Apartments Amsterdam - Houseboats Amsterdam - Amsterdam Apartments

Be awake by a sunbeam in your face and the sound of murmur water, or
remember your first holidays in a small tent, while the rain clattered on your
roof! We offer you on this site the opportunity to experience how romantic
and exciting living on a houseboat could be. Besides that, where do you get
so much privacy, comfort and rest? 

Please click here for houseboat rentals in Amsterdam (short term).

There are over 10.000 houseboats in Holland. Around 2500 lies flat in the canals
or outskirts of Amsterdam. There are real barges, turned into real homes and 
modern houseboats, made on floating material like concrete. 

The policy of the Amsterdam city council is to stimulate the boat owners to keep 
historical ships (barges) in the canals of the city centre and not replace them for
new houseboats built on concrete. That leads sometimes to discussions,
because the boats are privately owned and it is very expensive to keep the boats  
in capital condition.               

  House-Boat BK18  (BT Denmark)         House-Boat B004 (Forbes Magazine US)

                              
   Cosmopolitan 2004

The first barges who find landing stages into the canals, were privately owned by
retired shippers. Holland has a long history of transportation of goods over the
water. Lots of artists and young people were attract by this way of living, it was
a perfect alternative for the citizens, who didn't want to confirm themselves to
basic homes, all the same, in the outskirts of Amsterdam. Houseboats have one
thing in common: they are never the same! Besides that, Amsterdam is very full
and there are not enough houses for everyone, especial not in the city centre
which is much smaller then London, Paris or Rome.

Today, living on the water becomes a yuppie culture; young people can't afford
themselves anymore to buy a houseboat. There are no more moorings then
there already were 15 years ago and it's difficult to find a mooring with a nice
barge (for a reasonable price). 
 
If you don't like to stay on a houseboat while you visit Amsterdam (we can
assure you that you miss a great opportunity!), but you are interested in history,
you can visit the Houseboat Museum on the Prinsengracht.
Please click here to visit their site with a lot of information regarding houseboats
in Amsterdam. The adress is: Prinsengracht, at the opposite of house number
296. Phone number: (020) 4270750.

Photo from the Houseboat Museum:


On the Singel, against house number 40, you find the cats boats! The Cat boats
are the only animal sanctuary in the Netherlands that literally floats. A refuge for
stray and abandoned cats which, thanks to its unique location two houseboats
in Amsterdam's pituresque canal belt, has become a world famous tourist
attraction. 

         
Samantha Brown stayed in House-Boat B023 for "Passport to Europe".

In Amsterdam you also find "Het Scheepvaartmuseum", a museum with the 
history of ships in Holland (here you find a replica of the VOC ship, left on the
photo below). House-Boat B004 lies nearby this museum. Please click here if
you want to visit their website with English summary.
The address is: Kattenburgerplein 1,  1018 KK Amsterdam. Tel. 52 32 222.

Photo of the "Scheepsvaartmuseum":
           

Some global information and links about houseboats elsewhere:

A beautiful website about houseboats in Canada.
The site is really worth to visit if you are interested in living on the water,
because they have photos of all kind of houseboats. What do you say
about this one! Never seen such an amazing house (boat) in Holland!

              

Other links:

A US website with stuff for houseboats: Houseboating World 

We just received a message from George Pearson who already
started a website about canalboats in Europe in 1995, with interesting
links to canalboat sites in Europe and the US www.canals.com

 

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