An evening cruise is the same canals as a daytime cruise and a completely different city. The gables go dark, the bridges switch on, and the water turns into a mirror of the whole canal belt. There are only two decisions to make: do you want to sit behind glass or in the open air, and do you know what time it actually gets dark in Amsterdam — because in June an eight o’clock “evening cruise” sails in broad daylight.
Saloon boat or open boat
Both cruises follow much the same water and both last about an hour. The difference is the roof — and that decides your photographs, your comfort and roughly nine euro.
| Traditional saloon boat | Open boat | |
|---|---|---|
| Boat | Covered and heated, glass all around | Open, no roof, blankets on board in winter |
| Duration | 1 to 1½ hours | 1 hour |
| Guide | Audio guide on board | Live guide, in English |
| Departs from | Damrak, by Central Station, or Stadhouderskade, by Leidseplein | Central Station, the Anne Frank House or the Leliegracht |
| Photographs | Through glass — reflections are hard to avoid | Nothing between you and the bridges |
| Best in | Rain, wind, December | A dry evening, May to September |
| Price | from €13,95 per person | from €22,50 per person |
| Rating on Tiqets | 4.3 out of 5, 489 reviews | 4.5 out of 5, 66 reviews |
The traditional saloon boat
This is the classic Amsterdam canal boat: a long, low, glass-roofed saloon boat, heated, with an audio guide that runs while you sail. It is the cheapest way to see the canals at night and the one that works in any weather, which in Amsterdam is not a small consideration.
One ticket covers two operators and you choose at checkout. The Lovers boats leave from the Damrak, two minutes from Central Station. The Blue Boat Company leaves from the Stadhouderskade near Leidseplein, on the museum side of town — handy if you are already having dinner there.
- From €13,95 per person — the cheapest way to see the canals after dark.
- Covered and heated, so rain, wind and December are no reason to cancel.
- Audio guide on board, so you learn what you are looking at without a guide talking over your evening.
- Two departure points: Damrak 20-D by Central Station, or Stadhouderskade 30 by Leidseplein.
- One to one and a half hours, depending on the operator you pick.
Check evening availability for the saloon boat on Tiqets
The open boat
An open boat has no roof between you and the city. The bridges pass close overhead, the light from the canal houses falls straight onto the water beside you, and every photograph is one you could not take through a window. On a dry evening in summer it is worth the extra nine euro without much argument.
Again one ticket, several boats. Flagship sails from Central Station and from the Anne Frank House with a live guide in English and a bar on board; the Stromma open boat leaves from the Keizersgracht. In winter there are blankets, but be honest with yourself about the wind.
- From €22,50 per person, about nine euro more than the covered boat.
- No roof, so no reflections in your photographs and a full view of every bridge.
- A live guide in English rather than a recording — you can ask questions.
- A bar on board on the Flagship boats; drinks are paid separately.
- Three departure points: Central Station, the Anne Frank House and the Leliegracht.
Check evening availability for the open boat on Tiqets
What you see after dark
Evening cruises follow the horseshoe of the Herengracht, Keizersgracht and Prinsengracht, cross to the Amstel and come back along the old harbour front. The set pieces are the same as by day, but the light does most of the work.
The one everybody photographs is the Reguliersgracht: stand at the corner with the Herengracht and seven bridges line up behind one another, each outlined in bulbs, each reflected. From a boat you sail straight through the middle of it. The Magere Brug over the Amstel carries around twelve hundred lights and is the single most photographed bridge in the city after dark.
Along the Amstel the H’ART Museum stands floodlit on the water, and further east the replica of the eighteenth-century VOC ship Amsterdam sits in front of the National Maritime Museum with its rigging lit. On the way back you pass the Golden Bend on the Herengracht, where the merchant houses are wide enough for two front doors, and hundreds of houseboats with their curtains open — the one hour of the day when you can see straight into how Amsterdam lives on the water.
When it actually gets dark in Amsterdam
This is the question that ruins more evening cruises than the weather. Amsterdam sits at 52 degrees north, so the length of the evening swings enormously across the year. In June the sun is still up at ten; in December it is dark before half past four.
| Season | Sunset in Amsterdam | Book your cruise from |
|---|---|---|
| Late December to mid January | around 16:30 | 17:00 — the earliest lit cruise of the year |
| February | 17:45 to 18:30 | 18:30 |
| March and October | around 19:00 to 19:30 | 19:30 |
| April | 20:30 to 21:15 | 21:00 |
| May to July | 21:20 to just after 22:00 | 21:30 at the very earliest |
| August | 21:15 falling to 20:15 | 20:30 |
| September | 20:10 falling to 19:05 | 19:30 |
| November | around 16:50 | 17:15 |
Times are approximate and shift a little through each month; the Netherlands moves to summer time on the last Sunday of March and back on the last Sunday of October. The rule of thumb: book a departure that starts at sunset or later, and you sail into the dark rather than waiting for it. The bridge lights themselves come on at dusk and stay on until roughly one in the morning.
Where the evening boats leave from
Evening boats leave from four areas, and the pier on your ticket is the one that counts — piers a few hundred metres apart belong to different operators.
- Damrak 20-D, two minutes from Central Station — the Lovers saloon boats.
- Stadhouderskade 30, by Leidseplein — the Blue Boat Company saloon boats, on the museum side of the city.
- Central Station and the Anne Frank House — the Flagship open boats.
- Keizersgracht 270 and the Leliegracht, in the middle of the canal belt — the Stromma open boat.
Before you board
- Be at the pier fifteen minutes early. Evening departures are fewer than daytime ones and the boat will not wait.
- Dress a layer warmer than the street. On the water it is a few degrees colder, and on an open boat noticeably more. From October onwards this matters.
- Sit at the back on an open boat if you want photographs — no heads in front of you when the bridges pass.
- Turn the flash off. On a covered boat it bounces straight back off the glass; put the lens against the window instead.
- Summer evenings and December weekends sell out days ahead. The rest of the year you can usually book the same day.
- From late November to January the Amsterdam Light Festival puts light artworks along the route, and evening boats sail through them.
Still weighing this against the other twenty boats on the water? Our comparison of all Amsterdam canal cruises puts every one of them side by side.
Frequently asked questions
Evening departures usually start between 19:00 and 21:30, but the useful question is when it gets dark. In midsummer the sun sets just after 22:00, so a cruise before 21:30 still sails in daylight. In December sunset is around 16:30, so a 17:00 departure is already a night cruise.
A traditional covered saloon boat with an audio guide starts at €13,95 per person. An open boat with a live guide starts at €22,50 per person. Both last around an hour.
They show you two different cities. By day you see the gables, the houseboats and the details of the canal houses. In the evening the bridges are outlined in lights and reflected in the water, which photographs far better. If you only take one cruise and the weather is dry, take the evening one.
Take the open boat on a dry evening between May and September: nothing between you and the bridges, no reflections in your photos, and a live guide you can ask questions. Take the covered saloon boat in rain or cold, or if you want the cheapest ticket — it is heated and glazed all around.
The seven lit bridges of the Reguliersgracht, the Magere Brug with its twelve hundred lights, the floodlit H’ART Museum on the Amstel, the replica VOC ship at the Maritime Museum, the Golden Bend on the Herengracht and hundreds of lit houseboats.
Yes, all year round, and winter is when they start earliest — sunset is around 16:30 in late December, so a five o’clock departure already sails in the dark. Choose a covered and heated saloon boat rather than an open boat, and from late November to January you also pass the Amsterdam Light Festival artworks.
Not on these two tickets. The Flagship open boats have a bar on board where you buy drinks separately. If you want drinks included in the price, look at the cheese and wine cruises instead.
On summer evenings, at weekends and during the Amsterdam Light Festival the popular departures sell out several days ahead. Outside those periods you can usually book on the day.
