Top 10 Windmills in the Netherlands
The Netherlands has more surviving historic windmills than any other country in the world. Approximately 1,200 are registered as national monuments; around 1,000 are in structural good condition; and several hundred turn regularly. The density of surviving mills is not an accident of sentiment: the Dutch preservation movement has been organised since 1923, when De Hollandsche Molen was founded specifically to prevent the collapse of the country's mill heritage. The result is a country where you are rarely more than fifteen kilometres from a working windmill. The map shows the full distribution; below are the ten most significant sites.
1. Kinderdijk, South Holland (UNESCO World Heritage Site)
The nineteen windmills at Kinderdijk, east of Rotterdam, were built between 1738 and 1740 to drain the Alblasserwaard polder. Eight are round brick tower mills and eleven are octagonal smock mills, arranged in two rows along the drainage canals. They were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1997 as an outstanding example of water management technology. Several are still inhabited by working millers. All nineteen sails turn on National Mill Day (the second Saturday of May) and on designated summer weekends. Visitor numbers exceed one million annually.
2. Zaanse Schans, Zaandam, North Holland
The Zaanse Schans open-air collection on the Zaan river north of Amsterdam preserves eight working windmills in the context of the world's first industrial district. The collection includes De Zoeker (oil mill, 1672), De Kat (paint mill, 1646, the only surviving paint mill in the world), De Poelenburg (sawmill), and De Bonte Hen (oil mill). The mills are maintained by the Stichting Zaanse Schans and are open daily. The Zaans Museum on the site provides industrial context. Operational since the seventeenth century; the Zaan region had approximately six hundred mills at its peak.
3. Schiedam Industrial Mills, South Holland
Schiedam holds five of the six tallest traditional windmills in the world. The tallest, De Noord, stands 33.33 metres. All five were built in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century to grind malt for the city's jenever (Dutch gin) distilleries. Three are operational: De Nieuwe Palmboom, De Vrijheid, and De Walvisch. They are maintained by the Stichting De Schiedamse Molens. Rijksmonumenten (national monuments). The Schiedam industrial mill group is unique in European heritage as a surviving ensemble of purpose-built industrial tower mills.
4. De Adriaan, Haarlem, North Holland
De Adriaan at Haarlem is a smock mill on the river Spaarne in the centre of the city. The original De Adriaan burned down in 1932; the current reconstruction was completed in 2002 on the original masonry base and is fully operational. It stands at the edge of the historic city centre, visible from the river, and is a recognised city landmark. It grinds mustard and grain and is open to visitors most weekends. The mill was built originally in 1779 and was the last working mill in Haarlem before the fire.
5. De Gooyer, Amsterdam, North Holland
De Gooyer is a wooden smock mill in the Indische Buurt neighbourhood of Amsterdam, the only surviving windmill within the Amsterdam city limits. It was built in 1814 to grind grain. It now serves as a decorative landmark beside the Brouwerij 't IJ craft brewery, which operates in the adjacent bathing house. The mill is a Rijksmonument and its sails turn on certain weekends. Its urban setting — adjacent to canal infrastructure and a tram stop — makes it one of the most visited windmills in the country.
6. De Otter, Amsterdam, North Holland
De Otter is a timber-sawmill windmill in the Westerpark district of Amsterdam, the only surviving sawmill-type windmill in the city. Built in 1631, it used wind power to drive reciprocating saws for timber cutting. It is a Rijksmonument and is maintained by the Amsterdam city heritage service. The sails turn during heritage events. The sawmill mechanism is visible on open days.
7. Molen van Sloten, Amsterdam, North Holland
The Molen van Sloten at the Sloterpark in western Amsterdam is a working tower mill built in 1847 and restored in 1990. It is the most accessible working mill in the Amsterdam city region, open daily throughout the summer with a miller present. It grinds grain and sells flour. The mill is privately managed and is one of the few in the country open seven days a week during the summer season.
8. Het Pink, Koog aan de Zaan, North Holland
Het Pink is a smock mill at Koog aan de Zaan on the Zaan river, in the industrial mill district north of Amsterdam. Dating to 1620, it is one of the older surviving mills in the Zaan area and grinds grain. It is maintained by the Stichting Zaanse Schans as part of the broader Zaan mill landscape and participates in the annual National Mill Day. The surrounding Zaan river landscape retains more surviving mills than anywhere else in the Netherlands outside Kinderdijk.
9. De Roos, Delft, South Holland
De Roos at Delft is a tower mill on the ring canal of the historic city centre. Built in 1679, it has been fully restored and grinds grain on a regular schedule. It sells its flour directly to visitors. Delft is primarily visited for its historic centre and pottery tradition, but De Roos is an easily reached working mill within walking distance of the train station and the Vermeer cultural sites.
10. Tjasker Mills, Friesland
The tjasker is the simplest form of Dutch wind machine: a diagonal shaft with two or three sails at one end and an Archimedean screw at the other, lifting water from drainage ditches. The province of Friesland retains approximately 40 working tjaskers, maintained by the Frisian mill society (De Fryske Mole). They operate during the Frisian mill days in May and throughout the summer season. They are unlike any other mill type in the Netherlands and represent the minimum viable wind-powered drainage technology.
Finding Dutch mills on the map
The map shows the Netherlands' unparalleled mill density in immediate visual terms. The South Holland and North Holland concentrations are the densest, with significant secondary clusters in Zeeland, Friesland, and Groningen. Use the map to identify mills within a specific area before visiting: in South Holland you are almost always within cycling distance of a working mill.
The Dutch National Mill Day (Nationale Molendag), held on the second Saturday of May each year, is the single best opportunity to see the largest number of mills operating simultaneously. Across the full weekend, around 950 mills raise their sails and open to visitors. The event is free at most sites — admission by donation — and draws approximately 750,000 visitors across the country. Planning a trip around National Mill Day, combined with the map to identify which mills are in a given region, is the most efficient way to experience the Dutch mill tradition at scale.
The Kinderdijk and Zaanse Schans sites are accessible year-round; smaller individual mills, particularly in rural Friesland and Zeeland, often have limited opening schedules outside the summer season and National Mill Day. Checking individual mill opening times before making a journey is always advisable, as the volunteer-operated mills in particular are sensitive to changes in miller availability.