canal tour boat

There are a lot of canal tours available in Amsterdam in a variety of tour boats. We saw a lot of the sort we went on in Copenhagen with the glass tops and sides that hold a whole lot of people on benches running across a wide, low boat. The one we booked in Amsterdam was called a luxury light tour, which ran after dark and included snacks and something to drink.

inside the canal boat

Canal tours in Amsterdam start from various docks and are run by numerous different companies. We booked ours online rather than at the dock so then we had to find the right dock and the right boat. The booking didn’t clearly say which provider so we followed google maps to the address given. It turned out to be at a dock across from Central Station. We asked someone near the booths selling tickets if they knew where to go for that tour. He said go down to the middle of the dock and look for the people in orange jackets. Their boats said Flagship on them and the company was called Flagship Amsterdam.

canal boats by central station

We first had to check in with the orange coated people at the top of the stairs who gave people a glow stick of the color corresponding to where they were to line up for the particular boat they were booked on. There were two lining up when we went down, one had a red light with a glowing red line on the ground and the other yellow. Our glowsticks were yellow so we went to the yellow one.

canal at night

The red one had more people and a bigger boat. Ours was a small boat that had a bench running around the outer edge with tables full of snacks spaced alongside. I’m not sure of the exact number of people who fit in there, but I’d guess somewhere in the neighborhood of about 15.

building by a canal

The snacks were mostly crackers with some pretzels and a few cookies. Drinks offered were wine, beer, soft drinks, and ice tea. The only hot beverage available was glühwein, which just means mulled sweetened hot wine with some spices. Considering it was a cold night it would have been nice if they’d also offered tea or hot chocolate for people who don’t drink wine.

rock thing

Canal cruises during daylight generally point out the sights of the city as they pass by. That is exactly what this boat would have done had we gone in the daytime, but this was an after dark light tour.

light arch

What a light tour turned out to be was cruising past various exhibitions of art done in lights along the canal. Entry into the light tour was through an archway made of light. Each light sculpture along the way was different.

star light

Most of the things could also be seen from shore if you happened to be walking in the area where they were located. Most were placed in the water, but not all. Some of the light displays were on both sides of the canal and some just on one. Some were not positioned where a photo would turn out and others another boat interfered, but I did get pictures of some of them. One was a giant spoon next to a bridge. We had walked past that one earlier in the day, but it wasn’t lit up then. At the time we thought a random spoon sculpture in a canal was a bit odd since we didn’t know about the whole light tour thing then.

a canal boat passes the giant spoon

There was a fountain made of geometric shapes in the mist. Like some of the other things it was on the wrong side of the boat for a photo. When we passed it on foot it was also on the wrong side of a very busy street. Other good things on the wrong side were one with crows, which was both light and movement, and the 7 bridges view where there were 7 bridges all lined up with one another that each had lights around the arch of the bridge over the water. There was one boat-oriented light display that consisted of rows of different colored lights under a bridge so the boat passed through all of the different lights while sailing under that bridge.

people walking

Many were just lights, but some had movement, like one of people walking in a line who would vanish when they reached the far end, but then other light silhouettes of different people would appear going the opposite direction.

children at play

Another one with movement was of children playing with the light display projecting onto the side of a bridge.

fish

Others were stationary such as a giant white fish made of lights and what looked like a giant shrimp or fishhook in mermaid colors that they called a mermaid. Other than the colors it did not resemble a mermaid at all, at least not in the angle seen from a boat.

Mermaid? It looks more like a moon or a shrimp

In a different area there was one display alongside the canal that was intended for people walking through it rather than the ones sailing past. It was a row of archways of lights that changed color inside the arch as people passed through, but just looked like rows of lights from the water. Sort of like the one under a bridge but for people on foot instead of boats.

light tunnel on shore

The boat wound its way through a whole bunch of canals, passing under many bridges, some of which a boat any bigger than this little one wouldn’t have fit through. A lot of the canal cruise boats were bigger so they would have to take a different route. Our boat went through different canals going back than it did on the way out so we saw all new things rather than passing by the close side of things that had been on the far side on the way out. The tour lasted an hour and it was quite a nice tour.

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2025