Gouda

On the morning of our last full day in the Netherlands over our summer 2025 trip, we explored the medieval city of Gouda. Gouda is a municipality in South Holland, located about 50 kilometers south of Amsterdam. The city is famous for its namesake cheese, and during the Middle Ages, the city was given market rights to the cheese trade. Cheese producers would bring their products to be weighed and sold. Admittedly, it was the Thursday morning cheese market that drew us to the city. We knew that in 2025, centuries after the city was founded, it would likely be more of a touristy experience than anything else, but the weather was nice, and Gouda is only about a 20-minute ride on the Intercity train from Den Haag Centraal.

Emily and I met Michael and Sami at the Starbucks in Den Haag Centraal. They greeted us with lattes and pastries for the short train ride. The cheese market is open on Thursdays from about mid-April through August from 10:00 am until about 12:30 pm. And of course, Michael wanted to get there early to check it out. The girls had no interest in an old cheese market, but went along for the multitude of cheese samples and lunch.

We got off the train and followed Google maps and the small group to the historic Markt square neat city hall. The square was bustling with activity. There, piles of cheese wheels were stacked on pallets, with visitors taking photos alongside traditionally dressed cheese boys and girls. We watched the traditional handjeklap, an historic method farmers and buyers would use to negotiate cheese prices. To us, the rhythmic clapping while yelling prices looked like an elementary school game, but we learned that this had been a practice since medieval times.

After watching the ‘negotiations’ for a while, we checked out the vendors all around the square. There were a number of cheese booths, as well as vendors selling home goods, Netherlands-themed souvenirs, and tchotchkes. There was even a table selling cleaning brushes and vacuum parts. While vacuum parts was a hard pass for me, I did pick up some cute dish towels for my friends back home. Sami found some cheese-themed gifts for her friends who love cheese. I also tried the kaas waffle, a savory thin waffle snack with a cheese filling. While it was a nice snack, I think I prefer sweet, caramel stroopwafels.

After checking out the various table vendors, we headed into a few of the many cheese shops in the vicinity of the city square. We sampled the many cheese varieties as we made our way around. I learned that I really like bierkaas, or beer cheese. We eventually headed back to the cheese and crafts museum and shop. There we purchased some very aged cheese to take back to Mees, who is rather an old cheese aficionado. Emily also tried to buy one of the decorative wooden cheese wheels to bring home as a prank. Unfortunately, we found that while the huge cheese wheels can be bought, the fake decorative ones are just that- decoration, and not for sale. In the museum shop, there is also a scale, where visitors could find out their weight in cheese. Of course, Michael had to try this, and the girls got a good laugh as we headed out to grab some lunch.

We stopped for a light lunch at Bagels and Beans. It was nice to be able to sit for a bit before heading back out. We stopped at a couple more shops to get a baby cheese wheel and a couple souvenirs for Jacob, who is also an avid cheese lover and wasn’t able to make this trip. We took our time meandering through the shops as we made our way back to the train station, stopping at a pet store and saying hi to the konijnen and buying some treats for our bunnies back home. In all, our visit to Gouda was a nice half-day excursion. For anyone who likes cheese, it is a trip I would recommend if you happen to be in South Holland.

Now if only I had some wine for my bierkaas, it would have been a perfect morning. Proost!

For more information and to plan your visit, check out Welcome to Gouda.

For a short video showing more of our visit, check out my YouTube channel.