Undiscovered Experiences
9Honey
Just outside Amsterdam, take a tour of the town with canals instead of roads
By Hannah Blackiston| 2 years ago
Images: Flickr / <a href="">piotr iłowiecki</a>
You can't get much more idyllic than Giethoorn, Holland. The tiny village is only located a two-hour bus ride from Amsterdam, but it couldn't be more different than the metropolitan centre.
Giethoorn is a village frozen in time. There are no roads and no public transport – instead, all the houses are connected by canals and footpaths.
The village was initially built this way because of peat farming; peat-cutting created lakes and canals and the farmers built cottages on the small islands that remained. The area still looks like this now, very little has been done to modernise it.
The town is so reliant on these waterways that even the post is delivered on a punt. It's home to a variety of wildlife, including storks and the occasional otter.
In 2015, the tiny village beat out 182 other cities to be recognised on the 80th anniversary edition of Monopoly, named the Here and Now edition. The village won the honour by proving its worth in the international tourism scene: Although it only has 2600 inhabitants it welcomes over 200,000 Chinese tourists every year.
Visitors to the area can walk around the village via a 15km walking track which will allow you to see most of it. The other way to see Giethoorn is by boat, either one you've rented yourself or on a tour.
The most popular boats for the task are "whisper-boats" – a type of dinghy driven by an electric motor – and you can see most of the area within two hours.
There aren't many hotels in Giethoorn, but a day trip from Amsterdam is enough to see most of the sights. The village is also home to some excellent restaurants, including De Lindenhof, run by two Michelin star chef Martin Kruithof.