Residents in a beautiful little European town have complained about tourists invading their privacy, and now visitors will be charged £15 for entry. The Dutch town of Zaanse Schans, which is famous for its windmills, colourful houses and tulip fields, swells with tourists. It is a small town home to only around 100 residents, but it received a whopping 2.6 million visitors in 2025.
Locals say that tourists have knocked on their doors, entered and urinated in their gardens, and used selfie sticks to take a peek inside their homes. The town is extremely picturesque and easy to get to from Amsterdam, which makes it a popular activity for those visiting the Netherlands.
But the local council has said that this number of tourists is too high, and has taken action to combat it. From Spring 2026, tourists visiting the town will be charged €17.50 (around £15).
The council plans to use that money for the maintenance of the windmills and new infrastructure.
Director of the village museum, Marieke Verweij, told the BBC last year: “In 2017 we had 1.7 million visitors…this year we’re heading for 2.8 million. But this is a small place! We just don’t have room for all these people!”
She added that not many tourists realise that “people live here so they walk into their gardens, they walk into their houses, they pee into their gardens, they knock on doors, they take pictures, they use selfie sticks to peek into the houses. So no privacy at all.”
While the charge might seem steep, it does include entry into the museum and one of the windmills. If half the usual number of visitors decide to go to the town and pay the charge, then it would raise around €24.5 million (around £21 million).
However, not everyone is backing the move. Some local retailers, such as gift shops and cheese shops, have criticised the new charge.
These shops are quite an attraction for tourists, with workers wearing traditional clothing and showing visitors how to make Dutch clogs.
Sterre Schaap, who co-runs the gift shop, said: “It’s awful. It will mean that people who don’t have a big wallet won’t be able to come here.”
Similar charges have been introduced in many places across Europe, including Venice. Tourists visiting this iconic Italian city now have to pay €5 (£4.35) at peak times.
A charge of €2 (£1.74)has also been introduced at Rome’s Trevi Fountain, with visitors having to pay if they want to get a closer look.
