Alkmaar Cheese Market

What Happens and When

The work starts long before visitors arrive. From 7:00 the setters lay out about 2,400 cheeses, some 30,000 kilos, in rows across the square, and they have to finish by 9:30. The carriers report to the Waag at 9:30 and anyone late pays a fine. At 9:45 the cheese father calls the roll.

At 10:00 a bell opens the market, usually rung by a well-known Dutch guest. Inspectors push a cheese borer into the wheels to check them, and buyers and sellers agree a price with handjeklap, the Dutch custom of bargaining by slapping hands. The carriers then load eight cheeses of about 13 kilos each onto a wooden barrow called a berrie and take them to the weigh house at a quick, rocking trot. A presenter on the square explains what is going on.

From 12:30 the last cheeses are loaded into carts and taken to the lorries in the Marktstraat, and the market closes at 13:00. A craft market runs in the streets around it.

The Cheese Carriers' Guild

The carriers belong to a guild founded on 17 June 1593. They work in four teams, red, green, blue and yellow, each with six carriers and its own weigher. The man in charge is the cheese father, and you can pick him out by his orange hat.

When to Arrive

The square is full of cheese by 9:30 and the bell rings at 10:00, so come before 10:00 if you want a place at the front. The first market of the season, on the last Friday of March, is opened by a well-known Dutch guest.

Evening and Children's Markets

In July and August there are evening markets on Tuesdays from 19:00 to 21:00, run the same way as on Fridays. In 2026 they were held on every Tuesday of both months.

Over the same two months there is a children's cheese market from 10:30 to 11:00 for ages 6 to 12. Children get to stand on the cheese scale and take home a weighing certificate. Tickets come from the VVV tourist office and places are limited.

Groups can book a guided visit in a reserved part of the market through the VVV, with access to the weighing area and the carriers' room. A few benches are kept for wheelchair users; ask at the VVV by the gate.

Hollands Kaasmuseum in the Waag

The cheese museum is upstairs in the weigh house, at Waagplein 2. It is usually open Monday to Saturday from 10:00 to 16:00 and Sunday from 12:00 to 16:00, with different hours on some market days and in summer, so check the museum's calendar before you go. Tickets bought online cost €7 for adults and €3 for children aged 4 to 12, and the Museumkaart gets you in free. The museum is wheelchair accessible and has a children's trail in Dutch, German and English.

Getting There From Amsterdam

Direct trains run from Amsterdam Centraal to Alkmaar four times an hour and take about 35 minutes. From Alkmaar station it is about a 15-minute walk to the Waagplein.