Amsterdam Classic Saloon Boat Canal Cruise

Amsterdam's canal ring from the water

Amsterdam's seventeenth-century canal ring, the Grachtengordel, was dug during the Dutch Golden Age as a planned expansion of the city, with three main canals, the Herengracht, Keizersgracht and Prinsengracht, curving in concentric arcs around the old centre. Lined with tall merchant houses, gabled roofs and hundreds of bridges, it was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2010.

The best way to see it is from the water, at the level the city was designed for. Your saloon boat glides slowly under low arched bridges and past houseboats while your host explains how the canals were built, why the houses lean forward and how hoist beams at the top were used to lift goods. An Amsterdam canal cruise is one of the essential things to do in the city, and the evening departures show the bridges lit up after dark.

The classic saloon boat

Saloon boats were the elegant passenger boats of Amsterdam's canals around 1900, with polished wood, brass fittings and a cosy covered cabin. Some of the boats used on this cruise have been sailing the canals since 1902; they have been restored with care and fitted with silent electric engines, so the ride is calm, smooth and free of engine noise and fumes.

Compared with the large glass-roofed tour boats, a saloon boat feels intimate and personal: the group is smaller, you sit close to the water and you can ask your skipper questions throughout. The salon keeps you warm in winter and dry in rain, and on sunny days the roof opens up. The boat you board may vary from the one shown in photos, but all are classic saloon boats.

Westerkerk, Prinsengracht and the Jordaan

The Westerkerk, completed in 1631, has the tallest church tower in Amsterdam, about 85 metres, topped with the blue-and-gold imperial crown that is a symbol of the city. It stands on the Prinsengracht, the outermost of the three main canals, where the alternative boarding point for this cruise is located. Its carillon still plays over the rooftops every quarter of an hour.

West of the church lies the Jordaan, once a working-class district and now one of the most charming parts of the city, with narrow streets, small canals and hidden courtyard gardens. Nearby are the Nine Streets, a grid of small lanes between the main canals full of independent shops and cafés, and the Leliegracht with the Canal House museum.

Herengracht and the Golden Bend

The Herengracht, the Gentlemen's Canal, was the most prestigious address of the Golden Age. Its widest and grandest stretch, the Golden Bend, between the Leidsestraat and the Vijzelstraat, is lined with double-width mansions built by the richest merchants and bankers of the seventeenth century, with stone facades, grand staircases and large gardens hidden behind.

Cruising along the Herengracht, your host points out the different gable styles, from simple spout gables to elegant neck and bell gables, and explains how houses were taxed by their width, which is why most canal houses are so narrow and deep. It is one of the most photographed stretches on any Amsterdam canal boat tour.

The Amstel, the Skinny Bridge and the Dancing Houses

The route continues to the Amstel river, which gave the city its name. Here you pass the Magere Brug, the Skinny Bridge, a white wooden double drawbridge lit by hundreds of lights at night, along with the Royal Theatre Carré, a grand nineteenth-century theatre on the riverbank, the H'ART Museum in the long Amstelhof building, and the Stopera, the combined city hall and opera house.

Through the Groenburgwal, one of the most picturesque small canals in the old centre, the boat returns towards the harbour front, where the Dancing Houses, a row of old merchant houses leaning at different angles, face the water near Central Station. Is a canal cruise worth it in Amsterdam? For a first view of the city in one relaxed hour, it is hard to beat.