Visit the Cheese market of Alkmaar
All information about the Alkmaar cheese market, like how to get there, parking, opening hours, location and all other whereabouts, you'll find on this page.
What do you see at the Cheese Market?
Thousands of visitors from all over the world visit Alkmaar for its cheese market, a particular spectacle which includes a market filled with cheese and hauling cheese carriers. In 1365 Alkmaar was granted weighing rights and a weighing scale, and in 1612 this number increased to four. Exactly when the first cheese market took place is shrouded in mystery. Old documents have been found that confirm the cheese market definitely took place in 1622, but there is also evidence that the cheese bearer's guild was founded in 1593; we can therefore deduce that there must have been a cheese market at that time as well.
What do you see?
- Cheese carriers carry the cheeses on barrows. On the cheese barrows they can carry up to 160 kilos of cheese!
- The cheese is weighed at the Waaggebouw.
- Traders and farmers negotiate the prices of the cheese.
- 'Throwers' throw the cheese on wagons so they can be transported.
- The cheese girls inform the visitors about the cheese and the ins and outs of the Cheese Market.
When is the Cheese Market?
The first Cheese Market always takes place on the last Friday of March from 10:00 am to 01:00 pm on Waagplein in Alkmaar! Every friday untill the last Friday of September there will be a Cheese market on Waagplein.
In the months July and August, the cheese market also takes place on Tuesday evenings from 07.00 pm to 09.00 pm.
If you have any questions about the Cheesemarket or your trip to Alkmaar, call the Tourist Information Point of Alkmaar: +31 (0) 72 - 511 4284 or or send an email to info@vvvweb.nl
Where is the Alkmaar Cheese Market?
The Cheese Market takes place on Waagplein, 15 minutes by foot from the train station (a beautiful walk through the Alkmaar town centre).De Kaasmarkt vindt plaats op het Waagplein, ongeveer een kwartiertje lopen van het treinstation.
