is it worth it to pay for the canal hop on/hop off if you have the bus hop on/hop off in amsterdam?
do you want to see the town from the viewpoint of the canals and the river or do you want to see streets with traffic and buses?
Seeing things from the canals and the harbor is a totally different experience than seeing them from the street, and the boats go places a wheeled vehicle simply cannot go. We went on all the canals except one and thoroughly enjoyed every minute. We were on a Canal bus with hop on, hop off options, not a branded Hop On Hop Off canal bus.
For ground transportation we used our feet and the buses and streetcars.