Private group canal cruises

Groups can book this canal cruise 7 days a week between 10.00h and 16.00h. After 16.00h bookings are available for cruises including drinks or BBQ only.

Price canal cruise 1h   € 150,-

Price canal cruise 1.5h € 200,- 

Price canal cruise 2h € 250,- 

Extras:

Option 1: lunch consisting of fresh salads and various luxury sandwiches and two drinks € 12.50 p.p.

Option 2: delicious fresh pastries from the best pastry shop from Zwolle Lindeboom including coffee / tea € 6, - p.p.

Option 3: two drinks per person, choice of coffee, tea, various soft drinks, beer or wine € 5, - p.p.

Option 4: unlimited use of drinks € 8/10, - p.p. for 1 / 1.5h

In case of bad weather we can cover the boat without extra costs.

By clicking on 'book now' you go to the contact form so that you can let us know all your wishes, we will contact you as soon as possible!

Book now!

 

Sights and landmarks in Zwolle allong the canals

These are the sights you will see during the cruise, ouw skilled guides will tell you all about them!

Fire Station
Directly across from Roundtrip Zwolle is the old fire station. At the Industrial Marslanden a new station has been built, the old is now part of the Thorbecke School. The building is still in its original condition & occasionally the students are seen still sliding down the fireman’s pole.

New port
Formerly a nursing home for the elderly, all the residents have now moved on. There have since lived students in their place however the building is now currently being stripped and new apartments built in its place.

Old Willemsvaart
The Willemsvaart is a momentum in Zwolle that runs from the centre of Zwolle to the river IJssel. The momentum is now interrupted and closed to shipping. The Willemsvaart was opened in 1819 by Hendrik Berend Bentinck & given to Buck Horst who was then the governor of Overijssel. The construction was made possible by a major financial contribution from a gentleman under the mame of William I (which is where the momentum name dankt.Nadat the Zwolle Ijssel Channel came from).

The Willemsvart originally opened in 1964, however it turned out to be unnecessary. Through the construction of roads and the change of the device, the Willemsvaart is today now only a drainage canal.

The Eekwal
The Eekwal is one of the historic gems of Zwolle; under definition (a place with a rich history). The street takes its name from the former Eekmolen. This mill was an oak bark (eek) and then grind, diluted with water to make the tannic acid-containing 'run', which was used for tanning. 

Before the current building was there almost this entire area was in the style of the leerlooiersambacht. There were once 22 windmills in and around Zwolle. Now, the passion and the Windesheim Mills are still running.  There are also Eekwal notaries, lawyers, brokers and dentists. A transfer station, Bus and Bergman clinics & a private clinic in where to have cosmetic surgery done.

New Harbour Bridge
This was the place where the royal family began their visit in Zwolle on April 27, 2016. This certainly has put our city on the map!

Museum the Foundation
The Museum the Foundation is housed in a striking building in Zwolle. The property is designed by an architect named Eduard Louis & was built between 1838 and 1841. It was first used as a courthouse and later as home to the Provincial Planning Service. In 2004 the building was converted to a fully-fledged museum building. In 2013, the museum (after a renovation of 2 years) opened again with a major expansion on the roof, called "the Cloud"

Nicknames: The eye and the dinosaur egg. It has long been asked if in fact The Museum is the ugliest building in the Netherlands, having received the nomination for the title. However it appears the current spot goes to the town of Hardenberg having labelled the ugliest stately home Burg. Van Royen Singel. Also featured is former Training Young Capital Avenue, now in private hands.

The larger building also present at the bend was once a bank building, this is now occupied by students.

Sugar Mountain
Sugar Mountain (Potgietersingel) named after a renowned poet Potgieter, a poet who lived many of the first years of his life in Zwolle. The Potgietersingel has a beautiful green area where many people picnic & enjoy the sun in good weather. Turtles can also often be seen in this area while sunbathing or in the water.

Sassenpoort
Sassenpoort was built in 1406 and stands at 45 metres high. A former City Jail and defense work, today Sassenpoort is among the top 100 of Dutch UNESCO Monuments and is used as a small museum.  Besides the Peperbus, the symbol of Zwolle, the Sassenpoort was built at the end of the 14th century as part of the city defenses. The Sassenpoort gate was restored between 1894 and 1897 restored, the dorms and pointed belfry were also added during this time. Some nice detail are the holes in the floor above the gates, from these holes pitches about invading enemies are cast. In Sassenpoortse bridge on the right you can see a hand, arm and an onion. This is a Old Gift from Kampenaren, both Zwolle and Kampen were bell-founders but the sound of the recurring Zwolle bells were better. The camp spikes were bought at the time Zwolle clocked and were paid with three large bags filled with nickels to harass the Zwolle. Of course all these nickels were to be counted and as such the Zwolle got blue fingers. Behold the origin of the nickname of Zwolle to “A blue finger”!

Assendorp
Looking straight ahead of you, you will see the Assendorp district. On your left, beautiful buildings built around 1860. To the right was the old hospital where the Weezenlanden lies along with Sophia. At the site of Sophia is the Isala clinic Risen, Isala is Latin for IJssel. There is presently a planned housing project for 300 homes to be built in this vicinity.

 

Kane Domini Monastery
On the right side of the Great Wezenland looking toward Assendorp stands the Domini Kane Monastery.

Park Weezenlanden
Behind the Old Hospital looking across the water the provincial government building can be seen standing tall. Stood behind a large park Weezenlanden, this is where the liberation is held every year on 5th May.

Courthouse
The Courthouse, having had considerable expansions some years back is now considered one of the major legal centres of Zwolle. A key player in the east, all business in the area to the right of Lelystad, Lelystad under Emmen and above, as well as a large part of Friesland are handled here. 

Plantation Church (located behind the monument)
The Plantation Church was built in 1874 to commemorate the reunification of the three Separated Christian communities, which had arisen in Zwolle. The building is the old est. surviving Reformed Church of Zwolle.

War Memorial
The War memorial of Zwolle was founded in memory of all of Zwolle which were killed during World War II. The monument was designed by Titus Leeser and was unveiled on 5th May 1950. It represents the men found again after undergoing much suffering. The monument is partly surrounded by a low wall that symbolizes resistance. On either side of the old IJssel bridge bunkers are still visible.

Government House
Directly behind the church and bridge (on the site of an apartment building) stands what was formerly the Governor's House. The Government House on Church Street was the official residence of the Queen's Commissioner. Guest rooms were there for the Queen and other dignitaries. It also served as HEAO and tax office. A developer bought the building having been poorly maintained and unoccupied, they subsequently demolished it in order to build apartments. Fairly quickly after the demolition application was accepted the demolition began in 1985. This lead to strong protests from many local Zwolle nationals who wanted the property retained, but the resistance was in vain. One of the councillors who had agreed the demolition had to leave and Mayor Loopstra was consequentially nicknamed Demolition Stra.

Water tower
The water tower at the Turfmarkt was built in 1892, designed by architect Jan Dish. The water tower has a height of 36 meters and has a water reservoir 500 m3. In 1959, a girl was killed by a falling stone from the water tower. After this, it was decided to surround the tower with a new sheath. Inside the shell is the original tower. Apartments have now been built up surrounding the tower, therefore the sheath is removed before the half.

Almelo's channel
The Almelo's canal was dug in 1855 and was originally a barge canal to Almelo. It is not currently possible however to navigate the channel beyond Zwolle. On the east side of the the channel you can see stately homes by the water, lying on the west side there is a great variety of houseboats in all shapes and sizes along with the city park Wezenaar Countries.

Thorbecke (canal)
The Birthplace of Thorbecke. DOB 17-01-1798. Deceased 04-06-1872. A Professor and three times Prime Minister, he has rewritten the constitution. Stories Boat and Culture Ship Thor Every year is organized here; this is the story telling festival during Pentecost Zwolle unlimited. Culture vessel Thor schedules performances every 2nd and 4th Sunday of the month.

ArtEZ Corservatorium
ArtEZ provides Bachelors and Masters courses in the fields of visual art, fashion, design, architecture, music, dance and theatre. The Former property Librije and Former restaurant is located here, known in Zwolle as the former house of detention. The Harbour Offices and Broerekerk (Pelser bridge) are on site by the water too as it is the departure place for ships to Amsterdam. Brother Church is located behind Artez and the bookstore Waanders is here in the shop.

Café the bracket (het beugeltje)
The tower which now houses the Bracket Bar is set in the “wine rack tower”. This is a 15th century defensive tower, the walls must be 1 metre thick. The name of the tower is owed to the fact that in the Middle Ages, the guild of wine carriers was located here. The famous mustard brand "Wine Carriers" was established in this building; Now Bracket Bar makes use of the property.

Stadscafe Stroomberg
The oldest pub Zwolle and according to an old kept secret always open (as long as the cafe opened at least) hangout classic Herman Brood.

The Tanerij - Flevo building
A former technical school started here, now the place to come for retail shopping

Librije Hotel "It Spinhuis"
Behind the monumental Flevoland building is the Librije Hotel "It Spinhuis". This building Dates back to the eighteenth century and was used as a women's prison. After restoration and refurbishment led by Jonnie and Thérèse Boer it opened its doors in 2008 as Sandton Hotel. The hotel has 19 luxurious rooms and suites. The prices start at €295per room per night (Note that excludes breakfast!). In the hotel is the second Librije restaurant; Librije's Sister Restaurant has three Michelin stars and is the 38th best restaurant in the world! They also received an award in Autumn 2016 for most welcoming restaurant in Europe.

Theatre Mirror
The Mirror Theatre was opened in December 2006. This theatre has a unique technical feature: a movable ceiling. The theatre may result from change acoustics; this is unique in the Netherlands. The moving ceiling in the theatre finally means a location where both large symphonic concerts and stage performances can come together into their own. 'Hollands got talent "is also included. In December 2016 the Mirror had its 10 year anniversary. Copper Kees (one of the Mirror’s partner’s) is the nickname of a public servant who recorded the sizes of all stage flooring in the country. He used a copper plate to the mark centre stage (hence the Copper Kees). The adopted measures were included in a reference to the theatre so they knew how much space they had at their disposal for their actions. Nowadays copper plate is still used as a benchmark on the Dutch stages.

The North Island
The North Island is on the move. There was formerly an old gasworks here and land is therefore pretty polluted. In recent years, works have been done on soil remediation and plans for this piece of Zwolle are still under development. There has been talk that the parking would disappear and apartments may appear in their place, however the parking shortfall would bring this under strong discussion at the loss of the city’s 700 parking spaces.

Hedon
At the edge of the centre of Zwolle is a striking modern building where you can go for the best concerts and spectacular dance parties. Hedon was built in 1973 and regular activities take place here. Pop/Rock concerts as well as student and dance parties. Having recently been completely renovated Hedon, inter alia has two brand new rooms and a backstage bar including a rooftop terrace.

Lakfabriek Schaepman
The Schaepman paint factory stood empty for a while, however in 2013 the factory began to fall down completely. The Façade having been supported by a steel construction stood quite a while standing but eventually had to be demolished. Apartments are now already built and inhabited on the location, town houses are soon to follow. At Bridge embankment the bridge begins at black water, then exits in the direction of the north. After a kilometre left you connect with the river IJssel in the form of the Zwolle IJssel Canal, opened in 1964. Sailing through you pass the district Stadshagen (2nd stop station from Zwolle) and pass Hasselt, Zwartsluis, Giethoorn in the direction of Friesland. Right before the bridge 3 large buildings are located, these are students halls of residence. You will then pass Zwolle bridge and waterfall and to the left of the bridge Old villa Hofvliet; this stood empty for over 35 years but after a revamp of the thatched roof funded by the province was sold quickly. There is now a brasserie.

Rodetorenplein
Since 2008, the square became twice as large a part of the moat mute. This shows the city has regained its original form. The Red Torenplein is currently used in particular for a number of festivals spread across the year. Among other ijsbeeldenfestival and the location of the ice rink. You will also see the scoutmaster house here built in 1663. In Rodetorenplein behind the Hanseatic Hotel, the milk market is visible where on Friday and Saturday throughout the day a variety of goods can be found for sale at the market.

Peppermill (Peperbus)
De Peperbus is a 75 metre high tower belonging to the Basilica of Our Lady Assumption. The tower is called "Our Lady Tower". The tower was built in 1463 and took 19 years to reach 80 metres. In 1815 there was a fire caused by a lightning strike in the steeple, at that time it was replaced, the koepvorminge was given a cap whereby the tower the nickname “the Peppermill”. Because it resembled a pepper pot from that moment. You can climb up to the first section of De Peperbus located at 51 meters (This equates to 265 steps). From 2002 to 2005 the Peperbus has been thoroughly restored, because over the years many structural defects in the tower arose. On 2nd November 2004 4 new bells were installed in the carillon making The Peperbus one of the largest carillons in the Netherlands now having 51 bells.

Maagjesbolwerk
The Maagjesbolwerk was completed in May 2003 and designed by architect Hans Ruijsenaars who drew his inspiration from the fortress of past Zwolle. The bottom layer of the Maagjesbolwerk is 10 metres high, which corresponds to the original bastion that stood on the same spot. The tip shape of the bastion can be seen in the design. The structure can accommodate 66 apartments, 7000 m² with a retail space and a parking garage with 500 spaces. You can also find Tourist marina in front of Maagjesbolwerk, here you can get a boat mooring overnight (should you wish). In the port office on the Rodetorenplein there are facilities to shower etc.

Kamperpoort
The Kamperpoort district is mostly under renovation, whole rows of houses are being built & renovated and there is multiplex which opened in December 2016. There will also be parking for 800 cars and a supermarket.

IJsselhallen
Behind the Kamperpoort is the event area of the IJsselhallen. Also the site of the cattle market, for the last 30 years.