Want to enjoy a relaxed cruise passed the beautiful light art after a day at the best museums in Amsterdam? This cruise is for you!
Amsterdam Light Festival 2025-2026 Canal Cruise from Rijksmuseum
Highlights
- Extended Amsterdam Light Festival canal cruise
- Hop on board near the Rijksmuseum
- See 24 works of light art along the canals
Locations
Practical information
Children
Child ticket for 4-13 year olds
Free entry for 0-3 year olds when accompanied by a paying adult
Languages
The audio guide is available in English and Dutch
Check-in
Check-in 15 minutes before departure
Waiting time can occur even with a timeslot due to the many boats on the canals
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 boats
More information
Amsterdam Light Festival datum: 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
1071 BN Amsterdam
The nearest public transport stop is Rijksmuseum (tram 1, 7 & 9).
Description
A day of culture in Amsterdam’s winter months
A great way to spend a cold winter day in Amsterdam is by visiting the world renowned museums on Museum Square. Here, you’ll find the Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum, Stedelijk Museum and Moco Museum. Spending the day here is no punishment and a great way to finish the day is with a Amsterdam Light Festival canal cruise.
The Amsterdam Light Festival has become a key part of the city’s winter season. In the winter of 2024-2025 the festival will take place for the 13th time. Visiting the Amsterdam Light Festival has become a yearly ritual for locals, and that is part of the reason why the festival has chosen the theme Rituals for this year.
Amsterdam Light Festival cruise from Rijksmuseum
The boat dock is only a 2 minute walk from the Rijksmuseum, on the quay of the Stadhouderskade. This makes joining a cruise after a day of museum visits, or having dinner in the area, really easy and a great way to end a day in Amsterdam. Because the boat dock is not on the Amsterdam Light Festival route, this festival cruise is longer than others and you will see more of the city at night.
LOVERS Canal Cruises is an official partner of the festival and will take you along the official route, passed all the light art set up next to and in the canals. Our boats are comfortable, heated and modern, and they have individual seats so that you can enjoy your cruise. An audio guide will tell you all about the art work and the artists who created them.
Amsterdam Light Festival cruise tickets
Ready for an art adventure on the Amsterdam canals? Book your tickets now to make sure you don’t miss out on this incredible festival! We look forward to welcoming you on board our boats.
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.