Amsterdam to Giethoorn

Giethoorn a must visit destination

Amsterdam to Giethoorn is one of the most popular day trips from Amsterdam. You can do it independently or book yourself onto one of the many tours that feature this beautiful and historic village.

You can choose from tours that purely feature Giethoorn or ones that couple it with other popular destinations like Zaanse Schans for instance.

Giethoorn in the Netherlands is like Cotswold villages are to England. A beautiful, quaint, relaxed place to wander and lose yourself away from the crowds (unless its full tourist season) and discover a more tranquil pace of life. It is very popular and rightly so, a little Venice full of beauty and interest.

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Day trip from Amsterdam to Giethoorn

You can choose from multiple different types of tour to Giethoorn.

Giethoorn Guided Tour and Boat Trip

The direct tour to Giethoorn with a boat cruise included is one I like due to the fact it focusses purely on the village and doesn’t leave super early in the morning. Often the bigger tours will start very early and finish very late and in a strange way as Giethoorn is such a tranquil, pretty place, rushing around from place to place doesn’t really fit the pace of life there.

Leaving at 10am from Amsterdam, the journey time is estimated at 2 hours, but it can be slightly quicker or slightly longer depending on various conditions, so the thought process is usually it’ll take between 1.5hrs and 2.5hrs to get there. Giethoorn is 120km (75 miles) away from Amsterdam.

The tour companies leave from the back of Centraal Station, which is very easy to find, and you’ll enjoy the usual luxury air conditioned coach for your journey. Some tours will have a guide that talks you through the journey and what you are seeing and others will just let you relax and enjoy the scenery as you go. This tour has both, a quiet drive there and a guide for other parts of the day.

If you are going directly to Giethoorn then you will have a small break to stretch your legs on the way, the classic ‘photo stop’. For this Giethoorn day trip it is at Afsluitdijk which is a major dam and offers some good views.

Once in Giethoorn you can relax. From 12.30pm you get a good 90 minutes to start to explore, or perhaps grab some food and drink and then at 2pm the included canal boat cruise starts and lasts for one hour. On this boat tour you will cruise down beautiful canals, see quaint thatched cottages, grazing horses and the famous wooden bridges.

After the cruise you get a further 2.5hrs to explore at your leisure, enjoy ice creams, food, hire a bike or boat or more. When a tour is visiting just one place you do get more time to relax and really feel the place itself rather than just ticking off the seen that, done that list.

This is what Giethoorn is, a historic and stunning tranquil escape from bustling city life.

The coach leaves Giethoorn at 5.30pm for the leisurely drive back to Amsterdam.

Giethoorn and Zaanse Schans Tour

A longer tour focussing on two very popular Dutch attractions. Zaanse Schans is rightly famed for its incredible working windmills and really is a must-see when visiting Amsterdam. The village itself showcases how windmills were used for various foods and crafts and you can see traditional clog making and cheese making here. Photography at Zaanse Schans is a joy with picture postcard classic ‘Dutch’ images aplenty.

Coupled with time in Giethoorn you have a 10-hr tour (including travel) that will show you a competely different side to the Netherlands from Amsterdam.

How to get to Giethoorn from Amsterdam

Independent travel to Giethoorn

It is not too arduous a journey from Amsterdam to Giethoorn, but most visitors will choose the simplicity of one of the tours. There are no train changes to deal with on a tour and someone else does the driving for you if you are on a tour coach.

However, it can be cheaper (though this is debateable with petrol costs) to go it alone and you have more flexibility too.

If you have a car or have hired one for your stay in Amsterdam, then the easiest way to Giethoorn will be driving.

Giethoorn By Car:

• Route: The fastest way by car is to take the A1 motorway from Amsterdam towards Almere and then switch to the A6 towards Lelystad. After that, take the N331 to Steenwijk and follow signs to Giethoorn.
• Distance: Approximately 120 kilometers (75 miles).
• Time: About 1.5 to 2 hours, depending on traffic.

For those without their own transport, the next best option will be to take a train and then hop on a local bus for the final stage of the journey. 

Giethoorn By Train and Bus:

• Step 1: Train from Amsterdam to Steenwijk
  • Departure Station: Amsterdam Centraal (Central Station).
  • Arrival Station: Steenwijk.
  • Duration: The train journey takes around 1.5 hours, with one transfer at Zwolle. Direct trains are also available at times.
  • Train Frequency: Trains run frequently throughout the day.
• Step 2: Bus from Steenwijk to Giethoorn
  • Bus Number: Bus 70 towards Giethoorn.
  • Duration: The bus ride from Steenwijk to Giethoorn takes about 15-20 minutes.
  • Final Stop: Get off at Giethoorn, Dominee Hylkemaweg.
• Total Travel Time: Around 2 to 2.5 hours.

By Bike and Train:

• Option: If you enjoy cycling, you could take a train to a nearby town (like Zwolle or Steenwijk) and then cycle the remaining distance to Giethoorn.
• Distance: From Steenwijk, it’s about 8 kilometers (5 miles) to Giethoorn.
• Duration: This option could take around 3 hours of total travel time, depending on your fitness levels, cycling speed and how many stops you make along the way – then of course you have to cycle back too but it is a lovely way to see the countryside and other nearby villages too.

Giethoorn Boats

If you are on a tour you will find the boat trip is usually included, though some tours include an e-bike instead.

You can also just hire a boat on the day for a set period. These are not huge canal boats as some of the canal ways are quite narrow (see picture above).

Hiring a boat at Giethoorn is easy. You can hire boats of various sizes depending on your group size and then you become the captain of your vessel, exploring at your leisure. This is a really fun way to see the village.

Prices vary but are based on boat size and time length of hire. As an example you can hire a small boat for 1.5hrs for around €40.

Hiring a Giethoorn boat in advance online will save you quite a bit of money, sometimes between €10-€15 when compared to an on-the-day walk up price.

Best time to visit Giethoorn

Giethoorn is popular. Very popular. There are some times when you could walk across the canals via the masses of boats stuck in a traffic jam on the narrow waterways, though we don’t suggest you try, there are lovely wooden bridges for that.

But at certain times of year and on certain days it can be very crowded and busy. The quaint, quiet village can feel a lot more bustling and touristy.

This will all depend on when you are in Amsterdam and to be fair a lot of visitors will be visiting in the peak Spring and Summer months anyway, so their choices on visit times are more limited.

When the Dutch schools are out, Giethoorn can become very busy. Mid July to end of August for your diaries. Also on National holidays and Sundays, Giethoorn is busier.

It is never too busy to enjoy, but if you are able to avoid the above dates/days then you should find less people there.

Mondays is usually the quietest day, so taking an organised tour earlier in the week will probably reward you with a quieter Giethoorn. As the week progresses it gets progressively busier towards Friday with weekends being the busiest.

Should you be travelling to Giethoorn independently during the peak season, then you have a bit more flexibility on visit times. Aim for early mornings or after 5pm as the crowds will not be there yet and thin out into the evening.

If you are visiting in the Autumn or Winter you may miss the flowers and greenery, but you’ll be rewarded with much quieter streets and waterways.