Staying on a Houseboat in Amsterdam

Amsterdam's gorgeous canals—which turn 400 this year—sustain thousands of stationary residential houseboats. Originally, houseboats without running water and electricity served as homes for lower-class Amsterdam inhabitants who couldn't afford to live in canal houses on land. These boats may still appear fully bohemian, with their gently worn exteriors shouldering potted plants, carpets of grass, and bicycles, but gentrification of the houseboat scene has transformed the city's floating residences into one of the hottest real-estate markets in the city.

You can't just float your boat down the canal and park it somewhere. You need a permit. And there are a very limited number of permits for moorings within the historical city. In accordance with the law of supply and demand, prices for one of the roughly 700 houseboats in the central canal ring are quite expensive. Maintenance is equally pricey.

For example, this 19th-century moored houseboat, located on the Prinsengracht canal (near the Anne Frank House), is on the market for 459,000 euros, or about $600,111 (according to exchange rates on XE.com). It has two bedrooms and a living room surrounded by wide windows facing the water.

According to some sources, there are roughly 2,800 houseboats in all of Amsterdam. I recently had the chance to live like one of the thousands of locals who wake up to spectacular water views within what is essentially a living museum: the historical canal ring, a 400-year-old UNESCO World Heritage site. I'd done the canal tours and stayed in a water-facing house (on land) before. But I wanted to try something a little more unique.

I started my search on our sister site TripAdvisor, which has reviews for houseboat accommodations (as well as other alternative properties like hostels and apartments) under the Specialty Lodging tab on the Amsterdam Hotels page. I came across the Prinsenboat, which has 42 positive reviews—and zero negative ones.

I paid 140 euros, or about $183, for one night's stay on a Friday in January in the Prinsenboat. Rates start at 140 euros and rise to 180 euros during high season, from April through October. Having visited Amsterdam a handful of times and stayed in various parts of the city, I'd argue that the Prinsenboat is set in the best possible location. It's just a few yards from a tram that runs directly to Central Station. And it's located on the lovely Prinsengracht canal—the same canal on which the Anne Frank House, Westerkerk, and Noorderkerk sit.

The owner of the Prinsenboat, Peter Woudstra, is originally from Holland. Woudstra met me at the boat, gave me a little tour, offered a few dinner recommendations, and explained how to adjust the heat within the vessel. The Prinsenboat is essentially one large rectangular room. At one end of the boat lies the bed and at the opposite end are a full kitchen and bathroom. There are no laundry facilities. But there is free Wi-Fi and cable TV. The kitchen is stocked with all the essentials necessary to cook a decent meal: a coffeemaker, a small fridge, and a stove top—but no oven or dishwasher.

Unlike some other Amsterdam canal boats, which may have originally functioned as cargo ships or freighters, the Prinsenboat was constructed for the sole purpose of housing. Woudstra said when he bought the vessel it was "completely neglected."

I've stayed in many a Dutch B&B that was furnished exclusively by Ikea. While there's nothing wrong with particleboard beds and dressers, tasteful decor amps up the ambiance a great deal. Before turning the Prinsenboat into a holiday rental, Woudstra owned and operated a furniture shop in Amsterdam, importing antique fixtures from Indonesia—and his boat is better for it. "After closing the shop, I decided to furnish [my boat] with the leftovers from the shop, which gave it a bit of an exotic ambiance. During the renovation and construction (when I got [the boat], it was completely neglected and banging loose against the quay), I lived there."

In particular, I was in awe of the exquisite arabesque tiles lining the walls in the kitchen and bathroom. Woudstra told me that they came from Morocco. He said, "I guess the boat has a lot of authentic impressions I picked up during my travels."

The beautiful, ornately carved king-size bed is an authentic opium bed from an opium den in Indonesia. According to Woudstra, "The bed was even bigger originally. I had to [make it smaller] to fit the bedroom. I can still imagine the bed in a shady place with lots of people smoking opium on it." A privacy curtain separates the bed from the rest of the apartment, allowing for two separate sleeping areas. With the sofa bed in the living room, the Prinsenboat can accommodate up to four people.

After I came home from Amsterdam, the question I heard the most was, "Does the boat move?" Apparently it does. According to Woudstra, "It is a boat and, as such, although moored with shocks to the quay, it always moves a bit." But I didn't feel a thing—only the rumbling of other boats slicing through the ice on the canals as they passed.

While I didn't notice much movement, I did hear some street noise. The clatter of riders chaining and unchaining their bikes to a rack near the boat's front door was the perpetual soundtrack to my stay—even at night.

In my quest to live like a local, I sought out some authentic Dutch food to make a meal in the comfort of my (momentary) canal-boat home. I stumbled upon a lot of fantastic little markets, wine shops, bakeries, and restaurants within short walking distance of the Prinsenboat, many of them located on Utrechtsestraat, a street that runs perpendicular to the Prinsengracht canal. I picked up some wine, a few fat grapefruits, and a wedge of sharp Dutch cheese at Kaashuis Tromp, a close-by shop. I topped off my meal with appelschnitten (Dutch apple cake) from Patisserie Kuyt. One of the highlights of my trip was sitting at the table next to the Prinsenboat's immense windows and enjoying my locally sourced provisions while watching ducks and boats float past. A large canal-tour boat packed with tourists glided by, and a few passengers waved at me. My mouth filled with apple cake, I waved back.

Although this won't come as any surprise if you've read this piece in its entirety, I would recommend the Prinsenboat for any traveler interested in staying in a canal boat in Amsterdam. But if you'd like to discover your own accommodations on the water, here are a few places to start your search: The aforementioned Specialty Lodging tab on TripAdvisor's Amsterdam Hotels page offers reviews of houseboats. Most vacation-rental sites, such as VRBO, our sister site FlipKey, HomeAway, and Airbnb have listings for houseboat rentals. More locally focused sites like CityMundo and I Amsterdam are also useful places to search.

Finally, a much cheaper way to get a look inside one of these vessels is to visit Amsterdam's Houseboat Museum.

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