Location

Canal Cruise from Restaurant Loetje

Essentials

20 beautiful light artworks on display
The best Amsterdam Light Festival boat tour
Learn more about the artwork and artists with an audio guide

Practical info

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 2025
Some of the images on this page are from previous editions or artist impressions
For questions about the product, please contact [email protected]

Accessibility

Free access to bathroom

Audio description

Getting there

LOVERS Canal Cruises at Restaurant Loetje, Stationsplein 8 Amsterdam

1 minute From Central Station

Public Transport

The nearest stop is Central Station (metro, tram, bus & train).

Open in Google maps

About

Amsterdam Light Festival 2025 -2026

In the dark winter months, Amsterdam traditionally transforms into a beautiful open-air light museum during the Amsterdam Light Festival. Contemporary artists from all over the world make spectacular light artworks that are on display all over the city centre of Amsterdam.

The 14th edition of the Amsterdam Light Festival has the theme Legacy. The artworks are all based around the theme, which focuses on what we leave behind as individuals and collectives. The artists have created works around memories, the present and the future and related ideas that fit the theme. These fascinating works are all lined along the canals, so they are all perfectly visible from the water.

The best boat tour of the Amsterdam Light Festival

There is no better way to enjoy the festival than from the comfort of a canal boat. From the water, you have a first-class view of the light art, while you sit back and take it all in. The entire route can be seen in a single cruise, and LOVERS' Light Festival tours go past all the artworks at a relaxed pace, so you won't miss anything.

The modern and comfortable and heated boats from LOVERS Canal Cruises are a great way to enjoy the Amsterdam Light Festival. With big windows all around, you get a 360° view of the canals, so you won't miss anything. And along the way the included audio guide (in English & Dutch) will tell you all about the works and their artists, to give you the complete Amsterdam Light Festival experience.

Get your Amsterdam Light Festival 2025 - 2026 canal cruise tickets here

The Amsterdam Light Festival cruise departs daily, with frequent departures every evening of the festival. This cruise departs right across Amsterdam Central Station, next to the restaurant Loetje, just walk out of the station, head down the stairs and hop on board. Book your Amsterdam Light Festival 2025 tickets now!

Reviews

14 reviews

4.7

Average rating from Google and Tripadvisor

Benamard

Light festival tour

We did the excellent light festival tour st 7pm. The boat captain was funny and knowledgeable, we enjoyed the art exhibits and the background story about each and one of them. Keep in mind the audio guide for the light festival tour is only in Dutch or English.

Dec 21, 2025

Wouter Malaga

The tour is great.. but this year, the light festival was quite disappointing compared to years ago

Dec 9, 2024

Sarah N

It was good

Dec 2, 2024

Kyros

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!

Dec 1, 2024

Liubov Liashko

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.

Jan 26, 2024

Dr Win Sutanto

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! 👍👍👍👍❤️❤️

Jan 19, 2024

Nyasha 'Naya' Underwood

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

Jan 17, 2024

M Lammers

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.

Jan 3, 2024

Christina

Christmas light festival

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

Dec 27, 2023

Sarthak Kumar

The cruise was cozy and informative. Got to see the light festival as well.

Dec 12, 2023

Vincent Luycx

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

Dec 16, 2024

Edwin&Mirjam Hilgerson

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.

Dec 16, 2024

Maxwell

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.

Dec 30, 2023

Bernd_aus_Wesel