In 60 seconds
Situated between the North Sea coast and the vast polders of North Holland, Alkmaar is celebrated across the globe for its four-hundred-year-old Friday Cheese Market. From April to September, the Waagplein fills with thousands of golden cheese wheels, tested and traded under the watchful eye of the historic Kaasdragers Gilde (Cheese Porters' Guild), whose white-suited carriers in colourful straw hats jog with wooden barrows. Beyond the market spectacle, Alkmaar is a graceful canal town boasting the monumental Grote Sint-Laurenskerk, hidden almshouses, and the Dutch Cheese Museum. Just to the west lie the highest and widest coastal sand dunes in the country at Schoorl, alongside the leafy pine-shaded artists' haven of Bergen.
Best for
Known for
Skip if
You are looking for late-night metropolitan nightlife; Alkmaar is a classic northern trading town.
Your match
Choose a few travel interests and we will show how well Alkmaar & North Holland fits them. Choose interests
See
The things that would make the trip incomplete without them.
World-famous traditional Friday cheese trading spectacle and 14th-century Weigh House
Watch the guild porters in red, blue, green and yellow hats run with heavy barrows of cheese to be weighed on ancient beam scales.
Museum inside the historic Waag building exploring cheese making and dairy history
Discover centuries of dairy craftsmanship, antique press presses and the difference between farmhouse Boerenkaas and factory cheese.
Monumental Brabantine Gothic church housing the 1511 Van Covelens organ
Listen to recitals on the oldest playable church organ in the Netherlands, beneath a magnificent timber-vaulted Gothic roof.
The highest and widest sand dune wilderness in the Netherlands, rising to 55 metres
Climb the massive sand dunes and hike or cycle through tranquil pine woods that open directly onto wild North Sea beaches.
Eat
A short list, kept short on purpose. Each entry answers one question: when is this the right choice?
Too few picks yet for their own heading, so they share this list.
Culinary fine dining with extensive wine cellars in the historic Fnidsen quarter
Refined modern European dining highlighting North Holland sea fish and local farm cheeses in an intimate former warehouse.
Colourful organic soup café and vintage furniture shop in the historic centre
Enjoy fresh organic soups, coffee and vegan cakes where virtually every vintage chair and teacup is also for sale.
Beyond the obvious
Less obvious, rarely queued for, and usually the part people remember.
Peaceful 1714 almshouse courtyard with a Roman-style statue of a wild man over the gate
Step through the ornamental gate off the Oudegracht into a silent, floral quadrangle of 24 tiny historic cottages.
Leafy woodland village famous for the Bergen School of expressionist painters
A charming village of thatched villas and art galleries shaded by centuries-old beech trees just behind the sea dunes.
After dark
Traditional Dutch beer bar set inside an 18th-century brewery warehouse
Sit on the floating canal barge moored out front or explore the National Beer Museum housed directly upstairs.
Orientation
How the city is actually divided, and what each part is for.
Atmospheric old merchant quarter filled with cobbled alleys and craft shops
Wander through the narrow 17th-century lanes of Fnidsen, Hekelstraat and Appelsteeg for indie boutiques and cheese delis.
Stay
Areas rather than hotels — pick the right one and the rest follows.
Inside the canal moat, walkable to the Waagplein and train station
Ideal for walking to the Friday morning cheese market early before the day-tripper rush.
Practical
Plan this trip — useful links
Context
Enough to make what you are looking at legible.
William II, Count of Holland, grants city status to Alkmaar.
Alkmaar successfully withstands a Spanish siege, giving rise to the Dutch proverb 'Victory begins at Alkmaar'.
The official Cheese Porters' Guild (Kaasdragers Gilde) is formally constituted.
Further out
Worth a day if you have one to spare.
Wide North Sea sandy beach with sea breezes and dune paths
Pedal through the pine woods of Bergen straight to the North Sea waves and wide open beaches.
