Alkmaar: A guide to visiting the world’s biggest cheese market
It wouldn’t be The Netherlands without a bit of cheese now, would it?
I’d read about the world famous cheese market in Alkmaar before, but when I last visited Amsterdam, I just didn’t have time to fit it in to the schedule! This time, it was top of my list to make sure it happened! It didn’t disappoint and I highly recommend it if you’re in the Netherlands and looking for something a bit unique and special to do.
About the Alkmaar Cheese Market
The Alkmaar Cheese Market is the oldest and largest in the Netherlands, running since 1365 and at its peak in the 1600 and 1700s.
Every year, you can witness the cheese market from the last Friday in March to the last Friday in September, every Friday from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm on the Waagplein. You can also visit the evening cheese market on Tuesday evenings in July and August from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm.
Arriving at the cheese market
The cheese market consists of a number of steps:
- 7:00 am: Placing the Cheeses – arranging as many as 2,400 cheeses in the Waagplein.
- 9:30 am: Cheese Carriers arrive – if they are late they have to pay a fine, which partly goes to a school in the town of ‘Alkmaar’ in Suriname.
- 9:45 am: Cheese Father’s Roll Call – the head of the cheese carriers, the ‘cheese father,’ holds his roll call with the cheese carriers. I couldn’t stop laughing at this bit, if I’m honest.
- 10:00 am: The Cheese Bell – at exactly 10:00 am, the cheese bell is rung. This opens the cheese market to visitors. The cheese is then sampled, and given a price depending on quality, weighed and you can buy the cheese if you want to!
My advice is to get to the main square early as it does get really busy. Alternatively, people aren’t going to stand for hours so just pick a spot and be prepared to wait. Most people stand at the front for about 15 minutes and then leave, so that helps the crowd continuously move.
Other things to do in Alkmaar
Alkmaar is so much more than just the cheese market. It’s an absolutely beautiful town, and here are some of the other highlights.
The Canals
Some of the most beautiful canals in The Netherlands are in Alkmaar, and it was a joy strolling along them, especially as there were a number of cheese boats transporting cheese to the markets which made for the most amazing photos!
Grote Laurenskerk
This church is now an events venue, where you can watch plays etc. There’s also a large café area that serves tasty cake and it’s still got the original organ and features which are lovely to stroll around.
Old Town Area
The Old Town area is just really stunning, with so many beautiful streets to explore, home to residential streets, shops and eateries. It’s well worth at least an hour to stroll around.
Stedelijk Museum
Alkmaar has a couple of little museums, including The Beatles Museum, but that’s not really my thing so I finished up my visited by popping in to the city museum. It preserves the history of Alkmaar and tells its story from the 1700s to today. It includes objects, art and stories of the places and people that are important to the region.
How to get to Alkmaar from Amsterdam
It’s simple. From Amsterdam Centraal station, find the next train in the direction of Alkmaar or Den Helder. The train journey takes around 35 minutes and will bring you out at Alkmaar. The journey cost me ￡2.80.
It’s also really easy to buy tickets because you don’t need to. Just use any debit card to ‘scan in’ through the barriers at Amsterdam Centraal, and use the same debit card to ‘scan out’ through the barriers at Alkmaar. You have to use a debit, not credit, card and I really recommend a Monzo, or other global travel debit card to avoid foreign currency transaction fees.
Once you’ve arrived in Alkmaar just follow the cheese market signs from the station – it’s about a 15 minute walk.
