The Netherlands · GOUDA TOURS
Every trip has one free day too few. These 10 gouda tours justify the slot, priced and timed so you can decide in minutes and get back to the fun part.
Spend about 1 to 1.5 hours inside a giant Gouda cheese, learning how wheels move from polder to market. You will try virtual milking, cheese-turning, and a hands-on quiz before tasting Gouda. The experience is self-guided, wheelchair accessible, and includes entry plus cheese tasting.
“Really nice experience! Learned a lot about cheese and the process. The cheese tasting at the end was the highlight.”
Spend 75 minutes aboard the Jan Salie or Jan Kordaat, two historic Dutch tow barges, as your skipper guides you through Gouda’s canals and Museum Harbour. Tours run in Dutch or English and include a covered deck, sun deck, toilet, and minibar. Check the departure point and time carefully before booking.
“Niet in het donker varen, want dan zie je niks. De opstapplek en de aanvangstijd waren foutief gecommuniceerd.”
You’ll cruise Gouda’s canals for about an hour aboard a traditional open boat, guided in English or Dutch by a skipper. The route follows the old north-south passage toward the Dutch IJssel, reaches places other boats miss, and includes a map of nine historic sites.
“Heel enthousiaste gids met veel weetjes over de geschiedenis van Gouda. Echte aanrader!”
Enter Gouda’s St. John Church at your own pace with an audio guide in English, Dutch, German, French, Italian, or Spanish. See 72 historic stained-glass windows, some reaching 20 meters, and learn how the church connects to the Dutch revolt against Spain.
“de audiotoer was prima maar er is nog meer in de kerk zoals het orgel. daar werd niets over verteld. jammer.”
Join Suzanne of Collected Stories for a relaxed two-hour walk through Gouda’s medieval center. You’ll see the market square, cheese weigh house, canals, Visbanken, Gouwekerk, and Museum Gouda, with coffee, tea, water, juice, and a local stroopwafel included.
“Geweldig leuke tocht gehad. Omdat de meeste hadden geannuleerd werd het een prive tocht. Erg leuk en doordat we al het een en ander hadden gezien paste Suzanne het programma aan. Complimenten”
Use the Qula city game app to guide your private group of up to six through Gouda. Solve questions, complete search tasks, and follow GPS between eight city-center stops. You choose the pace, can pause or replay challenges, and finish back at Agnietenstraat after about three hours.
“Such a great way to see things around the city you would otherwise miss. Active, exciting and a lot of fun.”
Explore Gouda on a 2.5-kilometer self-guided mystery game for up to six people. Use your smartphone to solve puzzles, find photo clues, and prove your innocence in a playwright’s assassination. The route takes about two hours and ends at Gouda’s historic town hall.
“Ze vonden het leuk op deze manier Gouda te ontdekken. Echt een aanrader. Wellicht iets duidelijker vermelden dat je niet bij de foto's moet blijven hangen, maar dat deze tijdens de gehele tocht gevonden moeten worden. (maar ik had de telefoon ook niet in mijn hand dus wellicht is er niet goed gelezen...).”
Visit Museum Gouda in a 14th-century guest house with a one-day entry ticket. See altar paintings spared during the iconoclasm, a huge interactive model of Gouda in 1562, civic guard portraits, works by Ferdinand Bol and Isaac Israels, and famous Gouda pottery.
“Pas de guide. Pas d'audio guide c'est dommage. il y a beaucoup d'œuvres mais cela manque d'explication sans les audio guide.”
Explore Gouda with a private English-speaking guide on a two-hour walk through the Markt, City Hall, Saint-John Church, and De Goudse Waag. You’ll learn how cheese shaped the town, but confirm tasting details before booking, since cheese samples may cost extra.
“I struggle with this review as it had nothing to do with tasting cheese and everything to do with the history of the town of Gouda. First, I signed up for tour to sample and taste the magnificent Gouda cheese… only to discover that the description of the tour had changed since my purchase and the sampling was no longer included, but a separate cost! The two guides that gave us the tour were extremely knowledgeable of the history of Gouda and did an amazing job of relating the information to us! Definitely well worth the tour for the knowledge. I really enjoyed the tour but it wasn’t the tour…”
Spend about eight hours with a private English-speaking guide in Gouda and Delft. Visit Gouda’s weighing house, taste its famous cheese, walk Delft’s historic center, enjoy lunch with two drinks, and tour the Royal Delft factory. Pickup and drop-off are available with selected options.
“I love that we were able to see so much during this tour. The program was perfect for us. We enjoyed both cities, but we loved Delft the most. See you next time”
Pick a boat, a windmill or a gallery.
