When I was in School, my Geography teacher mentioned a quote “Prithibir akriti Prithibir moto”. In English, it translates to “The shape of the Earth is like the Earth”. Yes, people call it Geoid but would you call it Spherical? Or Ellipsoid? No. Practically you cannot compare its shape with any known Geometric shape. Giethoorn is just like that. You can compare it neither with Venice nor with Hobbiton nor with any other place in the World. And it opens up exactly from the moment when you stop comparing it others. Join me in this article to know why Giethoorn is just like Giethoorn.
The tiny village of Giethoorn is surprisingly quiet even though it’s packed with tourists. While many tourist attractions in Europe are famous for many iconic architecture, pristine beaches or gorgeous mountains, Giethoorn simply gives you the opportunity to admire pretty little houses. That’s right! admiring quaint little houses is probably the best thing to do in Giethoorn. How about rowing through the picture perfect canals? Probably comes second. I found the houses in Giethoorn are the prettiest and the only place in the World that can beat it is Hobbiton at Matamata, New Zeland.
People call Giethoorn ‘The Venice of Holland’. Do You know why? It’s because both lack one common thing which every modern city, town, and village of the world has: roads. “No Roads?” You might be surprised. “Then, where are you walking?” Yes, you’re not alone. Many people including myself had this confusion.
I had so many questions before my trip to Giethoorn. What does it mean when people say that there is no road? Is the only option to explore Giethoorn is by boat? Do you need to know how to row/motor-operate a boat? Isn’t there any guided canal cruise? How much time is required to explore Giethoorn? Is there any entry fee? Are there places to eat and drink? Is there any restroom? Can we stay at Giethoorn? And most importantly, are Venice and Giethoorn the same? Read on to know everything about Giethoorn and why I feel it is a completely different place from Venice, Italy.
Best Time To Visit
There could be two answers for this question. First, what is the best season to visit Giethoorn? And second, what time of the day is the best? In this chapter, I am going to answer both.
Coming to the best season to visit Giethoorn, the answer is simple. Anytime except Winter but it needs to be a Sunny day. Please don’t come to Giethoorn if it’s a rainy or even a cloudy day. If you are coming to the Netherlands for the Tulip festival, then come to Giethoorn. April-May is a fantastic period to visit Giethoorn if you love Flowers. I personally have not visited but my roommates did and I loved their snaps. However, it could be lot more colder than you anticipate so be prepared.
How About Summer
I am sure you are reading other travel blogs as well and everyone prefers Summer over other season. Do you know Why? It’s because unlike all other places in Netherlands, I also personally think that Summer is the best time to visit Giethoorn. The greenery is the most vibrant. The boat ride is the most pleasant. The breeze is the most fresh. Do You Understand What It also means? Crowd.
If you have read my other articles, I always mention an alternate time to visit a place so that you can avoid the crowd. But Giethoorn and Summer are inseparable. Even if it’s crowded, THIS IS THE TIME TO GO. To avoid crowd at the fullest, please avoid the months of July and August. In my opinion, late September is the best time to visit.
However, I won’t recommend Giethoorn in Winter. Instead, please read about Zaanse Schans blog to check how it looks in Winter.
Best Time of the Day
Lets admit the fact. If you are traveling by public transport, Giethoorn is so far that even if you start at 6AM, it will be quite late. So, I would not advice you to start super early. Come anytime within 1:30PM and you’re good to go. However, if you can afford a private cab or do a self drive, come early and you will have the place of your own. While returning back, don’t be too late. On Weekends, the bus service to Steenwijk is pretty limited. My advice would be to start within 5:30PM for your return journey.
How To Reach
If you are a tourist in the Netherlands, chances are that you will reside nearby Amsterdam region. The journey to Giethoorn from Amsterdam itself takes almost 2.5 hours. As this is towards the eastern side of the Netherlands, if you are staying somewhere North or West of Amsterdam, the journey time adds up. For example, when we traveled from Beverwijk, it was more than 3 hours each way. Check out my What to Explore section to determine if it’s worth the time for you as a tourist. However, if you are a temporary or permanent resident of Netherlands, by all means it’s a MUST visit place.
From Amsterdam central, you first have to reach Zwolle station. Now, there are two ways to reach there. There is a direct Sprinter which takes about 1hour 35 minutes. Or you can take a non stop intercity to Almere centrum which takes just 20 minutes. Then another intercity takes you to Zwolle in 40minutes. In this way, you can save some time. From Zwolle, you need to take a Sprinter train to Steenwijk which is only 2 stops but takes 25minutes. From Steenwijk, you need to come out of the station and go to the Bus terminus. From there, catch Bus #70. Ride a little more than 10 minutes and get down at Dominee Hylkemaweg Bus-Stop. Don’t get down at Groene Kruis Giethoorn. We got down there and had to walk a long way. However, the road is quite scenic.
If you are coming from other location, Please use 9292 app or the Website and give Dominee Hylkemaweg Bus-Stop, Giethoorn as your final location. In my personal experience, I found that Google Map transit doesn’t always come up with the correct and optimized route.
After getting down from the Bus, you need to climb down few stairs to reach the actual village. Don’t worry it is not possible for you to miss the stairs going down.
As you will enter the Giethoorn village, you will find this direction indicator. As usual, it’s completely in Dutch but to be very honest, you don’t really need to read anything of this. It’s a single paved road with uncountable number of small wooden bridges. Forget about Google Map and explore at your own place and at your own way.
What To Explore
Let me first clear a confusion that many of you might have. Yes, you can walk around the village of Giethoorn at your own pace. You can cross many small wooden bridges, take ample amount of photographs. No, boating is not the only thing to do at Giethoorn. In fact, it’s a very small part of your Giethoorn experience. And finally it is completely fine to explore Giethoorn without even riding a boat.
You don’t need any Lonely Planet book or tourist map or an online infographic or anything of that sort to explore Giethoorn. The best way to explore Giethoorn is by turning off your GPS and walk aimlessly at random direction. Take a look at the pretty little houses. Watch the lifestyle of the locals. Stand for sometime over a tiny wooden lonely bridge. Wave at the tourists rowing past you.
Please remember that Giethoorn is a place where local residents live. Respect their privacy and don’t try to cross the barrier if there are any. Of course you can photograph their beautiful garden but refrain from photographing the owners without their permission.
In Spring, Giethoorn is full of flowers. Even when you will row your boat, you will find ample amount of colorful flowers surrounding you. I compared flowers from Spring to Summer and found that Spring is better. However as Spring is comparatively dry season in Holland, the grass will be greener in the Summer.
As you start walking, on your left you will find numerous operators offering you boat rental. The number of operators running canal cruise are less but still plenty. On the right hand side, there are several places to eat. There are a couple of souvenir shops too but I found those too pricey.
I have not visited Giethoorn in Winter and I won’t recommend you as well. It’s because boat rental and canal cruise are very infrequent in Winter. If ice forms at the canals, anyway it won’t be possible to ride a boat.
Even though it’s possible to explore Giethoorn without riding a boat (self-driven or guided cruise), I would never suggest to do so. I highly recommend looking at Giethoorn from the water. Now, there are two ways you can do that. Either you can rent a boat for a couple of hours or more and drive as you wish or you can take part in a one hour guided canal cruise. How to choose? Read on…
Rent a Boat Or Guided Cruise
Generally when you ask people about Giethoorn, you’d get an answer that they have rented a boat and rowed through the narrow canals. At least that was the case for me. Even though everyone assured that I don’t have to worry even if I don’t know how to swim. However, I did not take any risk. I asked them if their is any guided canal cruise option available and they mentioned that it’s there but warned that it will ruin your Giethoorn experience.
Well, we still took the Canal Cruise and enjoyed every moment of it. I heard many cons about guided canal cruise and after personally joined one such tour, I can positively say many cons mentioned by travelers are actually myths. I am not saying that canal cruise is better than renting a boat but if you are afraid of driving a boat or feeling risky because you don’t know swimming, canal cruise is a perfect alternative.
For your reference, the first picture you see below is that of a canal cruise and the second one is that of a personal rented boat.
Booking Online (Cost Comparison)
Do you want to rent a boat in Giethoorn? Take a look at this Website. It will give you the latest cost per hour, necessary information about borrowing life-jacket, how long you can rent a boat and on which season, the boat does not operate. You can also book online from this website.
Are you thinking to book your guided canal cruise online? Have a look at this Website. From here, you can also get to know the latest canal cruise cost per head and if the cruise is in operation or not. It’s a one hour long guided canal cruise and the cost is per person instead of per hour basis.
To give you a brief Cost comparison (Updated March 2022), a one hour guided canal cruise costs €12.5 per person for adults and €8.5 per person for children above 3. Rental boats for 4 persons (Age 3 and above, below are not counted) start from around €40 for 2 hours (minimum) and any additional hours are charged at €21/hour. If your group is larger than 4 persons then you can rent a 8 persons sloop at €69 for two hours.
In case cost is your primary concern, you can save some money by riding a canal cruise if you are traveling alone or in a group of 2-3 persons. Rental boat for two hours will save some money if you in a group of 4 persons or more.
Crowd Comparison
If you don’t want to share your ride with other tourists, well renting a boat is your only choice. However, we visited Giethoorn in September and it was pretty crowded on land. But take a look at the pictures. It’s pretty empty right? There are so many vacant seats and even if you are sharing the space with others, there are still enough rooms. You can easily place your bags, setup your camera, have some snack. I won’t say canal cruises are crowded and I am talking of September which is still a pretty busy season.
The scenario may not be the same in July/August but I can confidently say that it will be better than the seating of an Economy class Airline and your side view will always be unobstructed.
Accessibility Comparison
Rented boats are pretty small whereas the cruise boat is quite long. Initially I heard a Myth that cruise boats cant pass below small wooden bridges but this is absolutely incorrect. Here you can take a look at the photo below. So, cruise boats can go everywhere as your rented boats can.
There is a grand lake at the end of journey (Reminded me of the grand canal of Venice). The canal cruise boat takes you here halfway of your tour and halts (plies very slowly) for about 5-7 minutes describing the history of this place. Yes, on a rented boat, you have all the time but a canal cruise also gives you enough time to enjoy as well as photograph the place.
There is no difference in terms of accessibility as such. The only difference is freedom. If you rent a boat, you can spend as many time as you want in the grand lake. You can roam freely as you want. You can choose multiple routes on your return journey. There is an offbeat route which is little lengthy but pretty less crowded. In cruise boat, you will not have these freedom. They follow a fixed route and fixed time schedule for every spots.
Guided vs. Un-Guided
The canal cruise is a clear winner in this category. In a rented boat, you can enjoy the landscape but you will never get to know about the history of the place. You will never know how Giethoorn got its name or the significance of the thatched roof house. Moreover, as you can imagine that in crowded season there would be too many boats plying through too narrow canals so it is almost impossible to row without colliding with other boats. And if you, or the other boat driver is a novice then sometimes it takes time to clear out the path.
So, you need to keep that in mind. Even if you target to complete your journey within two hours, you are dependent on other boats.
Final Verdict
The choice is pretty straight forward. Choose a Canal Cruise if
- You are afraid of driving a boat but don’t want to miss the experience.
- You don’t to spend any extra money accidentally. The canal cruise is strictly one hour. Even if it gets stretched, the operator will not ask you any extra money.
- You don’t want to take any headache of the route or driving.
- You are a solo traveler or a couple and want to save some money.
- You want to know about the history and background of Giethoorn.
Choose renting a boat if
- You are in group of 4 or more and want to save some money.
- You want complete freedom of your route and are not interested in the history.
- You are confident in driving a boat or eager to learn it.
- You don’t mind spending some extra bucks if you cross the allotted time limit. For example, if you hire the boat for 2 hours and you return after 2hours 5 minutes, they will charge you for 3 hours.
Bed On a Boat
As I mentioned before, if you truly want to enjoy Giethoorn tourist free, you have to stay here one night. However, these are many super expensive places to stay which if you can afford are fine but to be honest, I don’t recommend and promote.
The only exception is that there is a place to stay named Bed on a Boat. And yes, it’s exactly as it sounds.
Photo Courtesy:Booking.com
For direct Booking, take a look at this website. Please note that you need to book for a minimum of two nights. I found that booking via booking.com gives a slight cost benefit over booking directly.
For other places to stay, I highly recommend Hotel Giethoorn because of its price to performance ratio.
Places To Eat
There are plenty of places to eat in Giethoorn. Probably the highest number I have seen on any tourist spot in the Netherlands. Starting from breakfast to lunch meal or simple cafeteria, there are plenty. Generally those are open air but for hot summer or rainy days, they have shades.
We had Schnitzel and Fries with cold coffee. I don’t remember the exact cost but it was pretty affordable. So, I would not recommend you to carry food while traveling to Giethoorn because anyway the food will become cold and stale in the long journey. Moreover, Giethoorn has plenty of choice of food in very affordable price point.
Compared To Venice
If you ask me personally, this is the most foolish thing I have seen people doing.
I mean why? Venice has a completely different atmosphere from Giethoorn. It has St. Mark’s Square which you can compare to Dam Square of Amsterdam. Venice is a photographer’s dream at night. The grand canal of Venice is like a Sea. Giethoorn is crowded but Venice is over crowded. You can drive your own boat in Giethoorn but Gondola ride in Venice is always guided. Every year from October to December, streets of Venice get almost flooded in high tide. Giethoorn is much more controlled in that sense. The structure of the houses at Venice and Giethoorn are completely different.
Venice and Giethoorn both are truly remarkable places. However both are entirely different. Yes, the only similarity between these two are that neither has motorable roads. So, water transport is your only choice and for pedestrians, there are countless small bridges. But that doesn’t define a place.
Giethoorn is much more close to nature. It is green, full of flowers, surrounded by thatched roof houses and has a much relaxed vibe. Venice, on the other hand is completely city like. It has many landmarks, city lookouts, no greenery and many superb unique souvenir shops.
My advice to you: Don’t try to choose between Venice or Giethoorn. Visit both. Staying a night at Giethoorn is optional but good to have whereas staying a night in Venice is a MUST.
Insider Tips
Giethoorn is pretty famous across the world due to the fact that it’s a village with no roads. Many people across the Globe dreams of setting their foot once in this fairytale village. So, here are some insider tips for you which can help you plan your next trip to Giethoorn
- There is no cost difference between renting a boat online or at the spot. Same is the case for a canal cruise. An online booking gives you the assurance of your trip while booking at the spot at the crowded season is always a risk. So, if you know for 100% that you will choose anyone between these two, I would recommend to book online.
- Giethoorn has pretty nice washroom facility. You can check that out at the same place where you will grab your breakfast or lunch. However, I don’t know if those are accessible after 5PM (Read my Zaanse Schans article for a horrible experience)
- Never ever visit Giethoorn if it’s not a Sunny day.
- Many people asked me if Giethoorn and Zaanse Schans are similar. The answer is a big fat NO. Both are unique in their own way. In fact Alleppey of India, Matamata of New Zeland and Venice of Italy are completely different from Giethoorn.
- Public bus from Giethoorn is pretty limited on your return journey. Check 9292 for updated travel information.
- There is no separate entry fee to enter into the village. The only cost in your Giethoorn trip is Boat ride, Food and Public transports.
- Bicycle is allowed in Giethoorn. There are rental options as well as you can bring your folding bike.
In today’s very fast moving world, Giethoorn gives you the opportunity to take a break. Everything here has a slow and relaxed vibes. Starting from its long journey time to its laid back atmosphere, it gives you enough time to discover your inner self. At the same time, come here with an open mind and enjoy at your own pace. Giethoorn is not a place to rush. Only then you will find its inner self. And you will easily realize why Giethoorn is just like Giethoorn, no other place in the world can be compared with it.
Readers, if you’ve visited Giethoorn and Venice, what do you think of my view? Do you still think Giethoorn should be called the Venice of the North/Holland? Or do you agree with my opinion? For the rest, if you are thinking of planning a trip to Giethoorn, please let me know if you have any questions. Any other thoughts, feedbacks, suggestions, improvement ideas? Please use the comment box to let me know. Till then, doei doei.