GIETHOORN. 2024.

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Giethoorn is a village in the Dutch province of Overijssel. It's about an hour and a half drive from Amsterdam.

Giethoorn is a cute Dutch village in the Netherlands. There are no roads in the village center. So, instead of using cars and roads, the locals and tourists of Giethoorn village use mostly waterways to transport themselves in Giethoorn village. Therefore, a comparison with the Italian Venice is often quickly made. Just like in real Venice, you do almost everything here by boat. However, the gondola in Giethoorn village is called a 'punter'. And, the gondolier with paddle has been replaced by a modern whisper motor.
The village was created 800 years ago by manually searching for peat. In fact, the locals at that time dug by hand and created a complete channel system. In conclusion, with all this digging all islands were created. After that, these islands have been connected by 176 walking / cycling bridges and the current thatched houses were built on those islands. With all this work they created Giethoorn village.

The 'punter' boat
At that time, a 'punter' boat was used to transport everything. The 'punter' boats are among the oldest ships in existence: paintings and deeds from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries are proof of the existence of the current form and name. Nowadays, these 'punter' boats are still used. Although, they are slowly driven away by electric-powered boats. You can rent a punter at Giethoorn boat rental.

No cars in Giethoorn village
Then, the cars arrived in the Netherlands. But, the old village was not suitable for cars and car traffic. In fact, the locals voted to preserve the old. Therefore, the decision was made to leave the village intact. So, this created the famous car-free zone of the Dutch village. In conclusion, it is not that the locals of Giethoorn cannot afford a car but that they simply cannot park in front of their door.

Residents - 2795 people are living in Giethoorn in 2020
Tourists - Yearly more than 1.000.000 tourists from all over the World are visiting Giethoorn.

Giethoorn is often referred to as "Dutch Venice" (Dutch: Hollands Venetië) or the "Venice of the Netherlands".
In the old part of the village, there were no roads (though a cycling path was eventually added), and all transport was undertaken by water over one of the many canals. The lakes in Giethoorn were formed by peat digging.
Tourism has an influence on the old traditional town. The village, still only fully accessible by boat, is one of several places commonly known as the Venice of the North[6] or Venice of the Netherlands.[7] Giethoorn has 176 bridges.[