Alkmaar cheese market has two Fridays left, 18 and 25 September: free to watch, leave Amsterdam by 08:40 for the full morning

Alkmaar's cheese market runs only from the last Friday of March to the last Friday of September, on Friday mornings from 10:00 to 13:00 on the Waagplein, and watching it is free. This year just two Fridays remain, 18 and 25 September, after which the next is the last Friday of March 2027, 26 March. The organisers call it the oldest and largest cheese market in the Netherlands: Alkmaar has owned a cheese scale since 1365 and had four by 1612. This piece works out two things for you: what time to leave to see the whole morning, and whether the cheese museum next door is worth adding.

• From 07:00 lorries bring the cheese onto the square and the zetters lay out about 30,000 kilos, around 2,400 cheeses, in long rows, which has to be done by 09:30. (source 1)
• At 09:30 the cheese carriers enter the Waag building and anyone late is fined; at 09:45 the kaasvader holds roll call; at 10:00 the cheese bell opens the market, after which inspectors take samples with a cheese iron and buyers and sellers strike deals by hand-clapping. (source 1)
• Sold cheese is carried in pairs on a wooden barrow to be weighed in the Waag, more than 100 kilos a load; at 12:30 the last cheeses are loaded and the square turns into terraces. (source 1)
• The organisers advise against driving into the centre on a Friday morning: four direct trains an hour run from Amsterdam Centraal, 35 minutes to Alkmaar, then a 15-minute walk; drivers can use the Overstad car parks or the P+R sites at Bergermeer and Oudorp with a bus in. (source 2)

The first sum is departure time: a 35-minute train plus a 15-minute walk is 50 minutes. To see the whole sequence, carriers arriving at 09:30, roll call at 09:45 and the bell at 10:00, leave Amsterdam Centraal at about 08:40; if the hand-clapping and weighing are enough, arriving before 10:00 will do. From another city, add 15 minutes to your own journey time and count back from 09:30.

The second is the cheese museum on the way. The Hollands Kaasmuseum is inside the Waag building, online tickets are 7 euro for adults and 3 euro for ages 4 to 12, and the Museumkaart is free; on Fridays it opens at 09:00, an hour before the market. A family of two adults and two children therefore pays 2 × 7 + 2 × 3 = 20 euro, adults with a Museumkaart pay only the 6 euro for the children, and the museum can be done before the bell at 10:00. (source 3)

Where

Waagplein, Alkmaar; the cheese museum at Waagplein 2

When

Fridays 18/09 and 25/09, 10:00–13:00; square set up from 07:00

Price

Market free; museum online 7 euro adults, 3 euro ages 4 to 12

Booking

No booking for the market; guided group visits booked separately

Note

Driving into the centre on Friday morning is discouraged・street parking around the centre is limited to 3 hours・after the 25th the next market is in March

Hokimi field note: the 25th is the last one this year; if you can, go on the 18th and keep the 25th as a spare Friday. (source 4)