I visited the place Giethoorn on a nice sunny day in July . Giethoorn is a very touristic little town. They often call it “Venice of the Netherlands”.
We arrived in Giethoorn by car and where pleasantly surprised. Free parking available! (That is rare in the Netherlands at touristic places.)
Rent a boat
After walking around, we decided to rent a boat. The prices are not shown by the rental shops on their information boards and it looks like they vary from time to time.
I therefor highly recommend to book online in advance. It looks like you get the sharpest prices there and you don’t have to wait till a boat is available. When it is busier in Giethoorn, I even think it is not possible to rent a boat on the day itself.
Without any experience with a boat you have several options to choose from. You can rent a canoe or a punt boat, but the most booked and lazy option is the whisper boat. Don’t be embarred, it is a fun day out, lazyness is okay! 🙂
If you do’n’t feel like sailing yourself, you can book a boat tour. The bonus is, you also get a lot of information about Giethoorn from the tour guide.
There are different routes and the rental time is adjusted accordingly. If you want to sail the short route and float a bit on the lake, it is best to rent the boat for 2 hours.
You will sail from your rental point (there are many of them at different locations) via the one-way canal through Giethoorn to the lake “de Bovenwijde”. This is a shallow lake where you can also take a swim.
Giethoorn by foot
It’s also fun to walk trough Giethoorn. There are several terraces where you can eat and have a drink and bridges where you can go on or over, or you can take a look at the museums and many shops. Some have handmade items. The biggest souvenir shop is located on the “Dwarsgracht” (Officially called Dominee T.O.Hylkemaweg).
Just make a day at Giethoorn as relaxed as you want! But I think you have seen all of Giethoorn (the tourist part) in one day.
There are still some activities you can do if you stay longer, but for the touristic part one day is long enough.
A little sidenote: It was not as crowded as I expected when I visited Giethoorn But due to corona there were almost no foreign tourist and maybe also less Dutch visitors.
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