Amsterdam: Food Tour & Canal Cruise with Dutch Tastings

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Free cancellationTravelers' pick

1/13

Duration3h 30m

GroupUp to 11

LanguagesEN

Mobile ticketAccepted

Cheese shops, canal boats, family recipes and the Jordaan’s quiet corners

You’ll wander through Amsterdam’s Jordaan district tasting Gouda cheese and Surinamese bites, try herring like a local, share homemade apple pie at a family-run café, then float past centuries-old houses on a vintage canal boat with bitterballen and jenever. Expect laughter with your guide and moments that stick long after the last bite.

3h 30m

Step-by-step itinerary

Amsterdam food tour and canal cruise

Explore Jordaan neighborhood
Taste 4 gouda cheeses
Try Indonesian and Surinamese food
Watch herring cleaning and taste it
Enjoy vintage boat canal cruise
Eat bitterballen with beer and jenever
Taste apple pie at Cafe Hegeraad
End near Anne Frank's house

The Experience

Someone hands me a slice of Gouda before I’ve even figured out where to stand in the tiny shop — the smell’s sharp but sort of grassy, and our guide (Sanne? I think that was her name) grins as she watches us taste it. She knows everyone here, or at least they all greet her like she’s an old friend. We’re in the Jordaan neighborhood, which she says used to be for workers and sailors. Now it feels creative but still kind of scruffy around the edges; you can hear bikes rattling over cobblestones every few minutes. I’m not sure what I expected from a food tour in Amsterdam, but there’s more history tucked between these shops than I thought.

We stop by a Surinamese place — Swietie Sarang — where the spices hit you right away, even before you eat anything. Li laughed when I tried to say “roti” in Mandarin — probably butchered it — but nobody seemed to mind. It’s not just Dutch food; there are Indonesian flavors too (I didn’t realize how much colonial history shows up on a plate). Then outside again, someone’s cleaning herring at a stall, slicing it fast with hands that look like they’ve done this forever. Some people in our group hesitated but honestly? It tasted fresher than I expected. The canal breeze helped with that.

Later we duck into Café Hegeraad near Noordermarkt for apple pie — crust flaky enough that it falls apart if you breathe too hard on it. There’s coffee, chatter in Dutch all around us, and for a second it feels like we’re just regulars instead of visitors. The last part is the canal cruise: old wooden boat, big windows open to let in the city sounds (and a bit of drizzle), bitterballen that somehow pair perfectly with cold beer and jenever. Our guide points out little things along Brouwersgracht — odd statues on rooftops, faded paintwork — stuff you’d miss if you weren’t looking.

The tour ends close to Anne Frank House but honestly by then my head’s already full of stories and small flavors I don’t want to forget. Sometimes travel is just about eating your way through someone else’s memories.

What’s included

Your day includes seven tastings across six foodie stops—think Dutch cheeses from specialty shops, Surinamese bites at Swietie Sarang, fresh herring (except Sundays/Mondays), homemade apple pie at Café Hegeraad near Noordermarkt—and an hour-long vintage canal cruise with bitterballen plus local drinks like beer and jenever. You’ll have an English-speaking local guide throughout and receive an Amsterdam Food Lovers Guide to take home.

Good to know

Easy physical levelStroller friendlyPets welcomePublic transport nearby

Operated by Eating Europe Food Tours Amsterdam