Amsterdam - canal boats

[WeeCountyMan]

We were in Amsterdam last year and took a canal boat from a jetty near the rail station.

 

Got off at the stop for the Anne Frank house,  totally unaware you had to book entrance tickets well in advance.

 

I was in auto pilot mode (our travelling friends led the way) and didn't pay much attention to the canal boat options - is it safe to assume you can pay for a roundtrip journey on a hop on hop off basis ?

 

We have a chance to visit again this summer, so I want to make sure I get it right this time !!!

Edited May 29, 2019 by WeeCountyMan

[Eglesbrech]

We have only ever taken round trips on the canal and I’m not aware that they do HOHO on the boats.

 

The canal boats takes a quite circuitous route. The distance from the main central train station (just up from where the cruise ships normally dock) to the Anne Frank House is only about 15 to 20 minutes walk, if you are a reasonable Walker.

 

Can I suggest that you try to get a ticket for as early in the day as possible to see more as the house and museum area starts to get very busy.

[Eglesbrech]

Ps. Did you end up booking the August cruise you had been talking about, (Amsterdam, Antwerp , Rouen, Hornfleur)

[WeeCountyMan]

Yes, and thanks for the walking heads up.

[tring]

The public transport system in Amsterdam is also very user friendly.  There are regular trams running to the main train station from the port and you can then pick up transport beyond there as it is a big interchange (trams outside the front of the station and buses at the back).  We passed through the station to pick up a bus to a tourist attraction outside the centre in April and found it easy to ask our way around as Dutch people speak good English of course.

 

For our Fred cruise in April our tour book explained they can no longer run tours to the Anne Frank House due to new group ticketing regs., so details were provided of how to get visit independently on a page of the tour guide book.  The details mentioned Tram 26 from the port to the station and tram 13 or 17 from the station to the Westermarkt which is just south of the Anne Frank house.  Fred's details say it is 3 Kilometres to the Anne Frank house, which he says is a 45 minute walk.  That is more what I recall for distances, it certainly took a us good 15/20 mins to walk just as far as the station, but from previous visits I would not have thought it was that far - time goes quickly when you are having fun 🙂   Fred's details also mentioned the need to book ahead on line if you want to avoid queues at The Anne Frank House.

 

If you get the tram to the station you will be able to use the same ticket to go on the second tram as long as you use the ticket within an hour of purchasing it.  You can get a day pass for the trams and buses, which was well worth while for us, but I think we may have bought that at/by the station, having first waked to the station so probably not worth while to you this visit.

 

Make sure you pick up a map of Amsterdam as you are leaving the port.  There was a queue at the tourist desk but I manage to nick a map on the way past.  The tourist people at the port will help with things they can sell you tickets for (e.g. hoho buses and canal cruises), but say they do not know details about the public bus system - quite a useful lack of knowledge if they want to sell their overpriced hoho tickets methinks........... 

 

I go lots of help on the ports of call board here that covers Amsterdam and also the Trip Advisor forums (were I am also 'Tring') so worth looking at those forums if you want more info about that or other things.  There were lost of very helpful people, especially on TA as there were some locals and people who know Amsterdam very well posting.

 

Happy travels,

 

Barbara 

 

Edited May 31, 2019 by tring

[Eglesbrech]

Yes 15 to 20 minutes from the main train station, as I said (as opposed to the ship)

[tring]

On 6/1/2019 at 12:06 PM, Eglesbrech said:

Yes 15 to 20 minutes from the main train station, as I said (as opposed to the ship)

 

I mean no criticism of your reply and appreciate that some people will happily make the 1.7 mile walk to get there and there was a time when we would have done so ourselves.  Walking route shown by Bing on this link (if it works, Bing links sometimes don't)  https://www.bing.com/maps/  If the link does not work, then I simply put in "cruise terminal Amsterdam" then clicked through to directions from here and put "Anne Frank House" in the second search space.

 

I was merely giving an easy alternative, as people could well be on their feet for an amount of the day and the trams are very frequent.  For interest Bing does give the walking time as 34 minutes, but I suspect the average Fred passenger could take a bit longer to walk the 1.7 miles (or 3 Km as mentioned by Fred), so Fred's estimate of 45mins is probably not unreasonable, given people would not want to arrive late.

 

Edited June 2, 2019 by tring

[WeeCountyMan]

OK it seems to be a fair(ish) hike to Anne Frank's house, we are fit enough to hack that, but maybe it would be better to get some form of local transport, at least on the way there, maybe walk back.

 

Is there a tram that would suit ?

[tring]

If you look at my first post on this thread (#5), you will see the tram numbers that were given by Fred.  I also explained that we had that info. in our tours book as Fred is not offering trips there now, so you will probably get the same info. in your tours book.  You will need to change at the station, which is a big interchange, but can use the same ticket within I hour of purchase.  I think any tram from by the cruise terminal will go to the station, but you can always ask - as you have been before you will know that Dutch people tend to be fluent in English - so asking your way to the next tram will be fine as well as well.

 

 

[WeeCountyMan]

Apologies, I missed the relevant tram detail in post #5 - wasn't paying enough attention !!!

 

The locals usually speak better English than I do !!!

Edited June 3, 2019 by WeeCountyMan

[tring]

Fred's details also mention the possibility of a taxi at 20 - 25 Euros and the Hoho bus, which we always consider overpriced (though we have been known to use one or two Hoho's if we wanted the commentary).  We have been known to hop on a tram from the far side of the town that was heading in the direction of the train station, but kept an eye on the map so we could get off if it did seem to head off elsewhere.

 

Enjoy the cruise,

 

Barbara