The tour starts at the Passenger Terminal where your cruise ship will dock for the day. You will met by our architectural expert guide and taken aboard the 11 meter long classic canal cruise boat called The Swan. Swaen Built in 1909, the Swan was designed and build for a rich Amsterdam doctor who demanded luxury canal boat for him, his family and friends. The workmanship is reflected in the beautiful Javanese teak interior.

The Swan is an floating monument and offers the exclusivity of your own small cruise ship, which will take you along Amsterdam’s 17th century canals and surrounding waterways in order to give you an idea of the different architectural elements through the last 5 centuries. Amsterdam is one of Europe’s foremost architecture and design cities and as the city is not a very big we will be able to show you all sites of interest within our architectural boating tour.

During the canal tour you will be explained the different architectural influence and schools whilst we will take you to visit several important architectural masterpieces in Amsterdam as examples. The tour has been organized in a chronological way, starting with some important 17th century canal residences of wealthy merchants, doctors, lawyers and politicians.

We will then have a look at the end of the 18th century classicism monumental buildings, with the most interesting called Felix Meritis by Jacob Otten. We will then continue into the Historicism period, which dates back to the end of the 19th century. We will view several landmark city buildings which show gothic and renaissance elements such as Central Station and the Rijksmuseum (State Museum). We will continue our boating tour into the Art Deco period, marked by buildings of the hand of PJH. Cuypers. Art Deco was popular at the turn of the 19th century in the whole Europe and left several interesting buildings in Amsterdam with the American Hotel as its foremost example.

From the American Hotel we will continue our tour to have a look at the modern architecture in Amsterdam. Today’s architecture in Amsterdam is among the most interesting in the world and people from all over the world come to see the work by famous architects such as Rem Koolhaas, Sjoerd Soeters, Wiel Arets, Benthem & Crouwel, Ben van Berkel, Ton Alberts, Renzo Piano, Sven-Ingvar Andersson, Antonio Cruz and Antonio Ortiz. We will first pass by the new Nemo Museum, followed by many Houseboats and the new Music Hall. We will then pass the old warehouse buildings overlooking the IJ water, pass under the revolutionary Sporenburg bridge A bridge at Sporenburgand explore the newly build Amsterdam Islands.

During the tour you will be offered local snack, sandwiches and drinks.