Negen Straatjes: across the canal ring
One clean line across Singel, Herengracht, Keizersgracht and Prinsengracht through the Nine Streets. Walked and written by the editor.

1. Singel
Start on the *Singel*, the innermost ring and once the city's moat. Cross west here and you begin cutting across four centuries of canal at right angles — the whole walk in one geometric idea.

2. Wijde Heisteeg
The first of the *negen straatjes* — nine short shopping lanes threaded between the big canals. Narrow, low, full of small specialist shops. Don't shop; just register the change of scale from canal to street.

3. Huidenstraat
Across the *Herengracht* and on, the 'tanners' street', where leather was once worked. Now booksellers and cheesemongers. Look back along the canal each time you cross one — the view resets at every bridge.

4. Felix Meritis
On the *Keizersgracht*, the great Neoclassical facade of an 18th-century enlightenment society — five columns, built to house science, art and music under one roof. Stand across the water to take in the whole front.

5. Runstraat
The last of the three streets on this line, leading you to the *Prinsengracht*, the outermost of the main canals. You've now crossed all four rings. Turn north along the water.

6. Prinsengracht at the Westertoren
Follow the Prinsengracht up until the *Westertoren* fills the view ahead. This is the canal-ring postcard, earned on foot rather than from a bridge railing. The tram is at the Westermarkt.

Negen Straatjes: across the canal ring