Edam
Quiet Canal Town That Gave The World Edam Cheese, With A Summer Wednesday Cheese Market And The Speeltoren Carillon · Edam, North Holland
Edam is a small, quiet canal town in Waterland, about 20 km north of Amsterdam, and the place that gave its name to the round cheese sold in red wax around the world. In the 17th century it was a busy port with shipyards and a cheese market that drew farmers from the whole region; today it is a town of brick houses, narrow canals, white drawbridges and leaning gables where people still live ordinary lives. Visitors come for the costumed cheese market held on summer Wednesday mornings in front of the Kaaswaag (the 18th-century weigh house), for the Edams Museum in a very old merchant's house with a cellar said to float on the groundwater, for the Speeltoren carillon tower and the huge Grote Kerk with its stained glass, and for a calm walk or bike ride that feels far from the crowds in Volendam, only a few kilometres away. The honest caveat: Edam is small and there is not much to do in it beyond two or three hours of looking; it is best as part of a Waterland day, and outside summer many things close early or open only a few days.
Edam old centre, from the Damplein and the Kaaswaag (cheese weigh house) to the Grote Kerk, Edam, North Holland, Netherlands
A town open all year; the streets, canals, bridges and the outside of the Kaaswaag are free at any hour. The cheese market runs on Wednesday mornings in July and August only, roughly 10:30-12:30 - confirm dates. The Edams Museum and the Grote Kerk open mainly from about April to October, often Tuesday to Sunday afternoons - confirm. There is no train station: buses run from Amsterdam Centraal (about 30-40 minutes, tap in with OVpay - confirm the line on 9292). Nothing needs booking except rooms on market days.