52.74° N · 6.08° E
Reed-thatched houses, each on its own island, linked by wooden bridges. Cars cannot enter the old centre: you arrive on foot, by bike or by boat.
Part of Curious Places
What to do
Each plan says how long it takes, who it's for and whether you can book.
Licence-free electric boat along the Dorpsgracht and the southern lakes, at 5 km/h. From about €20 an hour per boat, for 5 to 8 people.
A flat, free walk along the path beside the Dorpsgracht, from the Noordeinde to the Zuideinde, between reed-thatched houses and bridges. 1 to 2 hours.
A museum farmhouse at Binnenpad 52 that explains the peat and village life, with a fisherman's cottage and a boat shed. Adults €7.50.
Itineraries
Days and weekends already planned out, with how to get between each stop and who to book with.
Plan the trip
Each choice narrows the next: the season shapes how best to travel, and how you travel decides where you stay and where you eat.
When to go
From April to June and in September, on weekdays. In July, August and at weekends the main canal fills up with boats at midday. In winter there is less boat hire and some businesses close.
Who you're with
A trip with a toddler is not the same as one with a teenager. Pick yours to see what works and what to bear in mind.
Giethoorn is one of the few villages where a small child can walk without a car passing. The risk is the water: the path runs right beside the canal.
In the morning, a boat; in the afternoon, a bike or canoe in the park. That way everyone gets their share of the day.
The village itself can be seen in an hour. What hooks them is moving around on their own: the boat, the canoe and the bike.
Where to stay
Why we like it: For a treat: sleep beside the water and dine at the two-star restaurant without taking the car.
Why we like it: Rooms overlooking the canal or the national park, a few minutes on foot from the old centre. In winter, check that it is open.
Why we like it: Small campsite of 15 pitches and tiny houses in Dwarsgracht, 3 km from the centre of Giethoorn, inside the national park and with canoe hire at the gate.
Services for this trip
Where to eat
From set lunch menus to Michelin stars. We mark the price level and what to order at each place.
What to order: something to nibble on the terrace while the boats go by.
What to order: a simple meal and a coffee on the terrace.
Map
Turn on the layers you want and tap a point to see its details.
Nearby
The closest places, whichever country they are in.
52.68° N · 5.18° E
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52.48° N · 5.09° E
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52.31° N · 5.12° E
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Tips
At midday in season, the Dorpsgracht is a traffic jam of boats bumping into each other.
Operators charge less online than at the jetty, and they hold your time slot.
The canal path takes an hour and helps you decide where you want to sail.
The paths in the national park are flat and car-free. Several companies in the village hire bikes.
Stay a night. The excursion coaches arrive mid-morning and leave in the afternoon: before and after, the village is a different place.
A Saturday in July between eleven and four. There are queues at the jetties, noise on the canal and people on every bridge waiting for their photo.
Because the canals were dug for peat. For centuries, the villagers cut peat from the marshy ground and sold it as fuel. Every ditch they dug filled with water, and the ditches became canals and lakes. Peat and everything else moved by boat, so the houses were built facing the water, each on its own plot surrounded by canal and with its own bridge.
Today the old centre, along the Dorpsgracht, has no road: there is a path for pedestrians and bikes, and the canal. According to tradition, the name comes from the goat horns (geitenhoorns) that the first settlers found in the ground. The village lies inside the Weerribben-Wieden National Park, the largest peatland area in north-western Europe.
Half a day is enough for a stroll and a boat trip of an hour and a half. If you stay overnight, you see the canal almost empty first thing in the morning and at dusk, which is when the village looks like the photos. With a second day, head out by bike or canoe in the national park.
There is no train. From Amsterdam, take a train to Steenwijk (about 90 minutes, sometimes changing at Zwolle) and bus 70 to the Dominee Hylkemaweg stop, ten minutes' walk from the canal. The bus also leaves from Zwolle, but runs only once or twice an hour. If you drive, park in the car parks at the entrance to the village: you cannot go into the centre.
On the Beulakerweg, by the water, you will find the Hotel de Harmonie and the suites of De Lindenhof, the two-Michelin-star restaurant. For a tent, a caravan or a tiny house, the Dwarsgracht campsite, 3 km away, is open from April to September and hires out canoes at the door.
Questions
No. The electric hire boats (fluisterboten) are sailed without a licence. They explain how to handle them at the jetty in five minutes.
Not into the old centre. You park at the entrance and continue on foot, by bike or by boat. Some boat operators let their customers park for free.
Yes. The path is flat and children love the boat. Ask for life jackets in their size when you hire, and keep them in sight on the path, which runs right beside the water.
Yes, it is about two hours each way by public transport. It is worthwhile if you set off early; if you can, sleep there.
From around €38 for an hour and a half for a small boat booked online. Larger ones, for ten or twelve people, cost more.
Geocaliahttps://www.geocalia.com/en/the-netherlands/giethoorn
