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Kinderdijk Windmills

toseaornottosea

By toseaornottosea,
in River Cruising

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jrkstl

jrkstl

Posted
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Does one need to take a ship's excursion or can one walk off the ship and easily walk to see the windmills?

 

While I would guess that most ships dock where we did, which is very much a short walk to the windmills, I’m not sure why you would choose to tour them on your own. If I’m not mistaken, there is an entrance fee which is covered by your walking tour.

 

It’s a beautiful place, and the guide that we had really added to the experience.

 

Jeff

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E316

E316

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We went with Viking. They stopped at Kinderdijk. We just got off the boat and walked across the road and the Windmills were all there. At the last windmill you could go into it to see the inside. There it was not really a guided tour but something you did on your own.

 

 

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jrkstl

jrkstl

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We will be on Viking A-B. Better to go with ships 2 hour included excursion or DIY?

 

FYI, it was a guided tour for us in April of 2017 on Viking. Cannot imagine that this has changed? I’d recommend that you go on the included tour.

 

Jeff

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OneSixtyToOne "Live from...." Rare

OneSixtyToOne

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Does one need to take a ship's excursion or can one walk off the ship and easily walk to see the windmills?

 

You really need to take the ship's excursion. You dock on a dike in the middle of nowhere and cross a road to the windmill area. There you meet the docent from the organization that maintains the windmills. It's an interesting tour where you see the giant modern Archimedes Screws that do the pumping today. You then visit the old windmills where they will demonstrate how the sails are raised and you get to walk around inside one. Finally there is a short presentation at the visitor's center about the history of the windmills and the area. You have time to visit the gift shop and then you re-board the ship. I doubt you'll see any of the demonstrations if you did this on your own. It's the sort of thing they schedule for tourist groups and educational tours.The ship leaves immediately after all the groups are back on board so I doubt they will even give you an option of wandering around on your own.

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CoralReef

CoralReef

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The tour was excellent, and included. And on the A->B, there was nothing to do the rest of the day after the morning Kinderdijk tour. Don’t know why you wouldn’t take it!

 

But yes, it’s a short walk if you decide to leave early. Our tour was conducted on foot from the ship, no buses.

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toseaornottosea

toseaornottosea

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onesixtytoone - Viking offers not only the included 2 hour Kinderdijk Windmills tour but also a Kinderdijk Windmills & Dutch Cheese Making tour that is 4.5 hours long. So if we were to decide to walk into town and tour the windmills on our own it seems we would have more than ample time to get back to the ship well before the ship departs.

 

Coralreef - how many were on the tour you were on? We've never been a fan of large (more than 10 - 12) group tours.

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OneSixtyToOne "Live from...." Rare

OneSixtyToOne

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onesixtytoone - Viking offers not only the included 2 hour Kinderdijk Windmills tour but also a Kinderdijk Windmills & Dutch Cheese Making tour that is 4.5 hours long. So if we were to decide to walk into town and tour the windmills on our own it seems we would have more than ample time to get back to the ship well before the ship departs

 

Never assume that an extended tour will return to where it departed. It is not uncommon for the ship to continue sailing and you will meet it at a different location on your return from your excursion.

 

BTW there is no town there. It’s the dike, canals, and windmills. It’s pretty isolated.

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jrkstl

jrkstl

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Thank you all for your kind advice.

 

FYI, the ship docks early in the morning at Rotterdam, which is where the Dutch cheese tour departs from. From there the boat travels to Kinderdijk. We didn’t do the cheese tour, so we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast while we traveled to Kinderdijk. Those who took the cheese tour joined us after their tour at Kinderdijk.

 

Also, there are several groups, and you’ll not feel crowded.

 

Jeff

Edited by jrkstl
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Rhody Lynn

Rhody Lynn

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On our Viking cruise in September, the ship was not able to dock in Kinderdijk because, I assume, of over crowding. We took a short, but very scenic, bus ride from the ship to the windmills. Actually very nice since we saw a bit of the countryside.

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CoralReef

CoralReef

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Coralreef - how many were on the tour you were on? We've never been a fan of large (more than 10 - 12) group tours.

 

About 20, which was typical for the Viking included excursions. I’m not a fan of large tours either, but they are pretty much inevitable on the Rhine Getaway, since it’s often hard to know where your ship will wind up.

 

I must say, as generally DIY/private tour people, we were really impressed with how Viking organized the tours. They were very well planned, and we never encountered anything like the 50-person restroom lines that ocean cruiseline excursions notoriously entail.

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philw1776

philw1776

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Viking included tour was not to be missed. If you don't like the tour, use the fact that you're now ticketed inside the park & tell the guide you're going off on your own.

We were docked so close that when my wife wanted to buy something at the gift shop, I ran back to the ship for my credit card. Easy.

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H2Otstr

H2Otstr

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Viking included tour was not to be missed. If you don't like the tour, use the fact that you're now ticketed inside the park & tell the guide you're going off on your own.

We were docked so close that when my wife wanted to buy something at the gift shop, I ran back to the ship for my credit card. Easy.

 

That is a cute gift shop. I bought a couple of items there, too, as did several others on our tour.

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WarEagle76

WarEagle76

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When we were there in August 2016 on the Rhine Getaway itinerary, we arrived at 10A, the tour was from 10:30A-12:30P, we were to be back on board at 12:45P and sailed at 1P. When we docked, we had to cross a road with an adjoining bike path and the site was on the other side of the road. We stayed with the tour for about an hour, then wandered on on own to take photos. We also left some money at the gift shop. [emoji51]

IMG_0499.jpg.68f96aee7e7697b8ede0b9edc4213ce5.jpg

 

 

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IMG_0489.jpg.055abec30ac049668b944aab648c71b0.jpg

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