Alkmaar and the Cheese Market

Canal Town With The Traditional Friday Cheese Market On The Waagplein (About April To September), Carried By The Cheese Porters' Guild · Alkmaar, North Holland

Alkmaar is a lively canal town in North Holland, about 35-40 minutes north of Amsterdam by train, best known for its traditional cheese market. On Friday mornings in the season, roughly April to September, golden wheels of cheese are laid out in rows on the Waagplein, tested by samplers, sold with the old clapping handshake and carried to the weigh house on wooden barrows by the cheese porters' guild in white suits and straw hats ribboned in the colours of their companies. The Waag itself, a former chapel turned weigh house in the 1580s, holds a Cheese Museum, and its tower plays a carillon. Around it lie a ring of canals, a great Gothic church, a working windmill on the old ramparts, small museums and plenty of cafes. Alkmaar is also proud of 1573, when it held out against a Spanish siege, remembered each 8 October. The honest caveat: today the cheese market is a show put on for visitors rather than a real wholesale trade, it lasts only about two to two and a half hours, and the front rows fill early.

Waagplein, Alkmaar, in front of the Waag (weigh house) with the Cheese Museum, Alkmaar, North Holland, Netherlands

The cheese market runs on Friday mornings from roughly early April to late September, usually from about 10:00 until around midday or 12:30 - confirm the season, the times and any extra evening markets. The square is free to watch; arrive by about 09:15-09:30 for a spot at the ropes. The Cheese Museum in the Waag opens most days in season with shorter winter hours - confirm. The town is open all year. Direct trains from Amsterdam Centraal take about 35-40 minutes; the Waagplein is 10-15 minutes on foot from the station. Nothing needs booking except canal boats on busy market days.

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