The canal ring
Four concentric canals dug in the seventeenth century, fifteen hundred bridges and leaning houses.
Duration
1 hr 30 min – 3 hrs
Best time
Early morning
Open
Every day
Entry price
Free
The canal ring was dug from 1613 to a single plan: four concentric waterways — Singel, Herengracht, Keizersgracht, Prinsengracht — linked by radial canals. It was an exercise in town planning and land speculation, not an accident of geography.
The houses lean forward on purpose: the internal stairs are too narrow for furniture, and the beam projecting at the top of the front is for hoisting loads. The tilt keeps them from banging the wall. Many also lean sideways, and that one is the ground.
Getting there
The whole ring is walkable or cyclable from Centraal station. Canal boats leave from Damrak and Prins Hendrikkade.
What to bring
- Walking shoes
Rules on site
The bike lanes are not pavements: walking on them is a visitor's most dangerous reflex, and cyclists do not brake. Look twice before crossing, both ways.
Other places in Amsterdam
- Anne Frank HouseThe annexe behind the swinging bookcase, left bare.
- RijksmuseumRembrandt's Night Watch and Vermeer's Milkmaid, in a brick palace.
- The JordaanThe old working-class quarter turned into the pleasantest: hidden courtyards, markets and brown cafés.
- VondelparkForty-seven hectares in the middle of the city, where Amsterdam runs, eats and plays.