Alkmaar Cheese Market

The Alkmaar Cheese Market, Kaasmarkt in Dutch, is held on the Waagplein, the square in front of the Waag, Alkmaar’s old weigh house. The organiser describes “an extraordinary spectacle with a square full of cheese and lugging cheese carriers”: wheels of cheese laid out on the square, and porters who carry them on wooden barrows. It says that thousands of visitors from all over the world come to Alkmaar for the market. Information and contact go through VVV Alkmaar, the town’s tourist office.

When it is held

The organiser presents the Friday market as an annual season, from the last Friday of March to the last Friday of September. The Tuesday evening market runs from 7 pm to 9 pm in July and August. A craft market is held around the Friday cheese market.

What to taste

• Dutch cheese. Gouda and Edam, both named after Dutch towns, are the two names everyone knows. Dutch cheese is sold by age, from young to old, firmer and saltier as it matures.
• Spiced cheeses. Cumin and clove cheeses are a Dutch tradition worth tasting.
• Shops around the square. Cheese shops in the old centre sell wedges to take home.

Good to know

The Waag, the weigh house on the square, houses a cheese museum.

Around the market

Alkmaar’s old centre is a town of canals, gabled houses and the Grote Kerk, the great church of St. Lawrence. Boat tours on the canals start near the Waagplein in season, and the North Sea beaches at Bergen and Egmond aan Zee can be reached by bus or bike.

Getting to the Alkmaar Cheese Market

Trains from Amsterdam Centraal reach Alkmaar. The Waagplein is in the old centre, a walk from Alkmaar station. Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is the nearest large airport.

Where to stay and budget

Alkmaar is an easy day trip from Amsterdam, and the town also has hotels of its own. The market itself has no entry price in the sources checked. The budget is the train, the cheese you buy and lunch in town.

Combine with

Cheese in Bra, Piedmont, returns from 17 to 20 September 2027, while the Alkmaar season is still running. In Belgium, the guide lists brewery visits in Bruges. Gouda’s cheese market, in South Holland, runs on Thursday mornings from April to August.