Giethoorn Bootje Huren Reviews 27

Very bad experience!
Booked a 5-person boat through this website when we were in Giethoorn. We were surprised that the boat pickup location wasn't as shown on the website. It's impossible to reach it unless you drive. The person we met was so rude and unprofessional, and just told us we booked through a different company, even though the website showed his address! We were lucky they sent someone to pick us up.
It was a slow boat that took 2 hours to reach the main area of the village, then another 1 hour to get back to the pickup location. After this, we had no energy to explore the village, as it was very far away. This experience ruined our day, we just spent our day on the boat, which was not our main intention.
We suggest just spending your time here walking, then you'll get the most out of the experience.

Very bad experience: we were given a small, old rowboat with no life jackets. It didn't match the photos shown when we booked, and we still needed basic boating skills to operate the motor because the boat didn't have a steering wheel like the one in the photo. I couldn’t maneuver it, so I returned the boat right away. They didn’t offer me a refund. They were really unfriendly and unprofessional. A 4-hour drive in total for nothing....

The rudest and most unprofessional service in all of Giethoorn. Avoid at all costs.

I booked a boat online through their website while already in Giethoorn at 5:30 PM, with the pickup time listed as 6:00 PM. However, after booking, I discovered that the pickup location in the confirmation email was completely different from the address on their website (the main location). The actual pickup spot was 45 minutes away by foot or public transport—something that was not mentioned during booking.

I was already at their main location and immediately informed the manager that it was impossible to reach the other location by 6:00 PM. I simply requested a refund or cancellation, which seemed like a reasonable request given the misleading information and asking for a refund 10 minutes after making the booking.

That’s when things took a turn for the worse.

The manager asked me to wait while he “figured something out.” After 20 minutes of waiting, he came back only to offer me two bad options: pay even more for a boat there or somehow make it to the far location, which was impossible with time constraints.

I explained again that neither option worked and asked for a refund. Instead of handling the situation professionally, the manager rudely walked away and left me to deal with his two children—around 13 years old—who proceeded to mock me, laugh, and say insulting words in Dutch. When I mentioned calling the police, they laughed even harder and said, “The police are our friends; they won’t do anything.”

At that point, I felt completely scammed and helpless. After a long dispute, they finally gave me a ride to the other location. By then, it was 7:00 PM, we only had the boat for 15 minutes, missed the last bus, and the whole day was ruined.

Do yourself a favor—book with any other company in Giethoorn. These people should not be in business.

the guy was super friendly and since there were not many other people (due to weather) he said we can just take a bigger boat and for a longer time.

This is a scam, don't waste your money and time, never rent a boat from this website. You might find no one when you arrive at the destination. If you find someone probably he/she will be late. The staff is very rude and not professional.