City Canal Cruise Amsterdam

Amsterdam Canal Cruises – Tickets & More

A city canal cruise Amsterdam, is without question the most popular thing to do in Amsterdam. This beautiful city is built around the canal and travelling by canal boat during the day or in the evening is an experience sure to stay with you forever.

The canals in Amsterdam can be used as a means to get around the city or purely as an experience tour. There are many different canal cruises in Amsterdam to choose from, each offering a different experience. From 1-hr canal cruises around the main canal belt, to more in-depth experiences that can include dinner and dancing.

You are sure to use the canals on your visit to Amsterdam and one trip along the canals is usually never enough, with visitors booking canal cruise tickets for different routes and times of day, to experience the city from the water in as many ways as possible.

This page focuses on the cruises you can take along the Amsterdam canals, if you want to learn more about the canals and their history visit our other Amsterdam canals page.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links to companies and services we trust. If you purchase something after clicking any link, then we will earn a small commission at no additional cost to you (policy page).

Canal Cruise Amsterdam Tickets

The real beauty of the Amsterdam canals as a visitor attraction is that there are so many ways to experience them. The canals are spread out like rings in a pond, from the centre of Amsterdam. This means a 1-hr tour can focus on the closer canals in the heart of Amsterdam and longer tours can go out further and include the River IJ.

So, however long you have in the city, there is a canal cruise for you. Tours run during the day and in the evening so you can see Amsterdam from the water lit by the sun or lit by Amsterdam’s famous sparkling neon lights.

The canal cruises often start from Central Station, but there are also various other points throughout the city where you can pick up your canal cruise. So, wherever you stay in Amsterdam, you will be close to a canal cruise opportunity.

1-hr canal cruise Amsterdam tickets

Probably the most popular ticket visitors purchase. A one hour canal cruise in Amsterdam will take you around the historic canal belt within the old part of the city. You’ll see some of the most beautiful canal houses and have an audio guide to help you understand what you are seeing.

1-hr Evening Canal cruise Amsterdam tickets

Amsterdam is beautiful during the day, but there is something a bit special about seeing the canal houses all lit up at night whilst cruising down the canals. It’s a cliche, but the lights reflecting off the water twinkle in the waves and create a unique vision of Amsterdam that will have you reaching for your phones/camera.

Canal cruise dinner Amsterdam

Where better to enjoy an evening meal than cruising along the beautiful canals of Amsterdam? On this luxury canal cruise with dinner, you’ll enjoy 3-courses (fish, meat and vegetarian options) and free drinks (beer, house wine and soft drinks). There is a kids menu available too.

The dinner cruise starts at 7.30pm and leaves from Centraal Station. The cruise lasts 2-hrs, so you can relax and enjoy your meal as the stunning scenery around you changes every minute.

Canal Cruise Amsterdam with wine and cheese

Seems obvious, but when you combine an Amsterdam canal cruise with wine and cheese, it just seems right.

Leaving from Central Station, this cruise includes unlimited wine (or soft drink) and cheese whilst you listen to the guide entertaining you all about Amsterdam’s history and what you are seeing as you float by.

This canal cruise lasts 1-hr and is a perfect way to enjoy cheese and wine in a unique setting. A very popular cruise.

Private Canal Cruise Amsterdam

For the ultimate experience, why not book tickets for a private canal cruise Amsterdam. This private Amsterdam canal cruise is on a 100-year-old beautiful historic boat.

You can relax in luxury and be part of history on board this exquisite boat. The live guide (in English or French) will guide you around the Amsterdam canals for 90-minutes and your ticket includes drinks (wine, beer, tea or coffee).

This private canal cruise in Amsterdam leaves from the dock outside the Hermitage Museum on the Amstel. (Amstel 51)

Evening canal cruise in Amsterdam

Another evening canal cruise in Amsterdam leaves from Anne Frank House and takes place on an open-top boat with it’s own bar (drinks not inc). This is a small group tour of the canals and lasts 1-hr.

It is a lovely opportunity to see the city from the water, leaving from a different part of the city and allowing you to grab a drink to toast with as you go. A good way to start or end any evening out in Amsterdam

Amsterdam Light Festival Canal Cruise

As winter descends on Amsterdam, the gloom is broken by the annual Amsterdam Light Festival (runs from 30 Nov 23 – 21 Jan 24). Every year the city is lit up by multiple light installations by famous and up and coming light artists and one of the best ways to see these is via a canal boat cruise.

This cruise is designed to take in as many of the installations as possible and is an amazing way to see the city at night and iconic modern art too.

Combination Tickets – Canal Cruise plus attraction

Lots of the ticket providers create combination tickets to help visitors save a bit of money.

As the City Canal Cruise Amsterdam are so popular these tickets are often combined with museums and attractions, so you can buy one ticket and enjoy both.

Here are a few of our favourites:

City Canal Cruise and Van Gogh Museum Tickets

Enjoy a 1-hr Amsterdam city cruise plus entry to the iconic Van Gogh Museum in Museumplein. Your canal cruise can be used the day before, the day of or the day after your visit to Van Gogh Museum. You can also choose your timeslot for Van Giogh Museum.

Canal Cruise Amsterdam, Moco Museum Tickets and Royal Zoo Tickets – Family Fun Pass

The Family Fun Pass includes three very popular attractions in one pass. You can visit Moco Museum, Royal Artis Zoo and enjoy a 1-hr Amsterdam canal cruise.

Royal Artis Zoo is a fabulous attraction for young and old, Moco Museum hosts some of the works by Banksy, one of the only places in the world you can see his work, plus other modern masterpieces.

Choose when you want to visit each attraction too, giving you great flexibility on any visit to Amsterdam.

Canal Cruise and Heineken Experience Tickets

Enjoy a 1-hr Amsterdam city canal cruise  with Lovers Cruise Boat, plus entry to Heineken Experience. Enjoy the stunning canals of Amsterdam and entry to the very popular Heineken Experience to find out how this iconic brand became one of the worlds favourite lagers. Skip-the-line entry to Heineken Experience also includes 2 drinks (beer or soft drink).

You can take your canal cruise on the same day or another day from your visit to Heineken Experience. When booking you chose your timeslot for Heineken Experience but need to go to the Amsterdam office on Damrak 26 to book your canal cruise timeslot.

City Canal Cruise and Rijksmuseum Tickets

Enjoy a 1-hr evening Amsterdam city canal cruise plus entry to Rijksmuseum with a semi-guided tour included. Rijksmuseum is the National Museum of the Netherlands and home of the Rembrandt masterpiece The Night Watch.

The Amsterdam Pass

Finally, we have the Amsterdam Pass. This all in one pass includes entry to Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum and a 1-hr canal cruise through Amsterdam.

Three of the top things to do in Amsterdam in one pass is a great option for those in Amsterdam for a few days.

City Canal Cruise Amsterdam Times

The canal cruises in Amsterdam run all day long and well into the evening too. There are multiple providers running cruises throughout the city, all with slightly different operations.

There are also private tour companies who specialise in full boat hire and these kind of cruises can go on late into the night.

The cruises also factor in the time of year with earlier daytime canal cruises available in winter with earlier finishes and the reverse in Summer.

As an example Lovers Boat Company runs day time cruises from 9am in the morning during Winter, these finish at 4pm.

In the summer, they start at 10am and run until 9pm, sometimes later.

It seems that timetables are a little bit of a moveable feast, possibly affected by demand and time of year, so do check when booking.

It is also possible to hire your own boat to enjoy the canals on. If you want to learn more about the Amsterdam canals, their history and how you might go about hiring your own boat, visit our other Canals of Amsterdam page.