A small ferry for pedestrians and cyclists crosses the Noordhollands kanaal from the Bierkade. On the other side is part of the old city which was reclaimed in 1607, and later cut off by the canal in 1824. The name of the area, Veneetse, like the street name Fnidsen in the centre, is a corruption of Venezia / Venice. At Heiligland 7 is a former butchers shop, a 19th-century shop-front complete with wooden awning.
From here you can walk north to Oudorp - once a separate village, now surrounded by modern housing (it was annexed to Alkmaar in 1972). It is on the old road north (Herenweg): on the way to the next village (Sint Pancras), the old road crosses the Hoornsevaart, the old canal to Hoorn. Along the banks of the Hoornsevaart are four of the six surviving windmills of Oudorp. Originally there were six windmills on the dike here, built from 1627 to 1630, to drain the adjoining polder. One burnt down in 1688, and one was dismantled, to be rebuilt at the Netherlands Open-Air Museum in Arnhem. While it was there in storage, during the Second World War, it was destroyed by a British bomb.
The history of all Alkmaar's windmills is documented at the city planning department website, see also the clickable map of all 26 windmills in and around Alkmaar , from the Molenstichting Alkmaar en omstreken (Alkmaar and region Windmill Foundation).
From Oudorp you can walk back along the Munnikenweg (monks' way). This is one of the oldest roads in the region, originally built under Count Floris V, around 1270.
Along the road there were two castles, Middelburg (or Middelburcht), and Nieuwburg (or Nieuwburcht). The ground plan of Nieuwburg castle is now indicated by brick paths (in the park between the road and the Hoornsevaart canal, see the roadside map). All that is left of the other castle is a slight rise in a field (beside the road, with sign). The castles were built for defence against the Frisians: in the early Middle Ages Holland and Friesland were still joined by land. They were separated as the Zuider Zee grew in the 12th and 13th centuries. The area east of Alkmaar, towards Hoorn and Enkhuizen, is still known as West Friesland.
At the end of the Munnikenweg is another windmill, a functioning grain windmill called 't Roode Hert - moved here from its original location in Zaandam. The Friese weg (Frisian way, the old road to Friesland) takes you back to the city centre, across the Friese brug (Frisia bridge).
't Roode Hert has a shop, where you can buy the milled eco-flour, pasta, and nuts. Open Monday afternoon, and Tuesday to Saturday from 10.00 to 16.30, 16.00 on Saturday. The mill is currently a 'work project' for the mentally handicapped.
Until 1870 Alkmaar remained within the old walls, apart from a few houses along the road to the station: see the 1865 map at the city website. The small 19th-century additions to the city are along the moat itself, (Geestersingel and Kennemersingel), or just beyond it, such as the small Emmakwartier, a few 19th-century streets along the Emmastraat, and the Spoorbuurt (railway quarter), between the station and the moat. Early 20th-century development was just beyond those areas, such as the Nassaukwartier around the Nassauplein, and the Bloemwijk, on the other side of Westerweg. The main growth of Alkmaar came after the Second World War, and especially after 1972, when it was officially designated for expansion. The architectural history of all city neighbourhoods is documented by the Alkmaar planning department (Dutch text, with images of typical building style per neighbourhood).
South of the Nassaukwartier is the Alkmaarderhout, a city park since 1607, redesigned by L. A. Springer, from 1902 onwards. The neighbourhood is now dominated by the regional hospital, Medisch Centrum Alkmaar, which originated in the former Cadet School (1893, converted 1929). Just south of the park is the 1948 stadium of AZ Alkmaar, the city's football team (moving to a new stadium in 2007). .
The old main road south, passing the Alkmaarderhout, is the Kennemerstraatweg. It used to run through the villages (Heiloo, Limmen, Castricum) towards Haarlem, but the present provincial highway N203 turns toward Zaandam and bypasses the old village streets.
At nr. 11 is Huize Tesselschade, named after Maria Tesselschade Roemer Visscher (1594-1649) who married a sea-captain from Alkmaar (it is not entirely certain that she lived in this house). Maria Tesselschade was the most prominent female poet of the Netherlands Golden Age, but is now remembered mainly for her name. Her merchant father had been ruined shortly before her birth, when his ships were sunk in a storm off Texel (Tessel), so he named the baby 'Texel-losses'. The present front of the house dates from around 1800, the wooden carvings depict fishing gear.
West of the old city, Alkmaar station is located just north of the Bergerweg, the relocated road to Bergen. The station dates from 1864, but there is very little left of its original glory . Near the station is a 28 meter water tower built in 1900, architect A. Holmberg de Beckfelt. Like other Dutch towns near the coast, Alkmaar began to pipe drinking water from the dunes in the late 19th century. In 1886 about 600 houses were connected, the poor were still dependent on water sold from municipal taps on the streets. In 1889, the schools were connected so that the children could drink clean water. Water remained scarce, and the city sold additional water from municipal rainwater cisterns, fed from the roof of larger buildings.
The purpose of a water tower is to maintain the pressure in the network of pipes: the pressure reservoir must be higher than the highest tap in the system. This one has a steel tank for 800 000 litres. In many other countries the reservoir was located on a hill, but in the flat regions a tower is necessary. Water towers became a characteristic feature of Dutch towns and cities, and there are also isolated towers in rural areas. Technological change made them redundant, pumps are now used to maintain pressure. The Alkmaar tower is now used as artists studios.
North of the city centre, the Noordhollands kanaal continues north, to the port of Den Helder. It was built in 1824, for sailing ships with tall masts, and it had no fixed bridges. In rural areas, it was crossed only by ferries and floating bridges. One of these has survived just north of Alkmaar, the Koedijk floating bridge, Koedijker Vlotbrug. The wooden bridge has sections that slide under each other, to clear the channel. The best way to reach it is along the canal: the west bank is the main road (Helderseweg), cyclists should use the cycle paths and minor roads on the east bank. From the floating bridge, you can cycle on to Bergen, along the Kogendijk. Beside the floating bridge is a reconstructed windmill, the Sluismolen: it was destroyed by arson in 2001, see the images of its reconstruction at the Alkmaar Windmill Foundation website.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Alkmaar
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Alkmaar - updated May 2024
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Alkmaar Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
