Travel Network

Koningsdag Amsterdam 2015

King’s Day “Koningsdag” is the biggest Dutch national holiday and was celebrated on Monday the 27th April 2015.  The custom is to show pride for the Dutch Royal family the House of Orange-Nassau and many people celebrate the occasion by dressing in as much orange “oranje” as they can.

This year was the second King’s Day after the inaugural Koningsdag in 2014. Prior to 2014 the national holiday was call Queen’s Day.  The tradition has been running since 1885 to honour the birth of Queen Wilhelmina and shows no sign of slowing down based on the 2015 events.

There are lots of other events happening throughout the day such as the vrijmarkt which is basically giant citywide street market.  The city of Amsterdam turns into one of the world’s largest flea markets for the day, which everyone tries to sell their second-hand items where ever they can find space including sidewalks, parks, bridges and even on boats.

Koningsdag Amsterdam 2015

It’s not uncommon for many folks to start the tradition early on King’s Night the evening before King’s Day with many events and parties throughout the country.  On King’s Day you can easily spot the people who peaked a little too early nursing a bottle of water and looking a little pale from too much partying the night before.

Because of the day spent drinking in the sun it’s also not uncommon for folks who party hard during King’s Day to have a two day hangover. The city also turns into a massive open air party with DJs, Bands, Performances and everyone in a really great mood to have a wonderful day celebrating their King.

Koningsdag Amsterdam 2015

Last year I missed King’s Day as I was in Brighton so this year to celebrate King’s Day I decided I wanted to really experience the best of it.  Dan and the crew at Party With A Local had organised a boat trip for 35 males and 35 females, so I thought why not so I bought a ticket to join the chaos that would be 6 hours on a boat cruising the Amsterdam canals.

Koningsdag Amsterdam 2015

The day started off with blue skies and I knew I was in for a really great day out in Amsterdam, it was still a bit cool in the morning so I grabbed a coat and headed off to Amstel station to catch the metro into town. To ensure I had a decent lining in my stomach I grabbed a Julia’s carbonara tortellini carne pasta from Amstel station which I ate on the way to Waterlooplein.

The Part With A Local boat departed from Schippersgracht but I had to be there by 12:30pm for a 13:00pm departure. They had 3 DJ’s organised for entertainment for the day and their team ensured plenty of cold beers on ice and platters of food to ensure we didn’t go hungry during the 6 hour cruise.

Koningsdag Amsterdam 2015

You can see from the photos in the article the weather during the day was amazing and there was many a cold beer drunk in order to keep cool while out in the sun.

The boat was packed with a mixture of Dutch folks, travellers and expats which made for a mixed crowd and some great conversations throughout the day.

The day out with the Party With A Local boat was brilliant and the evening continued after the boat docked back at Schippersgracht, Amsterdam with a walk through the city mixing with all the folks enjoying King’s Day.  Everything finishes by 8pm and the crowds start to disperse so we ended up finishing with a cold beer and dinner at Molly Malone’s Irish Pub.

It was really a brilliant King’s Day and I can strongly recommend you plan on attending in April 2016 as it’s one of the best parties in Europe!

King’s Day Amsterdam Video by Rebecca Sloan