Floating down Amsterdam’s canals and waterways is the best way to discover the best attractions. Everything looks more majestic from a canal boat. I cannot think of a more magical way to experience this fascinating city than from an Amsterdam Canal Boat Cruise.

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Historically Speaking

Amsterdam’s history is built around the canals. Its 165 canals were built mainly in the 17th century to improve transportation, reclaim the land, and expand the city. And many of Amsterdam’s biggest tourist attractions are right next to the canals, meaning you can access them directly from an Amsterdam Canal Boat Cruise.

In 2010 the canal rings of Amsterdam were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This means that they are officially “important to the collective interests of humanity”. The canals have cultural, historical and scientific significance and are definitely worth a look. In fact they are most definitely worthy of you BUCKET LIST!

Amsterdam Canal Boat Cruise world heritage bridge
Beautiful historic bridges over the canal

Which Amsterdam Canal Boat Cruise ?

Canal Boat Tours generally take 1 to 1.5 hours, but there are many different options available to cater for all sorts of tourists. And that’s only fair, for Amsterdam is full of every different sort of tourist imaginable. Here are 23 Amsterdam Canal Boat Cruise options to choose from:

Amsterdam Canal Boat Cruise lovers cruise
One of the many cruise operators

Tour Operators

There are also stacks of competing tour operators, and here are the most popular ones:

Amsterdam Canal Boat Cruise private cruise
Open top cruise option

City Sightseeing Amsterdam

We chose the City Sightseeing Amsterdam Canal Cruise and Bus combo because it’s such an economical way to explore a lot of attractions. We’ve used these style of tours in other locations such as London, Budapest and Vienna and absolutely love them.

We find them to be a great way to see most of the main attractions in a short space of time. And the best thing is, you decide where you want to hop on and hop off. In other words, you design you own tour. We like that… a lot!

You also get to listen to the history and interesting facts about lots of interesting places with the audio guide. It’s in 16 different languages and comes with free earphones. Also there’s a very informative map given out for free when you get on the boat or bus. And did I mention these are the most economical touring option available (except walking of course).

As with most hop on hop off cruises, you get the option of taking different routes. Each route crosses over the other different routes, and you get to mix and match between them. The boats run every 30 minutes so you can hop off just for a short time. Here is a summary of the main attractions on each route.

Green Boat Route

The Boat route (Green) includes the following stops:

  • Central Station West
  • Passenger Terminal
  • Gassan Diamonds
  • Hermitage Museum
  • Albert Cuyp Market
  • Rijksmuseum/ Leidseplein
  • Anne Frank House

Blue Boat Route

The Boat route (Blue) includes the following stops:

  • National Maritime Museum
  • Saint Nicholas Church
  • City Hall
  • Golden Bend/ Herengracht
Amsterdam Canal Boat Cruise
Typical canal scenery

Red Bus Route

The Bus route (red) includes the following stops:

  • Central Station
  • Red Light District
  • Windmill de Gooyer
  • Artis Royal Zoo
  • Gassan Diamonds
  • Jewish Cultural Quarter
  • Royal Theatre Carré
  • Rijksmuseum/ Leidseplein
  • Vondelpark
  • Anne Frank House
  • Heineken Experience

Download The App

Every great hop on hop off boat cruise / bus tour has a great smartphone app to go with it. And the City Sightseeing Amsterdam tour did not let us down. In this case the companion app showed great detail of the city and canal systems with an interactive map. On the map you could see the real time location of each bus and boat. And you could look up information on each attraction so you could figure out where to hop off. Definitely check out our YouTube video for a demo of this great app.

  • Download the IOS app HERE
  • Download the Google Play app HERE

Review of the Canal Cruise

Overall we found the Amsterdam Canal Boat Cruise to be much better than the City Sightseeing Bus Tour. Although it was interesting to see different part of the city and environs by bus, it is so much more relaxing seeing it by canal boat.

And we spent the previous day exploring the city by foot, so we already recognised quite a few of the attractions. We actually never felt a need to hop off either of the 2 canal boat routes, we remained on them from start to finish. Such a relaxing way to take in the scenery.

In general found the blue boat route to be the most enjoyable. That’s because when we boarded the boat at Saint Nicholas Church, we were the first aboard and got the best seat. It was a lovely seat with no roof above, so we could get the best uninterrupted views of Amsterdam. The boat waited for about half and hour before we departed.

Amsterdam Canal Boat Cruise city sightseeing cruise
Got the best seat on the boat

Value For Money

We purchased our tickets at our hotel and only paid just $25.50 per ticket. Overall this is incredible value for a double Amsterdam Canal Boat Cruise with a combined Bus Tour. As a result all we had to spend on was  lunch and a couple of drinks along the way. It is a value packed, family friendly way to spend a day in Amsterdam, and one which I highly recommend. In fact, it is not to be missed.

Check out these awesome deals on our favourite tour platform, Getyourguide.com.


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