Giethoorn Village – The Venice of the Netherlands

Published by djmick on July 28th, 2009

Giethoorn Venice of the Netherlands

Giethoorn is the Dutch village with no roads and is nicknamed “Venice of the Netherlands” because of it’s network of waterways.

The village became a tourist attraction in the 60’s after Bert Haanstra, a great Dutch film-maker, shot his movie “Fanfare” on location there.

Soon afterwards visitors started calling it “Venice of the Netherlands”. The bridges, waterways and “punters” (typical Giethoorn boats) are unique and have become trademarks of the area.

The old part of Giethoorn still has no roads although it now has a cycle path, and the locals still use “punters” as transportation around the village.