Water Stories
What is it like to live and work on the water?
Follow the water, understand the city.
We will show you. Through old stories and interviews with houseboat residents, skippers, bridge keepers, and more.
Subscribe to the free newsletter ↗Nice to meet you!
We are Water Stories.
Most people see the water from the shore. We don't. We are on the Amsterdam water as often as we can, because we want to know what it's really like to live and work on it.
We make stories, videos and audio tours that take you into a world you can barely see from the street. A houseboat that has been around for generations. A bridge operator who knows exactly when it gets busy. A part of town that only gets good when you look at it from the water.
Whether you're walking along the canal or sitting on a boat yourself: we give you a different view. No standard stories, just the unique, sometimes invisible world of Amsterdam's water.
Do you have a good story, a place we should see, or someone we should talk to? Let us know! :)
Want to join the Amsterdam boat community?
The letter is free, and the first audio tour will be free too. The club is 5 euros a month: every audio tour we release, the things we learn about permits, mooring and spots, and new routes before anyone else. We are still building it, and members are part of that from the start.
Appreciating the water, its stories and its community. That's what the club is about.
The boat life letter
Receive stories from the water: an interview with a skipper, secret spots, a piece of history we bumped into.
The audio tour
One tour is ready. The web app is being improved, so it is back online from 10 September. Members get every audio tour we release.
New routes first
When a new audio tour is ready, members hear about it before everyone else.
What we are learning about the rules
Permits, mooring, new restrictions... we share the information we've collected, in normal words.
From the audio tour app.
Informative & entertaining
I had a blast learning some niche facts about Amsterdam. Excited to follow along as the app and journey progresses and walk some more tours!
Would recommend!
This app is such a fun way to explore the city. You get an inside view of the typical Amsterdam life like no other tour would! Did it with a friend and we both had a great time. :) Would definitely recommend!!
So original, I love it!
Amazing app where you can walk in a city and have someone explain in more detail what is going on around you. You can walk at your own pace and pause the recording. It is amazing when exploring a new city but not as a tourist, no as a local!
Stories from the water are...
Short and to the point
Small stories you can read in a minute and remember for years.
Seen from the water today
We are out on our own boat every week, so you get what is there right now.
Worth telling someone else
The kind of thing you point at from the boat, so everyone looks.
Water stories from Amsterdam
Short conversations with people working and living on the water. We are still collecting these, so the archive grows slowly.
Lonely? Get a boat!
How water culture brings people together
The cost of the canals
How Amsterdam's wealthiest period had the highest costs
Entering the 'parasol phase'
How the Dutch umbrella, once the symbol of rain, is becoming a sign of heat
Want it in your inbox?
The letter is free: a water story now and then, plus what we are learning about the rules and the city. Club members pay 5 euros a month and get the audio tours plus the notes we share as we figure things out.
Let's take the boat ride to the next level
- 1
Check the water
Wind, rain, sunset and what is happening this week. Everything you need to decide whether to go aboard.
- 2
Pick a route
One audio tour is ready. We are improving the web app and the route right now, so it is back online from 10 September. Leave your email and get it for free.
- 3
Press play and enjoy
You press play, stop where you like (gotta love spontaneous intermezzos), all at your own pace.
Things people ask us
Do I need my own boat?
No. The routes follow the water, so they are nicest from a boat, but you can walk or cycle along the same water and listen to the same story.
Do I need to download an app?
No. The tours open in the browser on your phone. That works from the boat and from the side of the water.
What is free and what do I pay for?
Everything on this website stays free: the weather check, the water level, the rules, the agenda and the stories. The first audio route is free too. All the other stories and the notes we share as we learn them are for club members, five euros a month.
What does the club cost?
Five euros a month, paid through Substack. That gets you every audio tour, the notes we share about permits, mooring and spots as we learn them, and every new route as soon as we release it. You can stop whenever you like.
Where do the weather and the rules come from?
The forecast comes straight from the public weather data for Amsterdam. The rules come from the city and the waterway authority, with the date they were last checked.
Ready to get access to the water world?
Every audio route we release, the spots we find and what we learn about boating in Amsterdam. Five euros a month, stop whenever you like.