CANAL CRUISE
Classic saloon boat
A wooden saloon boat from the early 1900s with a skipper, for just your own group.
A boat of your own
A saloon boat, salonboot in Dutch, is a small passenger boat with a wooden cabin, often built in the first decades of the 1900s and kept in shape by its owners. Most are rented with a skipper for one group at a time: a family, a birthday, a team or a couple who want the canals to themselves.
Inside there is varnished wood, brass and a few tables; on a fine day the roof or the back deck is open. You decide with the skipper where to go and how long to stay out.
What you see
Whatever you ask for, within reason. The classic route takes in the canal ring, the Golden Bend and the Amstel with the Magere Brug. Saloon boats are small enough for the narrower canals too.
Good to know
You pay for the boat, not per person, so it gets cheaper the more of you there are. Ask what is included: drinks, food and the skipper's commentary vary. Book well ahead for weekends.
Before you go
- The boat picks you up at a jetty you agree on, usually somewhere in the centre.
- You pay for the whole boat, so it suits a group.
- Ask what is included: drinks, food, a commentary.
- Book well ahead for weekends and evenings.
What people say
Related spots
More things to do in Amsterdam ›
LANDMARKMagere Brug
The white wooden drawbridge over the Amstel, lit by 1,200 bulbs at night.
LANDMARKGouden Bocht (Golden Bend)
The widest, grandest stretch of the Herengracht, where the richest merchants built double-wide mansions.
LANDMARKBlauwbrug
The ornate stone bridge over the Amstel, modelled on the Pont Alexandre III in Paris.
LANDMARKWaterlooplein flea market
The city's oldest flea market, next to the Stopera.
LANDMARKGroenburgwal
The quiet canal Monet painted, with the Zuiderkerk tower at the end.
MUSEUMRembrandt House Museum
The house where Rembrandt lived and painted for twenty years, with his studio rebuilt.
Tours and quests that pass here
These walks have a stop a few minutes from Classic saloon boat. Free, on your phone, start any time.
CITY QUESTRembrandt's Missing Panel
Count steps, columns and a missing piece of skyline. Rembrandt's city, looking closely.
AUDIO TOURIn Rembrandt's Footsteps
From the biggest house on the street to bankruptcy and an unmarked grave. His Amsterdam, in the order he lived it.
AUDIO TOURVan Gogh's Amsterdam
The years before the fame: a failed bookshop clerk walking these same streets. Ends at the museum door.