the folk tale about the child in a crib that was said to have washed ashore at the dike in what is now known as Kinderdijk during the Saint-Elizabeth Flood. After the flood, when the survivors dared to go outside again, they saw a cradle floating along the dike, from which the cry of a child could be heard. The bobbing crib was balanced by a cat, which jumped back and forth to keep the basket from sinking and thus kept the baby alive. Along the East Kinderdijk are more signals that refer to the old saga, such as on Huis te Kinderdijk and the name “Kattenwiel”.

In order to never forget the legend and the danger of the power of the water, the foundation of Beatrice’s crib created a statue. For now it will be part of Kinderdijk UNESCO World Heritage, but later the statue will enrich the banks of Alblasserdam. Getting the 400-pound bronze statue to float and rock, just like the cat did, required a lot of thought and expertise and has become an innovative example of ‘Alblasserdam craftsmanship’.

Once we crossed the bridge, we were faced with some residential homes across the water, the gift shop and cafe to our right, and the path towards the mills to our left.

We followed the guide along the path towards the mills. I stopped periodically to snap photos of the mills, the reeds, any wildlife, and just the captivating scenery in general.

There was a bike lane and a walking lane so you had to be aware and keep out of the way of the bikes for safety. Some will ring a bell to alert you of there presence, but some won’t. In the Netherlands, there are more bikes than people!

There was a little clearing along the way where people were pulled over taking photos in front of one of the mills. Obviously we had to stop and take advantage of the space as well.

After about a ten minute stroll we approached the first museum mill off to the right hand side.

From the website Kinderdijk.com:

For decades now, the Nederwaard Museum Mill has been welcoming visitors from all over the world. Built in 1738, this old engine is still in prime shape. Everything reminds you of the past. You feel like a time traveler through an interplay of historical black and white photos, items as used by the miller families and of course the powerful, beating wooden hearts of the mills themselves.

For generations, this mill was occupied and operated by members of the Hoek family. This famous miller’s family set foot on Kinderdijk soil back in 1744, personified by Jacob Hoek. Inside, you’ll gaze at black-and-white photos from back in the days, straight from the Hoek family albums. As the sails spin by outside, and the internal mechanism creaks and groans all around you, you’ll experience how a real miller must have felt.

We crossed a little bridge and then a working garden that the family uses. We were in a group of about 12 people and our guide held our umbrellas for us while we went up the stairs and all through the mill at our own pace to discover all the nooks and crannies. All spaces were used wisely for maximum storage for the family and it was so incredible to see how everyone would live in such close quarters and with all the internal mechanisms of the mill.

Once we finished our tour inside, we gathered outside to admire the blades and to see exactly how big they were and how close they come to the ground (very close).

We actually saw the miller walking around in his wooden shoes (which serve a real purpose and make it easy for him to walk along the mill and the blade without slipping or falling) while we were wrapping up the tour with our guide outside. There was even a teeny tiny mill in the yard that can be found in most miller families. They have these to teach the children the basic fundamentals early on.

Once finished, our guide offered to answer any final questions before we set off to explore on our own. We decided to walk a little ways further down on the path to see more of the mills.

After enjoying a stroll and taking in more of the sights, we decided to head back towards the entrance so that we could check out the gift shop. We are so glad that we did because we had no idea that we only had thirty minutes until they closed and we almost missed our opportunity completely! We got some shot glasses, a cheese cutting board, and some yard pinwheels that are shaped like the mills.

Overall we loved our visit to Kinderdijk and wish we had spent more time there to see all the mills, take a boat ride, and go into at least one of the pump houses. Have you ever been? What was your experience like? Tell us all about it in the comments.