Top 5 events on the Amsterdam canals

The most fun way to celebrate King's Day in Amsterdam is by cruising the canals on your own rental boat! Bring your own food and drinks and enjoy the festive buzz: live music and DJs everywhere, people partying on the water and along the banks, and plenty of fun stalls with delicious food and drinks.

By renting a boat and sailing through the canals, you'll get to see lots of great spots without having to push through the crowds all day. That way you're guaranteed a relaxed, festive and unforgettable King's Day!

On King's Day you can rent a boat from us for € 349,-, excluding € 2.70 p.p. tourist tax. You can pick up your boat between 10:00 and 12:00 and return it between 16:00 and 18:00.

Gay Pride is the biggest celebration on the Amsterdam canals after King's Day. The highlight of Gay Pride — which lasts an entire week — is without a doubt the grand Canal Parade on Saturday afternoon. Around 80 colourful boats sail in a long procession through the canals to celebrate freedom, diversity and respect.

By renting a boat you'll experience Gay Pride up close! You'll see all the party boats sail right past you. Enjoy the music and the atmosphere, have a drink, and dance and sing along!

You can only rent a boat for Gay Pride for the full day. If you pick up your boat between 07:30 and 10:00, you'll have plenty of time to find a good spot for the parade. Afterwards, you can return your boat between 16:30 and 19:00.

The rate is € 349,-, excluding € 2.70 p.p. tourist tax. You won't find a better deal in Amsterdam.

The Prinsengracht Concert is the annual classical open-air concert that takes place in front of Hotel Pulitzer on the beautifully lit Prinsengracht. This concert is always broadcast on TV, but for the ultimate experience you really need to be there live. Admission to the concert is free and you can bring your own food and drinks.

Unfortunately, you can't attend the concert on our boats. You can simply enjoy the concert from the street. The real lucky ones can get a spot on the VIP terrace, on a friend's boat, or in the window frame of one of the adjacent canal houses.

During the winter months (from late November to late January), the Amsterdam Light Festival (ALF) takes place every year — a major light festival on and along the canals. The projects by light artists from around the world are best admired from the water.

At Boats4rent we offer the possibility to rent your own boat and fully enjoy the Amsterdam Light Festival. With our open boats you can effortlessly explore the canals and sail past the enchanting light artworks. Our boats are suitable for groups of up to 6 people, and you don't need a boating licence.

The Amsterdam canals aren't just for looking at and sailing through. In some places you can also swim perfectly well. Officially it's prohibited almost everywhere, but there are plenty of spots in the city where swimming is — at your own risk — tolerated.

Once a year, part of the canals and the Amstel river are closed off and turned into an official 2-kilometre swimming course for the Amsterdam City Swim. This event raises money to fight ALS (also known from the Ice Bucket Challenge).

If you've raised enough sponsorship money, you can take part in the City Swim yourself. Otherwise, you can cheer from the sidelines and/or make a donation!

Every 5 years SAIL Amsterdam takes place — an enormous multi-day spectacle with the arrival of a long procession of tall ships as the highlight. These large sailing vessels and many other ships can be admired up close from the quays on foot. And some are even open to the public.

But the most impressive — and equally relaxing — way to experience SAIL is of course by sailing yourself, or joining someone else! Unfortunately, you can't join the procession with our boats. And even after that, our boats are not allowed to enter the SAIL area. This is for safety reasons: our boats are too small and too lightly powered to mix with the 'big boys' on the IJ or the North Sea Canal.

There are plenty of other options to sail through the SAIL area though. You can join one of the large tour boats or rent your own boat with a skipper.