Great Tips for a Day Trip to Gouda with Kids

The Gouda Waag, dating from 1668 and located across from the old City Hall, was pleasantly bustling afterward. In the past, cheese was weighed here, among other things; today, the Cheese and Crafts Museum is housed in the building. When the Cheese Market is in town, you can have yourself “weighed” on the original cheese scale. Kids love it!

We take the fun audio tour that tells us all about the Waag and the history of Gouda cheese. There’s a special audio tour for kids. The tour takes us up two spiral staircases to the building’s attic, where there’s a fun exhibition about the cheese-making process, from production to trade. Of course, we won’t leave without tasting and buying a piece of Gouda cheese!

Next up is the Gouda Museum, which is situated in a beautiful spot behind St. John’s Church. At the back (the entrance is on Oosthaven) is the museum garden, which offers a view of the church. It was a bit rainy on the day we visited, but when the weather permits, it’s wonderful to relax outside on the terrace. We popped into the adjacent Museum Café for a drink, and that’s also highly recommended, with its cozy interior beneath the vaulted ceilings.

At the museum counter, we pick up two tablets because we’re going to do the Mini Museum Tour with Mara, a super fun scavenger hunt designed especially for kids. Using the tablets, we’ll search for treasures for our very own 3D museum. We look for blue dots on the floor. When we hold our tablet over them, the dot comes to life on the screen. Suddenly, we see a mummy, a dragon, and a little dog appear right in front of us.

With fun questions and activities like “Count the city gates in the interactive model of Gouda” and “Who does the dragon in the painting belong to?”, we wander through the museum. Once we’ve found all the dots and answers, a fun souvenir awaits us at the front desk.

In addition to visiting the museum, where you can learn about the history and development of the city of Gouda, you can get creative with the whole family in the art studio. There are also extra family workshops during school breaks.

Time for lunch! We walk into Brownies & Downies on Korte Tiendeweg, where we’re shown to a table next to the cozy play corner with a toy kitchen, books, and a basket of toys.

We can hardly choose from the delicious selection on the lunch menu, which also offers plenty of options for kids—from soup and pancakes to small fried eggs. The super-friendly service and the cozy, relaxed atmosphere do the rest. There’s also a cute gift shop on the premises where you can buy some fun little trinkets. We can’t resist picking up a box of those delicious brownies to take home. We really enjoyed this lovely spot for lunch, but there are even more great kid-friendly places to eat in Gouda. You can find them here.

Of course, a visit to the Kamphuisen Syrup Waffle Factory is a must! The entrance to the factory is “hidden” in the back of the store at Markt 69. In the first room, we’re immediately transported back in time. The interactive film tells the story of the Kamphuisen family, which begins in 1810 with the recipe for the syrup waffle (and no, this is really a different treat than its better-known “little brother,” the stroopwafel).

Next, we’ll follow an audio tour through the factory, where you’ll see how this authentic Gouda cookie is made. Along the way, you can help knead the dough by walking inside a wheel and sample different flavors of syrup. The kids jump at the chance—they walk back a few times to pour themselves some syrup.

At the end of the tour, you’ll whiz down the “syrup tube” (or walk back) and get one of those delicious, super-fresh syrup waffles from the baker. A tasty way to wrap up this fun tour!

Our last stop is the Gouda Cheese Experience on Agnietenstraat. Here, we opt for the audio tour, during which we answer questions like “How many hours does a cow spend chewing its cud?” and “What two ingredients do you add to milk to make cheese?” We find the answers during the tour, and if we pass the quiz, we get to call ourselves Cheese Masters. We also have to collect stamps to “earn” a fun souvenir at the end. Let’s go!

We immerse ourselves in the golden-yellow cheese experience. It begins inside a huge Gouda cheese, where Ralfie, the cheese mascot, helps us get started. After passing through the Milky Way—where we learn all about cows and even get to “milk” one—we head to the interactive discovery walls, where the entire cheese-making process is explained. We learn so much there in a fun, hands-on way!

We “coat” the cheeses and submerge them in the cheese vat, turn the cheeses over, count the cheeses in the warehouse, and practice the “hand clap.” It’s a great interactive experience and really fun and easy for kids to follow along. At the end, we’re treated to a mini cheese tasting, and then it’s official: the Netherlands has a few more Cheese Masters! Highly recommended for all ages.

Our day in Gouda was over, but there are still more fun things to do when you're in Gouda with the kids:

Located just outside the city center, but definitely worth a visit, is the Dino Experience Park, a large theme park. You can easily spend a whole day here enjoying everything there is to see, do, and experience! Activities include a scavenger hunt featuring more than 70 dinosaurs, digging up a dinosaur skeleton, and playing a round of golf among enormous, lifelike dinosaurs at Jurassic Golf. In the large playground, kids can play to their hearts’ content, go on a Dino Jeep Safari, conquer the climbing wall, and much more.

So there’s still plenty to discover on our next visit to Gouda. One thing’s for sure: we’ll definitely be back. Because wow, Gouda really is such a great city! During our walk through the city center, we also came across some fun kid-friendly shops! We’ve listed them listed .