The Canal Ring

The Canal Ring is Amsterdam's masterpiece, and the best way to appreciate it after a canal cruise is on foot. In 1613 the city began one of the most ambitious urban expansions of its age: three main canals, the Herengracht (Gentlemen's Canal), the Keizersgracht (Emperor's Canal) and the Prinsengracht (Prince's Canal), dug in concentric arcs around the medieval centre, linked by radial canals and streets and lined with long, narrow plots sold to merchants who built houses with warehouses in their attics and gardens behind. The plan was built in phases over the seventeenth century, and the result, the Grachtengordel, was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2010 as an outstanding example of planned urban design. Walking it today, you can read the city's fortunes in the facades. On the Golden Bend of the Herengracht, between the Leidsestraat and the Vijzelstraat, the richest families bought double plots and built wide classical mansions in stone; elsewhere, brick houses with step, neck and bell gables jostle shoulder to shoulder, many tilting gently forward so that goods hoisted from the beams under the eaves would clear the facade. The corner of the Herengracht and the Reguliersgracht offers the famous view of a line of arched bridges stacked one behind the other, especially beautiful when they are lit at night, and the Magere Brug, or Skinny Bridge, a white wooden drawbridge over the Amstel, is the city's most photographed crossing. Cutting across the western canals between the Singel and the Prinsengracht, the Negen Straatjes, or Nine Streets, are a grid of small streets full of independent boutiques, vintage shops, cafés and restaurants.

A good walking route: start at the Westerkerk and walk south along the Prinsengracht, then drift east into the Nine Streets, zigzagging through Reestraat, Hartenstraat, Wolvenstraat and their neighbours, with stops for coffee and shopping. Continue south along the Herengracht to the Golden Bend, then follow the Herengracht east to the Reguliersgracht corner for the bridges view, and finish at the Amstel and the Magere Brug, perhaps with a drink on a terrace by the river. The route takes about two and a half hours at a relaxed pace, and covers most of the UNESCO core. If you want to go inside a canal house, several historic houses along the canals open as museums — Museum Van Loon on the Keizersgracht, with its period rooms and formal garden, is a lovely example — and these are good additions in the depth of winter or on a rainy day.

Things to notice: the hoisting beams and hooks under the gables, still used today for moving furniture; the houseboats, around two and a half thousand in the city, moored along the canal edges with their gardens on the roofs; the bikes chained to every railing; and the stone and wooden bollards that keep cars from tumbling into the water. The bridges are numbered, and many have names; walking across them at night, when they are outlined in lights, is one of the city's quiet pleasures. Keep an eye out for the cyclists, who always have priority in practice, and stay off the red-paved bike lanes when you stop for a photograph.

Making the most of it: walk the Canal Ring early in the morning for empty bridges and mirror-like water, or in the late afternoon, when the low sun lights the gables and the café terraces fill. In spring and summer, the canalside trees are in full leaf and the window boxes bloom; in winter, the bare branches reveal the facades and the evening Light Festival adds artworks over the water. Families will enjoy spotting cats on houseboats and counting bridges; couples should save the Reguliersgracht view and the Magere Brug for after dinner, when the lights are on. The walk pairs naturally with a canal cruise, the Anne Frank House at its western edge and the Jordaan just beyond the Prinsengracht.