One must not leave the Netherlands without having seen a windmill up close and personal, but one needn’t leave Amsterdam to do so. There are eight windmills right in the heart of the bustling city, though only two may be visited by the public.
The locations of the eight windmills are: De 1200 Roe on Haarlemmerweg 465, De 1100 Roe on Herman Bonpad 6, the Riekermolen alongside the Amstel River, D’Admiraal on Noordhollandschkanalldijk 21, De Bloem on Haarlemmerweg 701, De Gooyer on Fuenenkade 7, Molen van Sloten on Akersluis 10, and De Otter mill on Gillis van Ledenberchstraat 78. The latter two windmills can still be toured by the public.
The highly popular Molen van Sloten is a 19th Century structure that is handicap accessible with a built-in elevator. It is open to the public daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. De Otter mill was built around 1630 and is the oldest Dutch windmill still in operation.
Historically, the Netherlands had as many as 10,000 windmills in existence. Unfortunately, that number has now dwindled to 1,000.
