Giethoorn · Nightlife

Most hire operators run until dusk in summer. The canals after the last coach has gone are quiet enough to hear the reed move, which is the whole argument for staying over.

A short row of restaurants and cafes along the Binnenpad with tables out over the water. They fill at dinner and most stop serving early.

The village's hotels and pensions are where the evening happens, because there is nothing else. Quiet, cheap, and full of people who also worked out that staying was the point.

Almost no street lighting over the water and very little glow from anywhere else. On a clear night the canal reflects the sky, and that is the entertainment.

If you want bars, they are not here. Steenwijk has a handful, and Zwolle, forty minutes south, has a proper Friday night.