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17th-century Canal Ring Area of Amsterdam inside the Singelgracht

By Rachel Heller

What is the Canal Ring Area?

This UNESCO site comprises the oldest part of Amsterdam: the part inside the innermost canal ring. At the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th century, this was the beginning of the planned growth of Amsterdam and its harbor, using a series of concentric canal rings.

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Text: Canal Ring Area of Amsterdam inside the Singelgracht, The Netherlands. Images: two views of canals

The buildings inside the ring – mostly from the 17th and 18th centuries – are particularly picturesque, usually made of brick, with a range of gable styles and facades. They demonstrate how wealthy the merchant class became during what became known as the “Golden Age.”

The concentric rings outside the Singelgracht are lovely too. They illustrate the growth of the town in that, as you move outwards, the buildings get younger.

Why is Amsterdam’s center a UNESCO World Heritage site?

The canal district was a newly-planned, artificial port city, a “model of large-scale town planning,” according to UNESCO’s website. It was innovative for the time, and required expertise in water control, engineering, town planning, construction and architecture.

view down a canal, lined by trees and rowhouses on both sides, and boats moored along the sides.

What can you expect on a visit to the Canal Ring area of Amsterdam?

There is a lot to see within this part of Amsterdam. The canals are lined with beautiful old patricians’ houses and former warehouses from when the city was a busy port, receiving products from all over the world. Many of the houses have a slight – or not so slight – lean to them, adding to their charm.

Besides being densely-packed with houses and shops, there are a large number of small museums and open-air markets as well. The main streets can be very crowded, both with tourists and locals, but it’s not hard to find some calm by following the streets along the canals away from the busy-ness.

A row of brick rowhouses along a canal: most are quite narrow with a decorative gable and many large windows. A bright yellow houseboat moored in the canal.

Is Amsterdam worth visiting?

Amsterdam is absolutely worth visiting, and worth making a special trip for. It’s worth taking several days, rather than trying to fit the most popular sights into a single day. Doing that would mean missing the enjoyment of a stroll along a canal. It would also mean spending the whole time amongst crowds of tourists.

Click on the images below for lots of choices of tours and tickets for attractions in Amsterdam:

What sorts of travelers would like Amsterdam’s old center?

Almost anyone would like Amsterdam. If the charming architecture is not your thing, you’ll find pretty much anything else you might want to see or do. Amsterdam has museums about everything, lots of great shopping, restaurants and clubs, and even some great things for children to do.

A row of brick rowhouses and former warehouses along a canal: each is quite narrow with a decorative gable and many large windows.

Tips for visiting Amsterdam

My most important tip: watch out for bicycles! The Dutch bicycle fast and with purpose. The red-paved strips are bike paths and you should not walk on them! If you hear a high-pitched jingly bell, it’s a bike bell and you need to get out of the way!

If you really feel you must rent a bike, be careful to stay out of the way of the locals. Don’t ride along slowly in the middle of the bike path; let people pass on the left by staying right. Signal ahead of time when you’re going to turn. Watch out for pedestrians who aren’t following my tip #1!

Get away from the main sights like Dam Square and the Red Light District. It’s prettier and less crowded on the side streets, especially along the canals.

If you want to see further-flung sights, the trams, buses and metros are easy to navigate. You can use a bank card or credit card to pay.

The most popular attractions for visitors to Amsterdam are not within the UNESCO-listed canal ring area of Amsterdam, but are likely places you’d like to see. Their popularity means it’s usually necessary to book a ticket well in advance. Book tickets for the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum, and the Anne Frank House several weeks or even months ahead.

Book your accommodations in Amsterdam center by clicking on the map below and zooming in to the center:

While Amsterdam is definitely worth visiting, I’d also recommend getting out of Amsterdam to see other parts of the Netherlands that are generally much less visited. Delft, Haarlem and Utrecht are all equally pretty historic towns. The countryside in Friesland and Groningen provinces are gorgeous. The islands in the Wadden Sea are where the Dutch go for weekends away to enjoy the sea and the sand and lots of great bicycle paths.

If you want to see some more of the Netherlands’ UNESCO sites, Droogmakerij de Beemster is not far from Amsterdam, and neither is the Rietveld Schröderhuis in Utrecht.