Types of Experience
Smoking Boat Tours in Amsterdam: Which Canal Cruises Actually Allow Cannabis
Of the 40 shared canal cruises bookable in Amsterdam right now, exactly two are smoking boat tours where cannabis is allowed on board. The other 38 aren't, and since a 2023 city ordinance, neither is the pavement: smoking cannabis outdoors is now banned across De Wallen, the Dam, the Damrak, and the Nieuwmarkt, bridges and canal-side quays included. Whether that same rule reaches a boat floating past those same quays is a different question, and the city has left a gap exactly that shape. You can also book a private boat — more on that below.
What Amsterdam tolerates, and what it doesn't
Start with the word everyone gets wrong. Cannabis in the Netherlands isn't legal. It's tolerated under a policy called gedoogbeleid: possession and coffeeshop sales stay against the law on paper, but prosecutors leave licensed shops alone under strict conditions — no advertising, no sales to minors, no nuisance, five grams max per adult transaction. That only covers the licensed shop itself. Not the sidewalk, not a park bench, and since 2023 not the canalside pavement in the old centre either.
The outdoor ban targets pedestrian space: streets, bridges, canal quays. A boat moving on the water is none of those. Nobody at city hall has ruled boats exempt, and nothing here is legal advice — but the gap between "banned on this bridge" and "underway fifteen feet away" is exactly what two shared boats have built a product around.
Is there a smoke boat tour in Amsterdam?
Yes — two shared smoking boat tours say so plainly in their own listing, and both keep the same floor as every coffeeshop on land: eighteen and over, one adult ticket type each, no youth or child rate to slip past the age check. Both run about an hour.
The Bulldog Boat leaves from Stationsplein, close enough to Centraal Station that you could walk over with your bag still on your shoulder. It runs an hour on a silent electric boat, covered against rain, with an onboard toilet and bar. Two drinks come folded into the fare, beer or wine or something soft, and the crew explicitly invites you to bring your own snacks and your own smoking supplies; nothing cannabis-related is sold on board. from €28.43 gets you on.
Cloud Boat moors on Oudezijds Voorburgwal — inside the 2023 ban zone on the quay, then off it once the boat pulls away. An hour long, heated with a closing roof, drinks and snacks from an onboard bar (no BYO except cannabis, which you bring yourself). A live guide talks through the coffeeshop history of the neighbourhood. No toilet on board. from €22.50.
Neither price is a novelty markup. A plain ninety-minute sightseeing cruise with no smoking angle, from €24, sits in the same bracket; the city median for shared cruises is around €33. Smoking isn't the upsell — it's just part of what's on offer.
The Bulldog Boat vs Cloud Boat
| The Bulldog Boat | Cloud Boat | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | from €28.43 | from €22.50 |
| Duration | 1 hour | 1 hour |
| Departure | Stationsplein 30 (Centraal Station) | Oudezijds Voorburgwal 230 (Red Light Dock) |
| Drinks | 2 included; onboard bar; BYO snacks | Onboard bar (drinks & snacks sold; no BYO except cannabis) |
| Toilet | Onboard toilet | No toilet on board |
| Heated / roof | Open boat; roof for rain | Heated; closing roof for weather |
| Guide | Skipper | Live guide on coffeeshop history |
Even here, it isn't a free-for-all
Even on a boat built to allow it, ask first — the skipper, then the people near you. Same unwritten courtesy as lighting up at an outdoor café table next to strangers: you're sharing a deck for an hour with people who didn't sign up for secondhand smoke. A nod from the crew isn't a nod from the group.
If neither of these fits
Not everyone curious about Amsterdam's cannabis culture wants an hour on a moving boat. A licensed coffeeshop on land is still the simplest, least ambiguous version: walk in, buy from the counter, sit down. No question about whether a rule applies to a boat.
A private boat puts the decision in your hands
A private charter is a different situation: your own boat for your own group, with no other passengers to share the question with. Based on what we hear across our fleet, most private-charter operators have no problem with cannabis on board, as long as the skipper knows in advance — for those boats, mention it when you book rather than assuming. On Diana and Curaçao, though, you do not need to tell anyone in advance: no need to mention it when booking. That's our own operator knowledge for these two boats, not a city rule, and it doesn't automatically extend to every other private charter.
Your own boat on the canals with that freedom is something we can definitely recommend — unhurried, entirely yours, and honestly, it's a vibe. Two charters where smoking is definitely welcome, with no need to mention it when booking: Diana, up to 8 guests for 1 hour 30 minutes from from €310, and Curaçao, a roomier 1951 boat for up to 12 guests for the same duration from €315. Both leave from Brouwersgracht (opposite no. 64) in the Jordaan; both are heated with a roof that opens in warm weather. Neither has a toilet on board — the skipper can stop along the canals if someone needs one.
The same courtesy still applies, just flipped: you're hosting now, so warn your own guests before they step aboard.
Ready to book your Amsterdam canal cruise?
Compare 80+ vetted boats from local operators — private and shared.
Browse shared canal cruisesFrequently Asked Questions
- On two specific shared smoking boat tours, yes: The Bulldog Boat and Cloud Boat. On the other 38 shared cruises currently bookable in the city, no. You can also book a private charter — most of our private-boat operators are fine with it once you mention it when you book. On Diana and Curaçao you do not need to mention it when booking; we know for certain smoking is welcome there.
- Yes. The two shared options on Boat Local are The Bulldog Boat and Cloud Boat. Both are hour-long, 18+ smoking boat tours where you bring your own cannabis. Outside those two, a private charter is the other route.
- The two shared smoking boat tours each run about one hour. Private charters Diana and Curaçao run 1 hour 30 minutes.
- Tolerated, not legal. Cannabis in the Netherlands sits inside a tolerance policy (gedoogbeleid), not real legalisation, and no rule explicitly green-lights smoking on a boat. These two cruises operate inside the same enforcement gap as coffeeshops, so treat it as a tolerated practice rather than a guaranteed legal right.
- Probably not, though there's no official ruling either way. The ban's wording covers pedestrian space — streets, bridges, canal quays — not boats moving on the water, which is the likely reasoning behind these products; nobody here is a lawyer.
- Bring your own. Neither shared boat sells cannabis; it isn't a coffeeshop with a dock. The Bulldog Boat invites guests to bring their own smoking supplies, and Cloud Boat says the same. On a private charter you bring your own as well.
- No. It comes down to the operator, not a citywide rule. Most of our private-charter operators are fine with it once you mention it when booking. Diana and Curaçao are two where we know for certain it's welcome, and on those two you do not need to mention it when booking. That claim is only for Diana and Curaçao — always check for any other private boat.
