Canal boat tours in Amsterdam - which one?
 

Hi. I have done the key word search and read some of the postings that came up related to canal boat tours. One of the threads on that topic last year suggests that they are scattered everywhere and you can just take any of them probably something closer to the hotel one stays in. Is that still true? Are they all more or less the same or is there a "best canal tour" if you wanted to get one of those 1-2 hours overview/get the feel of the city kind of tour? Also, is the hop on/off canal bus offered by Canal Company worth it in using as your main means of transportation to get to the main sightseeing spots? Is that faster/more convenient than walking or taking buses/trams? It would be like Venice then!

Thank you!

They all seem to be clones of each other to me. I'd judge by the route - try to get one that goes out in the harbor and one that goes thru the Redlight District for a complete trip.

Or rent a pedalo to do your own canal trip.

Day or night? night bridges and canals are wondrously lit.

Instead of the canalbus, your other option is the general daycard for publictransport in Amsterdam. Valid for all buses, trams and metros. (not the canalbus, that is a private company).
So you have a larger region in the city to travel.
I think it costs about Eur. 7.- p.p.

For the official information:
http://www2.holland.com/us/discover/...ions/canal.jsp

The main tours are from outside Central Station and nearby, and they tend to follow similar routes. But as that article states there are others serving different purposes: up to you to check them out and see which suits you better.

I wouldn't think the canal bus is quicker or cheaper than walking or the tram, but it might be more comfortable.

You can also do a home-made circular trip by tram - lines 5 and 24 cross at the Concertgebouw as well as Central Station, or you can construct other round trips: http://www.gvb.nl/english/travellers...jnenkaart.html

Thank you for the information shared so far. Any personal experiences or recommendations of canal tours taken from which company/what location are welcome.

Thank you

I am also interested.

Holland International, opposite Centraal Station as well as Kooy at Rokin, both in business for years, very good.Tours last just over 1 hour.

And Lovers is the third of these to me clone operations. Lovers has been around a long time to and even at times runs trains in Holland.

I took the one out of Leidseplein which I think is called Rederij Noord-Zuid, in front of the Hard Rock Cafe, last evening. It went through the Jordaan, out into the Harbor, past Nemo and back in and down to Leisdeplein. It was about 75 minutes and 10 euro. We looked at the others and didn't like the price, time or routes (one had you pick between a red, blue or green route, each covering a separate area). You'll be hard-pressed to find one that goes through Red Light District, as that is on all land and what few canals there are nearby are too narrow for the canal tour boats.

I would *NOT* use it as a way to get your bearings around the city. You won't be on water, you'll be walking on streets, which is completely different in terms of navigating. Even after being here 7 days, we were still surprised to be seeing things from the boat we didn't recognize from our time walking around.

In my experience, it's much faster to walk and take trams than do the hop on hop off boats. They are much slower!

Hi. To have a bit more freedom and pick and choose your places of interest I would rent a pedal boat. Canal Bike rents them for 4 people and you'll get a map and some route descriptions. Much more fun to do it yourself and with this great spring weather there are so many people sitting on terraces along the canals you'll have some contact with the locals too!