Pushing the boat out on holiday

Want to experience a city like a local? Then forget larger hotels and stay in their homes, says David Monagan. Welcome to the world of the foreign rental.

IF YOU want to experience a great city as its residents live it, stay in their homes and forget hotels. That’s been our motto ever since my wife and I rented digs on Amsterdam’s Prinzengracht Canal in the form of a lavishly appointed and permanently moored houseboat.

From the deck of this 30-metre vessel with a sumptuously pre-stocked fridge, we admired an endless procession of odd craft puttering past in the carnival that is Dutch canal living.