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Witness / Attend in Alkmaar
Alkmaarse Kaasmarkt
A canal-ringed town in North Holland north of Amsterdam, known across the world for its traditional cheese market on the Waagplein. Every Friday through the warmer half of the year the cheese carriers' guild stages the centuries-old ritual of weighing and trading great wheels of Dutch cheese.
Run by Kaasdragersgilde Alkmaar, with published dates and a real program.
Dates & details verified against: Official event site ↗
Why here
Alkmaar's cheese market is the most famous piece of living folklore in the Netherlands, a working guild ritual rather than a re-enactment. On Friday mornings from spring to autumn the Waagplein fills with hundreds of golden wheels of Gouda and Edam laid out in rows, and the kaasdragers, the cheese carriers, appear in their white uniforms and coloured straw hats to run the trade. Buyers and sellers clap hands to settle a price in the old way, the carriers swing loaded wooden barrows between the stacks and the historic weigh house, and the cheese is weighed on the great scales of the Waag as it has been for four centuries. The carriers belong to a guild organised in coloured teams whose roots reach back to 1593, and the market itself is documented on this square from at least 1622. It is free to watch, it is genuinely old rather than staged for tourists, and it is one of the clearest windows onto the trade that built these North Holland towns. Come early and stand near the weigh house for the best view.
Best months
The market runs on Friday mornings from 10:00 to 13:00, from the last Friday of March to the last Friday of September; in 2026 that is 27 March to 25 September. During July and August an additional evening market is held on Tuesdays from 19:00 to 21:00. It takes place outdoors on the Waagplein and goes ahead in most weather. It is free to attend and extremely popular, so the square is crowded by opening; arriving well before 10:00 secures a spot near the weighing action.
Getting there & around
Alkmaar is about 40 minutes by direct train from Amsterdam, and the Waagplein is a 10-minute walk from the station through the old centre. The market is free and needs no ticket; grandstand seating and a cheese-market museum in the weigh house are paid extras. Arrive by 09:30 on a Friday for a clear view, as the square fills fast. Combine it with the canals and the Grote Kerk, and note the extra Tuesday-evening markets in July and August.
Skill levels: beginner
Schools & guides (1)
Kaasdragersgilde Alkmaar
OrganizerThe Kaasdragersgilde, the cheese carriers' guild of Alkmaar, stages the traditional cheese market on the Waagplein, carrying and handling the wheels of cheese in white uniforms and coloured straw hats and organised into coloured teams whose origins reach back to 1593. Working around the historic Waag weigh house, the guild weighs and processes the cheese as buyers and sellers settle prices by the old hand-clap, keeping alive a market documented on this square since at least 1622.