Amsterdam has more than twenty different canal cruises, and from the outside most of them look the same: a boat, a canal, an hour of your holiday. They are not the same. This page sorts every cruise we can book for you by the four things that actually decide which one you should take — when you sail, whether food and drinks are included, what kind of boat you sit in, and whether you share it. Start with the four questions, then use the comparison table to check the details.
Four questions that decide your cruise
Answer these four in order. After the fourth you will normally have two or three boats left, and the comparison table below settles it.
1. Do you want to sail by day, in the evening, or in winter?
Daytime cruises show you the gables, the bridges and the houseboats. Evening cruises show you the bridges lit up, which photographs far better and is the single biggest difference in atmosphere. Between late November and January the Amsterdam Light Festival puts light artworks on the water and the evening boats sail straight through them.
- Day — the classic hour from Central Station, the open boats, the hop-on hop-off boat, the harbour cruise, pedal boats.
- Evening — see our full guide to the Amsterdam evening canal cruise: the evening cruise from Central Station, the evening open boat from the Anne Frank House, the dinner cruise, the pizza cruise, the FEBOAT.
- Winter, roughly late November to January — the Light Festival cruises. They only run in season; outside it the tickets disappear from sale.
2. Do you just want to sail, or eat and drink on board?
This is where the price gap comes from. A plain cruise costs around twelve to twenty-five euro. As soon as food or unlimited drinks are included you move to thirty euro and up, and a full dinner cruise sits above a hundred.
- Just the cruise — classic cruise, evening cruise, open boat, hop-on hop-off, harbour cruise. Most open boats have a bar where you buy drinks separately.
- Drinks included — the cheese and wine cruises (unlimited wine, beer or soft drinks plus cheese) and the BBQ cruise.
- A real meal — the three-course dinner cruise, the pizza cruise, the pancake boat, the FEBOAT.
3. What kind of boat do you want to sit in?
Amsterdam weather decides this more often than taste does. A covered saloon boat has glass all around and heating; an open boat has no roof and a much better view, but you feel the rain. If you want to steer yourself you need a third category altogether.
- Covered and heated saloon boat — the classic cruise, the evening cruise, the cheese and wine cruises, the dinner cruise, the VR cruise, the harbour cruise. The safe choice from October to April.
- Open boat — the open boat cruises from Central Station and the Anne Frank House, and the Light Festival boat. Blankets on board in winter.
- You steer — rent your own boat (no licence needed) or a pedal boat.
4. Shared boat, or your own group?
On a shared cruise you sit with forty or so strangers and hear a recorded or live commentary. A private boat is yours: your group, your route, your pace, a skipper who talks to you and not to a microphone. Private is priced per boat, not per person, so it only makes sense from roughly six people up.
- Shared — everything with a per-person price in the table below.
- Private, up to 10 people — the private canal cruise on a 1915 historic boat leaving from the H’ART Museum.
- Private, up to 12 people — the private saloon boat tour from Central Station.
- Private with catering, up to 20 people — the BBQ and unlimited drinks cruise.
All Amsterdam canal cruises compared
Every cruise we can book for you, with the facts that differ between them. Prices are the lowest current adult price at our booking partners and are per person unless the row says otherwise.
| Cruise | Duration | Departs from | Boat and guide | Included | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Classic canal cruise from Central Station | 60 min | Prins Hendrikkade 25, Central Station | Covered saloon boat, audio guide in 19 languages | The cruise and on-board wifi | from €12,14 |
| Open boat cruise from Central Station | 60 min | Prins Hendrikkade 33A, Central Station | Open boat, live guide in English | The cruise; bar on board, drinks paid separately | from €18,82 |
| Open boat cruise from the Anne Frank House | 60 min | Westermarkt 20, Anne Frank House | Open boat, live guide in English | The cruise; bar on board, drinks paid separately | from €21,81 |
| Evening cruise from Central Station | 60 min | Prins Hendrikkade 25, Central Station | Covered saloon boat, audio guide in 18 languages | The cruise, bridges lit up | from €13,95 |
| Evening cruise from the Anne Frank House | 60 min | Westermarkt 20, Anne Frank House | Covered and heated saloon boat, live guide in English | The cruise; bar on board, drinks paid separately | from €24,95 |
| Cheese and wine cruise from Central Station | 60 min | Prins Hendrikkade 33A, Central Station | Covered and heated boat, live guide in English | Unlimited wine, beer or soft drinks and Dutch cheese | from €31,45 |
| Cheese and wine cruise from the Anne Frank House | 60 min | Prinsengracht 263, Anne Frank House | Covered and heated boat, live guide in English | Unlimited wine, beer or soft drinks and Dutch cheese | from €31,45 |
| Hop-on hop-off boat | 100 min | Prins Hendrikkade 73, Central Station | Covered boat, audio guide in 18 languages, live guide in 12 | Unlimited hopping for 24 or 48 hours, free entry to Gassan Diamonds |
from €29,50 full loop; ticket valid 24 or 48 hours |
| VR canal cruise | 75 min | Leidseplein, pier next to Holland Casino | Luxury covered saloon boat, audio tour in English or Dutch | The cruise, a 15-minute 17th-century VR film and one drink | from €43,00 |
| FEBOAT — canal cruise with a FEBO wall | 90 min | Badhuiskade, next to A’DAM Tower | Covered boat, Dutch host | The cruise and the FEBO snacks; departs daily at 18:00 | from €26,00 |
| Evening pizza and drinks cruise | 90 min | Damrak pier 4 | Open boat, live guide | Pizza and drinks (beer, wine, soft drinks); up to 40 people | from €34,50 |
| Three-course dinner cruise | 135 min | Zwanenburgwal 10, Nieuwmarkt | Classic covered saloon boat, live guide in English | Prosecco on arrival, snacks, three courses at your own window table |
from €128,00 per person |
| Pancake boat from NDSM | 75 min | Ms. van Riemsdijkweg 33, NDSM | Two decks, family seating downstairs | All-you-can-eat pancakes and toppings; drinks paid separately | from €30,20 |
| Harbour cruise to the working port | 150 min | THIS IS HOLLAND, Amsterdam-Noord | Covered, heated, fully electric boat with a toilet, audio guide in English, German and Dutch | The cruise and the audio guide; drinks paid separately | from €20,00 |
| Private canal cruise on a 1915 boat | 90 min | Amstel 51, H’ART Museum | Semi-open historic saloon boat, live guide in English or French | The whole boat for your group, live guide, a drink on arrival |
from €350,00 per boat, up to 10 people |
| Private saloon boat tour | 90 min | Oosterdokskade 8, Central Station | Private saloon boat, live guide | The whole boat for your group and a live guide |
from €380,00 per boat, up to 12 people |
| BBQ and unlimited drinks cruise | 120 min | Oosterdokskade 8, Central Station | Open boat, live guide in English and Dutch | Full BBQ and unlimited beer, wine and soft drinks |
from €59,95 per person, groups up to 20 |
| Rent your own boat | 120 min | Zandhoek 22, Westerdok | Open boat, you steer, no licence needed | The boat and life jackets for two hours |
from €135,00 per boat, up to 8 people |
| Pedal boat from the Rijksmuseum | 60 min | Stadhouderskade 520, Rijksmuseum | Pedal boat, you steer | The boat and a canal map for an hour |
from €34,50 per boat, up to 4 people |
| Amsterdam Light Festival cruise | 75 min | Prins Hendrikkade 33A, Central Station | Open luxury boat with blankets, live guide in English and Dutch | The cruise past the light artworks; unlimited drinks optional |
from €29,75 late November to January only |
Prices checked on 1 September 2026. Canal cruise prices move with the season and with demand, so the ticket page always shows the price that counts.
The best canal cruise for…
- First time in Amsterdam — The classic hour from Central Station. It is the cheapest ticket on this page, it covers the Golden Bend, the Skinny Bridge and the seven-bridge view, and the audio guide runs in nineteen languages.
- A second cruise, or you have seen the canals before — The harbour cruise. Two and a half hours through the working port, the shipyards and the container terminals — a completely different Amsterdam, and the cheapest long cruise here.
- Couples — The evening cruise from the Anne Frank House, or the cheese and wine cruise if you want the drinks handled.
- Families with young children — The pancake boat. Unlimited pancakes, a ball pit and a seventy-five minute sail that no child complains about.
- A group of friends — The BBQ and unlimited drinks cruise for up to twenty, or rent your own boat and skipper it yourselves.
- A birthday, a proposal, a company outing — The private canal cruise on the 1915 boat from the H’ART Museum. Your own boat, your own route, a live guide.
- Rain — Anything described as covered and heated: the classic cruise, the evening cruise, the cheese and wine cruises, the dinner cruise, the harbour cruise.
- A tight budget — The classic cruise or the evening cruise, both under fifteen euro. A pedal boat also works out cheap once you split it four ways.
Where the boats leave from
Amsterdam has no single cruise terminal. Boats leave from six different areas, and turning up at the wrong pier is the most common mistake visitors make. The address in the comparison table is the one that counts.
- Central Station, Prins Hendrikkade — the busiest departure area, with separate piers at numbers 25, 33A and 73. They are a few minutes’ walk apart and belong to different operators.
- Central Station, Oosterdokskade 8 — the private saloon boats and the BBQ cruise, on the east side of the station.
- Damrak pier 4 — the yellow pier just south of the station, for the pizza cruise.
- Anne Frank House, Westermarkt and Prinsengracht — the open boats and the cheese and wine cruise, in the middle of the canal belt.
- Rijksmuseum and Leidseplein — pedal boats at Stadhouderskade, the VR cruise at the pier next to Holland Casino.
- Amstel 51, at the H’ART Museum — the private historic boat.
- Amsterdam-Noord — the harbour cruise from THIS IS HOLLAND, the pancake boat from the NDSM wharf, the FEBOAT from Badhuiskade next to the A’DAM Tower. All three are a free ferry ride from Central Station.
What to know before you board
Be at the pier fifteen minutes before departure. Boats leave on time and a canal cruise cannot wait for you at the next bridge.
Almost every cruise here runs on a fixed timetable rather than on demand, so a ticket is for a specific departure. On summer evenings and during the Light Festival the popular sailings sell out days ahead.
A canal cruise takes you through the seventeenth-century canal belt, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. You can read what you are looking at on our guide to the Amsterdam canal district.
All the cruises on this page are wheelchair accessible only on request — the piers and the boats differ, so check the ticket page for the boat you pick.
Prices on this page are the lowest adult price at the moment of writing. Children’s tickets are cheaper on most cruises and free on some for the youngest age group.
Frequently asked questions
The cheapest classic canal cruise from Central Station starts at around €12 per person for one hour. Cruises with unlimited drinks and cheese start around €31, and a three-course dinner cruise costs around €128 per person. A private boat is priced per boat and starts at around €350 for up to ten people.
Most canal cruises last exactly one hour. The pancake boat and the VR cruise take about 75 minutes, the pizza cruise and the private boats 90 minutes, the dinner cruise a little over two hours, and the harbour cruise two and a half hours. A full loop on the hop-on hop-off boat takes about 100 minutes.
The classic one-hour cruise from Central Station. It covers the Golden Bend, the Skinny Bridge and the seven-bridge view on the Reguliersgracht, has an audio guide in nineteen languages and is the cheapest ticket available.
They show you different cities. By day you see the gables, the houseboats and the details of the canal houses. In the evening the bridges are lit and the water reflects them, which is far better for photographs. Between late November and January the evening boats also sail through the Amsterdam Light Festival.
Yes, all year round. From October onwards choose a covered and heated saloon boat rather than an open boat. The Amsterdam Light Festival cruises run only from late November to January.
From six areas: Prins Hendrikkade and Oosterdokskade next to Central Station, Damrak pier 4, the Anne Frank House on the Westermarkt and the Prinsengracht, the Rijksmuseum and Leidseplein, the H’ART Museum on the Amstel, and Amsterdam-Noord. Check the exact address on your ticket, because piers a few hundred metres apart belong to different operators.
Yes. A private canal cruise on a 1915 historic boat from the H’ART Museum takes up to ten people and costs around €350 for the boat. A private saloon boat from Central Station takes up to twelve. For larger groups the BBQ cruise seats twenty. Private boats are priced per boat, so they usually work out cheaper than individual tickets from about six people up.
On a quiet weekday you can often walk up to the pier. In summer, at weekends and during the Light Festival the popular departures sell out days in advance, so booking ahead is the safer choice.
