SECRETS OF AMSTERDAM: CHANNELS LIVE AND LOVE

With more canals than Venice, the best way to see Amsterdam is to visit them to stand or sit in one of the many cafes installed on its banks while more than 2500 houseboats in the city below. Although perhaps it convenient to make a boat trip, an experience that allow to understand why Unesco World Heritage these waterways.



Getting around in the channels

In Dutch gracht means "word", so the belt is grachtengordel channels formed by the main center. They were created in the early seventeenth century, when city planners thought of an ambitious design that will allow the growth of the city. It was then built these concentric waterways that are basically the same as we see today. There are a number of central, semicircular canals (Singel, Herengracht, Prinsengracht and Keizergrascht) and a series of radial channels that cross the central as if they were the spokes of a bicycle: Brouwersgracht Leidengracht and Reguliersgracht.

Channels to save some really amazing bridges are responsible. The oldest, on the Singel, is to Torensluis. Although the most famous may be the Skinny Bridge (Falco bridge), one of the most photographed, which rises on the Amstel with over 1200 lights illuminating the night.

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Prinsengracht, the liveliest of the central channel, with cafes, shops and houseboats that line the docks.

Reguliersgracht, which lets you see the arches of seven bridges at once.

Brouwersgracht, considered by many locals the nicest city canal, and that there is competition.

Herengracht, the regio Amsterdam canal, with the most impressive homes in the Golden Bend.

Bloemgracht, a splendid elegant canal houses with gabled roofs.

Egelantiersgracht, an elegant and quiet to enjoy (almost) alone channel.

To better understand the channels

To know more about this heritage site, we recommend watching some of the museums dedicated to them: Houseboat Museum, 1914 barge converted into a museum where you can discover what gezellig (cozy) which can be a houseboat; or make a circuit Het Grachtenhuis that explain the fundamental role of the canals and the houses in the urban planning of the city.

Best Accommodations in houseboats

And if we want to live it up the channels experience, nothing better than staying in a houseboat, Houseboat Ms Luctor like a nice boat, 1913 well equipped and decorated with mahogany paneling, docked in a quiet corner near the Centraal Station, or the B & B Le Maroxidien, proposing Dutch hospitality in an old freighter with three cabins exotic theme in his guest wing.

Another possibility is to rent a houseboat: Frederic Rentabike besides houseboats also rent bicycles at the Prinsengracht, Brouwersgracht and Bloemgracht.

Eating along the canals

The central banks of the canals are filled with bars and restaurants. It will be hard to choose. Here are some options:

Café Restaurant Open on a railway bridge disused 1920s, with pivoting windows and open kitchen.

Belhamel at the beginning of Herengracht, a splendid restaurant by the canal.

Buffet van Odette, which offers simple and creative kitchen overlooking houseboats variegated Prinsengracht.

Gebr Hartering to enjoy contemporary Dutch cuisine tastefully presented in a corner of the most romantic.

A drink by the canal

And if ours is the night:

't Smalle, a distillery of jenever (Dutch gin) of the eighteenth century with a lovely stone terrace.

P Café 96, a night on a houseboat den with summer terrace.

Het Papeneiland, a jewel of 1642 at the confluence of the Prinsengracht and Brouwersgracht channels.

From Ysbreeker local fashion overlooking the Amstel and houseboats.

Café de Jaren, along the Amstel, perfect for an afternoon having drinks on your balcony.

Café Binnen Buiten, the best terrace along the canals in the "Quartier Latin" of Amsterdam, De Pijp.

The new edition of Amsterdam, Lonely Planet and GeoPlaneta provides much more information about the channels.