Queens Day celebration in Amsterdam?

Melissa17 · January 2012

Can anyone tell me about this? How crazy is it in the city?

A trip happens to coincide with the holiday.

Thanks!

I will post on travel too.

Obsession · January 2012

It is crazy in a very good way. It will be a ton of fun. We lived in Amsterdam for three queen's days. The streets shut down and everyone is just wandering around drinking beer, hanging out, listening to music and having a great time.

Vondel Park is one big huge yard sale. Vendor food is set up everywhere and you can get just about any type of food imaginable. There are boats all over the canals and the city just has this amazing vibe.

Are you going to be there the day before Queen's Day? It is called Queen's night and it is one huge party where everyone goes out, drinks way too much and has a fantastic time.

If you are trying to travel on the actual day it will probably be pretty difficult to get around. Trams in most of the city center shut down and trains run but on a limited schedule.

It is an awesome day to be there though! Good planning

allibally · January 2012

You should enjoy it! Become a local for the day! We've celebrated many Swiss holidays and traditions when we lived there and it was a lot of fun!

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Can someone tell me if it's normal for teen - young adult dutchies to not know when Queen's Day is?

I met a Dutch girl at my enrollment day for University this month and she had no idea what the date was!?

Obsession · January 2012

That is weird. It is on the same day every year.

allibally · January 2012

Obsession:
That is weird. It is on the same day every year.

I know right? She was telling our group how awesome Queen's Day was and what it was about but when asked the date she had no clue!

NLfoodie · January 2012

That's really really weird! Most 5-year-olds can tell you the date for Queens Day!!

The only reason I sometimes confused it as a little kid is because my grandpa and the Queen had the same birthday and he kept telling us that, so sometimes I thought Queens Day was on my grandpa's birthday, but that stopped when I was 6 or 7. (She doesn't celebrate on her birthday, but on her mom's birthday.)

It's April 30th by the way.

And to OP/Obsession: I wonder what it'll be like this year. They're banning all the big parties (with admission prices or giant stages) from the city to give more room to the people just hanging out on the streets and the smaller cafes that have a little stage or whatnot. Personally I've always preferred the smaller stuff out on the street and in the Vondelpark over the big parties as that's what has the really cool vibe.

As obsession said, if you're in the city, enjoy it and have fun! If you have to travel on that day and don't have time for fun, then try to avoid (at least the city center) like the plague.