Image Boating is a way of life in Holland, with 6000km of waterways in a small country, The Netherlands has more rivers, canals and dykes per hectare than any other country in Europe.

The principal commercial waterways carry more than half the freight movements within the country, but the downside of that from a pleasure boating perspective is that this makes these major routes, such as the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal, something of a headache for boaters in terms of commercial traffic, particularly when locking.
The situation is presently being addressed by the Dutch waterways authorities through the provision of alternative routes for pleasure craft.

The smaller and much quieter mainly 17th century waterways, managed by local authorities are an attractive proposition for pleasure boating and these are being further developed through the restoration of many older canals specifically for recreational use and to avoid potential points of conflict between commercial and recreational traffic, especially around the Rhine Delta.

To describe, even briefly, the numerous waterways in Holland is beyond the scope of this introductory guide, but to give the reader some idea of what’s feasible here are a few examples:

The River Vecht – a 180km return cruise from Strand Horst to Amsterdam and Utrecht involves only four locks, passes through some interesting scenery and provides opportunities to explore Amsterdam and Utrecht – allow about a week,  about 35 hours actual sailing time.

Another week’s interesting cruise of about 200km, with no locks to worry about, and taking in some attractive scenery and small cities would be from Sneek to Grouw and Lemmer return, taking in visits to Princehof, Workum Bolsward.

Alternatively a 200km one-way cruise from Sneek to Strand Horset via Loosdrecht, involving 6 locks, takes you from the lakelands in the north through to both Amsterdam and Utrecht, via Workum, the great lock at Muiden and Muiderslot – allow about a week from start to finish.
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