Amsterdam Light Festival: Illuminated Art Cruise

Experience Amsterdam’s winter magic on a cozy light festival cruise with hot drinks, stunning sculptures, and captivating city views.

Duration: 1 hour, 15 minutes
Cancellation: 24 hours
Highlights
  • Amsterdam Light Festival - The Amsterdam Light Festival illuminates the capital beautifully. During the dark yet charming months, the city sparkles with light art installations. This year marks the 14th edition of the festival, featuring numerous art pieces from various artists.
  • NEMO Science Museum - On the journey, art installations can be…
What's Included
  • Audio Guide
  • All fees and/or taxes
  • One Hot Choco or Glühwein
What's Not Included
  • Drinks can be purchased prior to departure at Damrak, Pier 5
  • Snacks can be purchased prior to departure at Damrak, Pier 5
Additional Information

The Amsterdam Light Festival is a must-see attraction in Amsterdam during the chilly winter season. Each year, Dutch and international artists transform the city into a dazzling light display.
Bypass the ticket office and head straight to Damrak Pier 4, just a 3-minute walk from Amsterdam Central Station. Present your booking to receive a Hot Chocolate…

Location
Damrak 22
Damrak
With your booking, you can skip the line and go directly to pier 4 to pickup a Hot Choco or Glühwein and to embark the boat.
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.1
(13 Ratings)
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H6533xdcarolinew
May 18, 2025
Cosy, entertaining and informative tour with many impressions - The boat is closed, therefore protected from wind and rain. The windows could also be opened for photos. Our guide Ricky explained all the artworks to us in detail. He knew several foreign languages. There was delicious mulled wine (alternatively hot chocolate). The many artworks are impressive! It was a cozy, entertaining and informative tour with many impressions.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Voyager60850426375
Dec 26, 2024
A must at Christmas time - The Amsterdam Lightfestival is a dream. We took a lot of pictures. The audio guide was very emotional and upgraded the canal tour extremely. I'm sure we'll do it again.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Bnini55
Dec 20, 2024
Not to be missed between November and January - A beautiful discovery of Amsterdam by night to discover the city illuminated for the holidays with, by the way, ephemeral works on the route. Enriching
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Cath_nb2021
Nov 29, 2024
An Unforgettable Experience - We had the most amazing time! The boat was heated and the Gluhwein was delicious!! The Captain took us around to all the art installations and an audio guide explained clearly what each art piece was about. It was absolutely amazing to see the Amsterdam Canals bathed in such beautiful lights. Definitely doing this tour year-after-year!!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Wendy
Nov 29, 2024
Beautiful art and comfortable boat - I have been to Amsterdam light festival before, but this year’s art pieces are exceptionally beautiful! We received a delicious hot chocolate from a nice lady at the stand and were then shown to our seats in a heated boat. Very comfortable and skipper gave some additional information during the tour. All in all, a very good experience with beautiful art. I can definitely recommend!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Journey32242066667
Jan 22, 2025
Boring - The recorded audio was extremely boring and felt like a commuter ferry. A more lively crew narrating would have made the ride far more interesting.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Richard
Dec 23, 2024
Interesting but go during the day - The crew was nice and professional, but we all found it a little underwhelming because you, obviously, couldn’t see much other than the lighted sculptures and art. also, I found the commentary overselling if not preaching more significance to the art than was there. The art was interesting but in many ways I think it was a marketing ploy to sell more cruises at night when people are less likely to cruise on the canal. On a minor note, the cruise came with a hot chocolate but it wasn’t served to you. You had to know to go get it before you got on the boat. No biggie. With the benefit of hindsight, if I were to do it again, I’d rather do it during the day.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Safari717361
Dec 1, 2024
Evening canal light cruise - Nice 1 hour ride on the canal. Just know you'll get one drink only if you're lucky lol. Also it's called Christmas lights but it's really just artwork in lights. Weren't very many Christmas lights at all. Captain was amazing however and very funny,!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Susan_e
Dec 13, 2024
The Christmas Light... - The Christmas Light displays were only mediocre and we often couldn't see them clearly from the angle of the boat or side they were on from us. The hot chocolate was only lukewarm and check in was chaotic. We ended up on the cruise before ours despite asking if we were in fact boarding the right boat. Luckily that one wasn't really crowded. It's nice that they provide squeegees for all the moisture on the windows, many of which are scratchy and hard to see clearly through anyway.
Review provided by Viator
Esraa
Jan 1, 2025
The worst company!! 0/10 - The worst tour ever !! From the manager to the ticket guys They were very ruddee !! DONT BUT FROM THEM!! DON'T BUY FRON THEM!!
Review provided by Tripadvisor