Visiting Amsterdam – A network of canals

The Dutch capital Amsterdam is famous for its many canals (grachten). From the point of origin of the city, the canals have always played an import role for purposes like water control, transportation and city defence.

The creation of the waterways goes all the way back to the 15th century. The main reason for doing this was for defence. As the city started to expand, most waterways remained in the city as canals. In the 17th century, the famous “Canal-belt” was created. This is a network of waterways which was created in 3 connecting sectors of the city. The Canal-belt includes the Herengracht, the Prinsengracht and the Keizersgracht. Today these are the 3 main canals of the city, all having interconnecting cross-canals.

Some canals that still exist were used for irrigation purposes. Before further expansion of the city, some neighbourhoods were still agricultural area’s, using the canals to get rid of all the redundant water in the area. In the last quarter of the 19th century, several canals have been drained for hygiene purposes and to give more space for road-traffic. Some other canals were created during city-expansion the 19th and 20th century. Their main purpose is for the water control throughout the city.

The canals in the city centre serve as an important function for shipping purposes but nowadays are most often used for tourist means, using the so called canal-buses.

Using canal-buses, tourists can go around and through the city, following a very interesting route for tourists. In 2006, a trip through the Amsterdam canal network was the most visited tourist attraction of the Netherlands, having 3,1 million visitors. - Written by Ralf Nohlmans

If you are going Amsterdam, some apartments and hotels we recommend are:

• Canal view apartment, Amsterdam
• Mozart Hotel on the canal ring, Amsterdam
• Museum Quarter apartment, Amsterdam
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