A quaint, small-population village in the Netherlands that receives an outsized number of tourists relative to its population is now charging visitors an entrance fee.
The historic Dutch village of Zaanse Schans, with its lush landscapes, colorful houses, and famous windmills—one of the Netherlands’ most picturesque villages—will implement an entrance fee for visitors starting in the spring of 2026, in an effort to limit the hordes of tourists it receives each year.
Easily accessible from Amsterdam, this small, fairytale-like village is flooded with travelers, most of whom are day-trippers from the Dutch capital. In 2024, 2.6 million people from all over the world visited Zaanse Schans, a huge number for a small area with only 100 permanent residents.
This large influx significantly affects the lives and daily routines of the village’s few residents, which is why the local council has decided that starting next spring, every traveler will have to pay 17.50 euros to enter the village. With this decision, the local authority is attempting to control and limit the number of visitors for the benefit of the locals.
Speaking to the BBC, the village museum’s director, Marieke Verweij, attempted to explain the reasoning behind the decision to charge an entrance fee, saying: “In 2017, we had 1.7 million visitors… this year that number will rise to 2.8 million. But this village is a small part. We don’t have room for all these people!”
The worst part, according to Ms. Verweij, is that visitors often “don’t know that people live here, so they enter their gardens, go into their houses, urinate in their yards, knock on their doors, take pictures, use selfie sticks to peek inside their houses. So there is no privacy at all.”
The positive thing for tourists is that with the payment of 17.50 euros they have access to the village museum and the inside of the windmills, which have a ticket anyway.
Even if only half of today’s visitors continue to visit Zaanse Schans after the introduction of the ticket, annual revenue would be approximately 24.5 million euros.
The municipal council plans to spend this money on the maintenance of the windmills and on new infrastructure, such as the construction of new restrooms.
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However, there is also a group of residents, including shop and restaurant owners, who disagree with the local council’s decision, arguing that the planned entrance fee threatens the livelihood of businesses.
“Many people will not be able to visit the village due to financial constraints, and those who do visit will have less money to spend at local businesses. Consider that a family of four would have to pay approximately 100 euros for their visit to the village,” Ms. underlined. Sterre Schaap, co-owner of Trash and Treasures gift shop.
