Groningen City Canal Cruise Past St Martin's Tower

The canals ringing Groningen's old town

Groningen has been the main trading city of the northern Netherlands since the Middle Ages, and in the fifteenth century it joined the Hanseatic League of merchant towns. When new fortifications were built in the seventeenth century, a wide moat was dug around them. The walls have gone, but the water remains as the Diepenring, a ring of canals that still frames the old centre.

Your Groningen boat tour follows this ring and some of the waterways that branch from it, so in one hour you see the city from every side. The route passes tree-lined quays, grand merchant houses, colourful houseboats and modern student flats, and slips under low bridges that open for taller ships. It is the easiest way to understand how the city was laid out, before you explore its streets and squares on foot.

St Martin's Tower and the Grote Markt skyline

The tall tower you keep seeing above the rooftops is St Martin's Tower, the symbol of Groningen. Finished in the late fifteenth century and rising to about 97 metres, it is still the highest building in the historic city, and locals affectionately call it the Old Grey One. It stands beside St Martin's Church, whose oldest parts date from the thirteenth century, on the edge of the Grote Markt, the main square.

From the boat you see how the tower dominates the skyline from almost every point of the canal ring, which made it a landmark for sailors coming into the harbour. If you want to climb it after your cruise, the Grote Markt is about fifteen minutes on foot from the jetty, and the view from its galleries over the canals you have just sailed is a perfect way to complete your day.

Old harbour warehouses on the Aa

In the west of the old town the cruise reaches the quays known as the Hoge der A and the Lage der A, along the little river Aa. This was the heart of Groningen's port, where ships unloaded grain, peat, timber and goods from the Baltic. Tall brick warehouses with hoist beams and green shutters line the water, many converted into flats and offices but still looking much as they did in the nineteenth century.

Historic sailing barges and old cargo ships are moored along the quays and in the Noorderhaven, the northern harbour, giving the area a real maritime feel. The audio guide explains how trade by water made the city rich and how the canals were used until well into the twentieth century. It is one of the most photogenic stretches of the route, especially in the soft light of late afternoon.

The Tasman Tower, the station area and planning your visit

The cruise also passes the Tasman Tower on the waterfront and the area around the Central Station, a richly decorated building from 1896. Opposite the station, on islands in the canal, stands the colourful Groninger Museum, known for its bold modern architecture and art collections, which makes a good visit before or after your cruise.

Is Groningen worth visiting? Very much so: it is compact, young and full of history, and the canals are its best introduction. Departures run several times a day from late morning to mid-afternoon, and the best time for a Groningen boat trip is from spring to early autumn, when the roof is open. If you are coming from Amsterdam, the train takes about two hours, and the jetty is right across the road from the station exit.