Enjoy the beautiful light sculptures during the Amsterdam Light Festival with a cruise through the canals. Departs next to the LOVERS and GVB shops across from Amsterdam Central Station.
Amsterdam Light Festival 2025 - 2026 Canal Cruise from Restaurant Loetje
Highlights
- See 24 incredible pieces of light art
- Less crowded departure location
- Discover the story behind the art with the audio guide
Locations
Practical information
Check-in
Check-in 15 minutes before departure
Waiting time can occur even with a timeslot due to large crowds
Languages
The audio guide is available in in English and Dutch
Children
Child ticket for 4-13 years old
Free entry for children between 0-3 years old when accompanied by a paying adult
Ticket information
Ticket directly available on smartphone
You can reschedule your tickets yourself via our self rebook page up to 24 hours in advance
Tickets can be rescheduled or cancelled up to 24 hours in advance
Only service dogs (who must be identifiable as such) are allowed on the boat
Parking
At QPark, LOVERS guests park at a special rate. Book your parking space here.
More information
Amsterdam Light Festival dates: 27 November 2025 - 18 January 2026
Some of the images on this page are from previous editions or artist impressions
For questions about the product, please contact [email protected]
Accessibility
Getting there
The nearest public transport stop is Amsterdam Central Station (metro, tram, bus & train).
Description
Amsterdam Light Festival 2024 - 2025
In the dark winter months of December 2024 and January 2025, Amsterdam will be transformed into a beautiful open-air light art museum for the 13th edition of the Amsterdam Light Festival. For this edition, the festival has chosen the theme Rituals. the festival explores the many ways light is a part of our rituals for celebrating as the city celebrates its 750 years anniversary.
Light plays a crucial role in many rituals, usually representing life, joy, or energy. We usher in the new year with fireworks and light a bonfire at Easter and other holidays. This year, artists have been asked to depict rituals that are meaningful to Amsterdam's diverse community.
The best boat tour of the Amsterdam Light Festival
The best way to enjoy these light artworks is with an Amsterdam Light Festival canal cruise. From the Amsterdam canals, you have a first-class view of the light art while you can relax and look around. The Amsterdam Light Festival route is designed in such a way that you can see all the artworks in the canals and on the quay.
Like in previous editions, LOVERS Canal Cruises is an official partner of the Amsterdam Light Festival. With this cruise you step on board a comfortable, modern and heated LOVERS canal boat at Central Station. From here, the Light Festival tour through Amsterdam takes you through the UNESCO World Heritage canals where the art collection is on display.
Along the way, the audio guide, in English and Dutch, tells you more about the beautiful light installations you pass by. The coldest and darkest months of the year will be a lot lighter and cosier with Amsterdam Light Festival boat tickets from LOVERS Canal Cruises.
Book your Amsterdam Light Festival 2024 - 2025 Tickets now
Are you curious to see how the light artworks portray the theme during the Amsterdam Light Festival? We cannot wait to welcome you on board our boats and enjoy the festival with you. Get your tickets for this light tour through Amsterdam now and get ready to see the incredible works of art that light up the city during the Amsterdam Light Festival.
Reviews
13 reviews
The tour is great.. but this year, the light festival was quite disappointing compared to years ago
It was good
Booked tickets for the Amsterdam Light Festival and overall first-ever canal cruise in Amsterdam. It was a very nice experience, captain was really cool and thankfully despite the cold weather, the boat was really warm inside. Also, we had the ability to re-book our tickets very easily through their site just a few hours before our original booking in order to make it on time. The only unfortunate thing was a “heavy traffic” in the canals, which ended up with our cruise taking almost 2 hours-long, but we knew it was not something in agency’s hands. Would recommend it anyway!
My family and I recently went on a canal cruise with Lovers Canal Cruises to experience the Amsterdam Light Festival, and it was an absolute blast! The atmosphere was so chill, and we could see Amsterdam in a new light - from the water and in the darkness. The light artworks were amazing and made me think about the impact of technologies and AI on our everyday lives. My son, usually glued to his phone, was even more engaged than usual. The Amsterdam Light Festival canal cruise is definitely something I would recommend to anyone who wants to see Amsterdam in a whole new way.
A must if you are in Amsterdam. They simply are the best canal cruise operator in the capital. The staff are always very professional, efficient and super helpful and friendly. There are various cruises you can join. Today I took the cruise as part of the Amsterdam Light Festival. It was incredible! 👍👍👍👍❤️❤️
The cruise itself was really nice, it teaches you history, our boat captin was funny and you get insights to Amsterdam's past and present. We went for the Amsterdam light festival... that was very underwhelming (to no fault of the cruise itself) just when you think of a light festival you expect to see more than a few small art fixtures... the streets of Amsterdam had more/better lights than that. I'd def go on lovers again... maybe they have a lunch on the water option or something
Night canal cruise was ran very well, loved the commentary, would have liked more background to what we saw along the way. Light festival was average. Hard to see for those not sitting near window, thus more commentary would have made up for this.
Very interesting and informative, Amsterdam by night is very different from Amsterdam by day. The guide was informative. We went on Christmas night and it was warm on the boat
The cruise was cozy and informative. Got to see the light festival as well.
Excellente balade sur les canaux d’Amsterdam, le capitaine Bouddha est intarissable sur sa ville, belle ambiance avec les lumières spéciales en ce mois de décembre
Wij met drie vrienden. Hadden via internet Amsterdam Light Festival kaartjes gekocht. Hadden we overlijden in de fam. konden we de kaarten omzetten... Dus hele menselijk bedrijf..... Rond vaart was druk maar wel erg leuk en mooi. Ga zitten en genieten. 👍 Neem de tijd. Wij gingen nu 14 dec.ik ben al een ander jaar geweest toen eerder in het jaar dan is het iets beter te doen (minder druk ) Vaar je iets sneller door. Maar zeker aanraden.
Croisière sympathique qui dure environ 1h pour découvrir le festival des lumières et l’architecture d’Amsterdam. Malheureusement, vu un peu gâché par les gouttes sur les vitres. Il faudrait prévoir un moyen pour nettoyer les vitres après la pluie.
Wenn sie im Dezember in Amsterdam sein sollten, so müssen sie unbedingt eine Fahrt mit der Thematik Licht Festival machen. Unbedingt.