There are plenty of canal tours in Amsterdam. But on VR Voyage’s VR Amsterdam History Cruise, you’ll put on a headset at seven different moments, and the cityscape will vanish before your eyes. The canal-side houses, the bridges, the quays: everything transforms into what Amsterdam looked like during the 17th-century Golden Age, from 1600 to 1700. It’s not just a flat animation on a screen, but a 360-degree experience that places you right in the heart of historic Amsterdam.
Behind the tour is XR Visuals Factory, a young Amsterdam-based company that combines history and technology. The VR Amsterdam History Cruise is their first product, released under the name VR Voyage. They deliberately chose the water as their setting: the canals have remained largely unchanged, which makes the comparison between then and now all the more striking. As the boat sails, a guide provides historical commentary. Between the VR segments, you simply get to enjoy the sights of modern-day Amsterdam.
The boat itself is enclosed and heated—it’s not an open-air tour boat where the wind blows freely. Upon boarding, you’ll receive a welcome drink, included in the ticket price. The tour lasts 75 minutes and departs from the dock next to Lido Bar and Kitchen on Leidsekade, in the city center. At exactly 7 locations along the route, passengers are fitted with a headset. At those spots, the modern world fades away, and the world of 400 years ago begins. Then the headset comes off again, and you simply see the quay, the cyclists, and the city.
In just 7 moments, you put on a headset, and the cityscape vanishes before your eyes: everything transforms into the 17th-century Golden Age.
Choosing the Leidsekade as the starting point is no coincidence. It’s one of the city’s busier quays, but as soon as the boat glides out onto the water toward the quieter canals, that changes quickly. The same canals you may have seen a hundred times before, but now it feels as if you’re seeing them for the first time.