The defining way to experience the Weerribben is by canoe. The park's network of narrow water channels — cut originally during centuries of peat extraction — threads through beds of common reed, sedge, and rush, with occasional glimpses of open water and the distant tower of a drainage mill. Paddling here is quiet and immersive in a way that walking cannot replicate.
Several operators near Ossenzijl and Kalenberg rent canoes and kayaks by the hour or day. No experience is required — the channels are sheltered and the current is negligible — but navigation requires attention as many of the narrow channels dead-end into reed beds. Maps are provided with the hire, and the routes are well enough marked to prevent serious disorientation.
The best paddling seasons are spring (when the reed is fresh green and marsh birds are nesting) and early autumn (when the herons and bitterns are visible in the shorter vegetation). In July and August the park can feel crowded on weekends; early morning paddling avoids most of the boat traffic.