Kinderdijk Windmills

Background

Kinderdijk lies in the municipality of Molenlanden, South Holland, about 15 km east of Rotterdam, in the Alblasserwaard polder where the Lek and Noord rivers meet. The World Heritage Site is officially called the Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout. Of the 19 windmills, the eight brick mills on the Nederwaard side date from 1738 and the wooden mills on the Overwaard side from 1740. Together with dikes, reservoirs and pumping stations, they form a complete drainage system. Water problems here grew from the 13th century: canals were dug to drain the land, but the drained soil kept sinking while the rivers rose as sand built up. So windmills lifted water from the polder into intermediate reservoirs, and it was released into the river when the river level was low enough. Today two pumping stations handle the main drainage, and several mills have been turned into museums open to visitors.

Local customs

• Walk or cycle along the canals to see the windmills
• step inside a museum mill open to visitors to see how a mill works inside and how it drains the land
• take a boat to see the polder and mills from the water.

Travel tips

• Admission and opening hours for the museum mills and boats are as officially announced. The landscape is open and windy, so bring a windproof jacket in spring, autumn and winter
• spring and summer bring the best greenery and reflections, autumn is quieter, and winter is cold, with some facilities possibly on shorter hours.
• You can get there from Rotterdam by bus or waterbus, or cycle along the river
• routes and timetables are as officially announced. Note that Kinderdijk is a different place from Zaanse Schans near Amsterdam.