Neighbourhoods & Routes
Amsterdam's Most Beautiful Bridges: A Canal Cruise Guide
Amsterdam has more than 1,500 bridges — more than Paris or Venice. They range from 14th-century stone arches to contemporary steel footbridges. On a canal cruise, you pass under and through dozens of them, and each tells a story about the part of the city it connects. The Magere Brug, the Torensluis, the Python Bridge, and the Seven Bridges viewpoint are among the most photographed — but there are dozens of quieter bridges that regular tourists never see. This guide covers what to look for on a cruise.
Magere Brug: The Skinny Bridge
The Magere Brug (Skinny Bridge) on the Amstel is Amsterdam's most famous bridge and one of only four remaining wooden drawbridges in the city. The name refers to its original narrow width — the first bridge here, built around 1691, was so narrow two people could barely pass. The current bridge dates from 1934 but maintains the same white-painted wooden form.
Magere Brug is raised manually by a bridge operator when tall vessels need to pass — a process that takes several minutes and always draws a crowd on the riverside. At night it is lit by 1,200 light bulbs, making it one of the most photographed spots in the city after dark. Approaching it on a boat from the south gives you a low-angle view of the lit bridge reflected in the Amstel — one of the best night photography opportunities in Amsterdam.
The Seven Bridges Viewpoint
At the intersection of Reguliersgracht and Herengracht, standing on the Herengracht bridge, you can see seven consecutive arched bridges stretching along Reguliersgracht into the distance. This sight line was famous in the 18th century — city planning documents from the period mention it as a deliberate aesthetic feature — and it remains one of Amsterdam's most reproduced photographs.
From the water, the experience is different but equally striking: approaching along Reguliersgracht from the south, the bridges appear one after another, framing the view ahead. The interplay of bridge arches, canal reflections, and canal houses is best in morning light on a still day. Most ring canal routes pass through or near this viewpoint.
Torensluis: Amsterdam's Widest and Oldest Bridge
The Torensluis (Tower Lock Bridge) on the Singel, near the Bloemenmarkt end, is Amsterdam's widest bridge and one of the oldest in the city, built in 1648. It is wide enough to have housed a prison in its hollow interior during the 17th century — a detail that surprises most visitors. The prison cells were below street level, in the bridge foundations, accessible only by boat through small water-level hatches.
Today the Torensluis is a terrace in summer and a sculpture platform year-round. The statue of Multatuli, the 19th-century Dutch author and colonial critic, stands on the bridge. From a canal cruise, you pass under the bridge and can see the old stone hatches in the bridge's riverside wall — the former prison entries.
The Python Bridge (Eastern Docklands)
For architecture lovers, the Python Bridge (Pythonh Brug) on Sporenburg in the Eastern Docklands is the most dramatic contemporary bridge in Amsterdam. Designed by West 8 architects and completed in 2001, it arches in a deep S-curve in red-painted steel — dramatic from any angle, but particularly striking from water level on the Oostelijk Havengebied.
Reaching it requires a harbour route rather than a ring canal circuit, but for anyone interested in modern Amsterdam architecture, it is worth the detour. The Eastern Docklands as a whole are a showcase of experimental 1990s–2000s Dutch residential design, and the Python Bridge is its centrepiece.
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Browse Canal CruisesFrequently Asked Questions
- How many bridges does Amsterdam have?
- Amsterdam has over 1,500 bridges, making it one of the most bridge-dense cities in the world — more than Venice or Paris. The exact count varies as new footbridges are added and old ones are removed.
- What is the oldest bridge in Amsterdam?
- The Torensluis on the Singel, built in 1648, is one of the oldest surviving bridges in Amsterdam. The Halvemaansbrug on the Kloveniersburgwal (1685) is another early survivor. Amsterdam's original wooden bridges were largely replaced in stone in the 17th and 18th centuries.
- Are the drawbridges in Amsterdam still operational?
- Yes. Amsterdam still has four operational wooden drawbridges, including Magere Brug on the Amstel and the Sloterdijk bridge. They are raised manually by city bridge operators when tall vessels need to pass.
- Which canal cruise route passes the most bridges?
- A ring canal circuit from Centraal Station south through Herengracht and back via Prinsengracht passes 40–60 bridges depending on the exact route. Routes through the Jordaan or down the Amstel add more.
