Alkmaar cheese market

Hand clap

You see how cheese used to be traded, weighed and carried. Every week the cheese market is opened at 10 a.m. with the ringing of a bell by a special guest. There is also a traditional market around the cheese market.

At the cheese market, traders and farmers negotiate the cheese using the hand clapping method. You can see how the cheese is extensively tested. Then the cheeses are brought on a berrie by De Kaasdragers running to huge centuries-old scales in the Waagtoren. Here the cheese is weighed. After 11 a.m. you can also take a look at the enormous scales in the Waagtoren and let yourself be weighed on the ancient scales.