With it’s many beautiful canals, Amsterdam is a city reknowned for it’s water transport,lit up bridges,tours and a plethora of other activities. (Read the history of the canals.)
The most popular part (or at least the most well known) of the canals is the Grachtengordel (The canal ring) that circles the inner city. Apart form these main canals, Amsterdam’s canals run everywhere and most are still accessible by boat.
The semi circle of Amsterdam’s canals is an old defence, but as Amsterdammers love their canals so much, the canals are still a part of the city, and there’s no sign of that changing any time soon.
Canals from inner most to outer most of the canal ring are :
Singel
Herengracht (Gentlemans canal / Lords canal)
Keizersgracht (Emperors Canal)
Prinsengracht (Prince’s Canal)
While there’s plenty of other canals running around Amsterdam. (A whole 65 miles / 100 KMs of them in fact). The grachtengrodel makes up some of the biggest canals amsterdam has. Others connect the main ones together, head off in their own direction or lead to roads that were once canals, but have since been filled in to create roads for parking and driving.
With over 65 miles of canal, there’s simply too many to list. Amsterdam’s canals run everywhere in all directions. Some are tiny, while others are a lot larger. Taking a walk around the canal ring and branching off down the smaller canals makes an interesting walk. Especially in the evening when the lights are on on the many bridges that criss cross the canals.
Other canals in Amsterdam of interest:
Zwanenburgwal – Located close by to the Waterrlooplein market.
Brouwersgracht – At the northern edge of the canal ring, this canal was once lined with breweries. Nowadays it houses trendy bars,cafes,offices and apartments.
