Festivals in Amsterdam

People in Amsterdam love a good party, and whenever there’s a festival in town, the streets, parks, canals, and stadiums get packed with film lovers, music lovers, food lovers, arts lovers, and celebration seekers of all kinds looking for a reason to play.

The biggest festivals in Amsterdam are around major holidays, but there are different events all throughout the year. Without question, the most popular of all Amsterdam festivals is Queen’s Day. Every year on April 30th, hundreds of thousands of Amsterdam denizens dress up in bright orange clothes or costumes and celebrate the queen’s birthday by parading through the streets and on boats in the canals. It’s by far the largest party of the year. Other holidays like Christmas and New Year’s are also big for parades and city-wide celebrations.

For the arts, there are multiple film festivals like the Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival, the International Documentary Filmfestival of Amsterdam, and various smaller festivals throughout the year. The biggest arts festival, however, is the Holland Festival that features film, opera, dance, and theater. Music lovers can also rejoice with a variety of festivals like the Roots Festival for reggae, soul, and funk, Amsterdam Open Air for electronic, and Solstice for DJ lovers and trance fiends.

Food lovers looking for a festival of their own can participate in Taste of Amsterdam or Amsterdam Restaurant Week where twice a year, restaurants from around the country participate and show off their goods for a fraction of the price.

And finally, for those who are in Amsterdam for its notorious smoking culture, there’s the Amsterdam Cannabis Cup, which celebrates the best in marijuana from all over the world.