Amsterdam, Netherlands — Events
New Year's Eve in Amsterdam
On New Year’s Eve locals and tourists pack into the streets and squares of central Amsterdam to celebrate before heading to one of the city’s many bars and clubs. Dam Square and the Leidseplein become the center of most of the revelry and as midnight approaches the sky is lit up with fireworks. The atmosphere in the bars is festive and friendly, though a little seedy around the red light district. Many nightclubs offer New Year specials with top DJs and performances. For more information contact the Amsterdam Tourist Office on +31 (0)20 551 2525 or email info@amsterdamtourist.nl
Holland Flowers Festival
A huge plant and flower show, the Holland Flowers Festival is an annual riot of color and fragrance with a vast array of tulips, irises, daffodils and other blooms covering the halls. An accompanying fair showcases hundreds of house and garden products.
Keukenhof
The world’s largest garden (32-hectares) bursts with color during this eight week spring season. This showcase of flowers (particularly the elegant tulips and daffodils) attracts some 800,000 visitors to its flowery ramparts and is divided into theme gardens, sculpture routes and a children’s exhibition known as Clever Clogs
Queen's Day
The Queen Mother’s birthday is a very festive occasion in the Netherlands, and Amsterdam goes all out to celebrate staging a street party which starts the night before and keeps going well into the early hours of the next day. Traditionally people attending wear orange (the Royal family is the House of Orange), and ensure they have a beer in hand. The party also resembles a giant jumble sale, with street trade unregulated for the day allowing people to display all their unused and unwanted goods on the street in the hope of selling it to passers-by.
Holland Festival
The Holland Festival is a yearly trend-setting and innovative presentation of the dramatic arts, the highlight of the cultural season in the Netherlands. During the month of June each year about 30 productions take to the boards across the full spectrum of the arts, music, opera, theater and dance. The program includes everything from pop music to topical high drama. A street café on Leidseplein serves as the festival center where bookings can be made.
Amsterdam Roots Festival
Now a major event on the global music calendar, Amsterdam’s Roots Festival started in 1983 as a celebration of African music. Today the annual program draws top artists from everywhere around the world, and hordes of concertgoers who come to enjoy their talents. The festival opens each year with a massive free open-air concert in the Oosterpark, performances spanning six stages. During the rest of the festival week about 60 concerts are held at different venues around the city. The Roots Festival is part of the Holland Festival.
Amsterdam Pride
One of Europe’s most popular and well-attended ‘gay pride’ festivals, Amsterdam’s Pride takes place annually in early August. The highlight is the Canal Parade on the Saturday in which about 75 decorated craft carry revelers along the Prinsengracht, Amstel and Stopera canals to the delight of about 25,000 spectators. The festival includes a full program of street parties at different venues during the week, sporting events, an open-air film festival on the Nieumarkt and numerous theatrical and cultural events
De Parade
De Parade is a traveling theater festival that visits Rotterdam, The Hague, and Utrecht for about 6 weeks in total before culminating with 17 days of performances as one of the highlights of the August in Amsterdam festival. Audiences can enjoy a variety of theater dance, magic, art and animation. Families are most welcome and there are children’s shows throughout the afternoon.
Dance Valley Festival
There is no denying the popularity of this hugely important festival on the dance calendar. The top names in the international electronic music scene enthral the 60,000 odd fans for whom this has certainly become one of the annual highlights of the contemporary dance scene.
Canal Festival
The Grachtenfestival (Canal Festival) is nine days of classical music appreciation along the canals of the capital city and a few indoor areas. A number of concerts are performed culminating in the Prinsengracht concert, which takes place on a floating stage.
