Venice is known for its dreamy canals that connect the entire city. Their “cars” are boats! With no roads or highways to join anything, people have to get creative in how they maneuver around the city! Most everybody has heard of Venice, but did you know that the Netherlands has its fairytale city of canals?

This city is the Venice of the Netherlands!

If you ever wanted to take a vacation to a place that could be straight from a movie or children’s book, this may be the spot for you! Giethoorn is a village located in the northern regions of the Netherlands and is the next place to add to your bucket list.

Secluded and tucked away, this maze of bridges and water has no road into town.

There is no road into town! There are a few cities that don’t have roads leading into them, creating a quieter and much more somber environment. It can often be incredibly peaceful!

A village of canals and bridges.

Since there are no roads in town, the primary method of transportation is canals and your own two feet! The entire village is made up of islands that have houses on them with waterways in between them all.

With all the canals, people get around in boats!

Many of the inhabitants of the quaint village have their own little “whisper boats” to get around. The whisper boats are used to keep the town quiet. The result is a very peaceful atmosphere.

“The loudest sound you can normally hear is the quacking of a duck or the noise made by other birds”

– Giethoorn Tourism

The village is very connected!

With all of the water, there are lots of bridges that connect the houses and little islands of grass. Their website says that they have a total of 176 bridges connecting people through the village!

If you want to visit, you need to leave your car at the door!

Much like taking off your shoes at a friend’s house, you need to leave your car on the outskirts of the town when you go to visit! This is done as a noise pollution deterrent. It also adds to the feel of the village in an intangible way.

A home with roots.

This village has ancient roots, dating back to 1230 AD. The name shows the founding of the town. Giethoorn (goat-horn) was named so because of the hundreds of goat horns found in the marsh from a 10th-century flood.

A peaty history.

The town was build and developed as peat was unearthed and used centuries ago. The resulting holes created from the peat removal created the area’s lakes. Peat was used as insulation and also for smelting iron as it holds trace amounts of the metal.

You can visit and do some pretty incredible things!

If you ever find yourself in the Netherlands, this may be a great place to be touristy! The village boasts over 90km of canoe trails and is on the edge of a more massive lake and canal system. You can even hire a “Skipper” for the day to show you around! This may be one of the coolest places ever!

Check out the video below!

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Source: Harry Mateman, Bored Panda, Geithoorn Tourism