Amsterdam canal cruises

The first pleasure cruise in the history of the Amsterdam canals took place in 1621 when Queen Elisabeth Stuart of Bohemia was welcomed into the city in a parade of festively decorated admiralty sloops, with thousands of Amsterdammers cheering on bridges and canal-sides. Treating visiting royals and other VIP's to a cruise on our canals became a tradition that lives on till today. From Winston Crurchill to the Beatles and Nelson Mandela, almost all our famous guests have made their acquaintance with the city from the deck of a canal cruise boat.

No longer exclusive Royal privilege, canal cruises in Amsterdam are now the most popular tourist attraction in the country, with over 3 million passengers a year. For good reason, the city was built to be seen from that perspective.

Canal Cruise Fleet
Today, a diverse fleet of about 200 specialized vessels offer a waterborne variety of almost every form of service and entertainment that's available on shore.
Most of the bigger tourboat operators can be found around Central Station and in the area around entertainment center Leidseplein. They offer similar one hour guided cruises for a relatively standard price of € 7,50.

Special Services
The list of special services the cruise-boat companies provide is almost endless. We made a selection of the most interesting arrangements, with e-mail links to the companies that provide them. If you send them an e-mail, they will provide you with detailed information about your favourite cruise in your language and you may win a prize and help us develop this page so we can serve you better in the future.

The best deal in town
Fun hop on, hop off boat sightseeing through the canals. Canal Bus is the perfect way of getting around Amsterdam with its wealth of waterways. The comfortable boats offer a regular service along 3 routes with 14 stops located near the major museums, attractions and shopping areas. A day pass costs € 18,- and is valid until 12.00 noon the next day so you can hop on hop off all day long. There are also the electrical powered Canal Hopper sloops (max. 12 persons), which are operating 2 routes on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. A day pass for the Canal Hopper costs € 20,-.
Lovers' Museum Boat is another bus route with 7 stops at the main museums in the city. One day passes are available for € 17,- on this line. These passes also give reductions of up to 50 % for admission to museums on the route. Water Taxi also operates from Central Station. With specialized taxi boats they deliver passengers individually to almost every destination in the city.

Top of the line: Saloon Boats
The Saloon boats form a special category in the Canal Cruise trade. Historical luxury vessels, most of them were built at the beginning of the 20th century. Lawyers, MD's and other professionals used them to visit their clients and to entertain guests. The first commercial canal cruise boats were built in this style, they catered to wealthy guests of the top hotels in the city. Recently restored and equipped with modern instruments, a growing number of these Saloon Boats have joined the Amsterdam Canal Cruise fleet.
The high end of the market is booming The 'Soeverein' is a brand new, electrically powered Saloon boat, that came into service last year. This 55 passenger copy of a smaller antique vessel had a price tag of € 1 million to build.

Canal cruise operators

Amsterdam Boat Events
Famous for their dinner cruises with on-board cooking in restored antique barges.

Aemstelland
With two boats, designed for optimal enjoyment of what Amsterdam has to offer.

Amsterdam VIP Water Taxi
With specialized taxi boats Water Taxi deliver passengers individually to almost every destination in the city.

Blueboat
Apart from the standard one hour cruises, Blueboat hosts an impressive range of waterborne entertainment, like Percussion Cruises and Comedy Theatre

Canal Company
With Canal Bike, Canal Bus, Canal Hopper and Partyboats, Canal Company dominates the scene on the Amsterdam canals.

Rederij De Nederlanden
Festive cruising on ships with a history

Cruise with us
Their brand new electrically powered saloon boat 'Souivereign' is the only one in the fleet with a piano on board.

De Rederij
The 'Wolk' (The Cloud) generates her power with an steam engine from the 19th century. A saloon boat for 55 passengers, well suited for weddings and other festive occasions

Holland International
Their specialty is one-hour cruises from Central Station. Their '100 Highlights Cruise' is a benchmark for that type of service.

Dutch Sailing Cruise Company
Every Sunday, our antique ferryboats make a cruise of the waterways and harbours around Amsterdam

Amsterdam Luxury Cruises
Captain Jan's famous private 'Champagne and Roses Cruise' has been the scene of quite a few marriage proposals and intimate engagement celebrations.

Rederij Lieve (Saloonboat.nl)
Amsterdam seen from a luxurious perspective

Private Boat Tours
Rental of beautiful intimate saloonboats 'Paradis' and 'Ivresse' for 2 to 12 passengers and the elegant 'Belle Epoque' for up to 28 passengers. Also for lunches and dinners.

’t Smidtje
Operates a diverse fleet of multi-purpose vessels. Traditonal barges feature interiors that can be adjusted to almost every occasion.

Saloon-boat Hilda
Saloon-boat Hilda has sailed the Amsterdam canals since 1923. She was the first one to carry out a scheduled cruise with tourists in the city.

De Waterlelie
The 'Lily' is a cosy Cruise-boat from the Sixties. Suitable for many occasions, like birthday parties, mini-theatre or musical cruises.

Amsterdam Canal Cruise Guide

Captain/Tourguide/Journalist Jan is a veteran of the Amsterdam canals. He began exploring them by boat in 1975. He knows all their secrets, even the ones below the surface. The tour-guide stories he tells his passengers on his daily cruise acquired some fame, as you can read in his Guestbook. "Even Bruce Willis laughed about my jokes" he recalls proudly and claims that motivated him to write the first book ever written about Amsterdam Canal Cruises. Explore Amsterdam the way it should be seen: on the Captain's seat of an exclusive canal cruise boat. Find your way around the city on a beautifully illustrated clickable map from 1692 and then check the same interactive route on Canal Cruise Guide's Google map to see how much has changed. With descriptions, photo's and video of all the highlights on a typical cruise. Multimedia eBook of a complete guided cruise DOWNLOAD HERE