Queen’s Day a national celebration in Amsterdam
Queen’s Night and Queen’s Day are an all-night and all-day partyKoninginnedag, or Queen’s Day, falls on 30 April every year, and includes some of the largest celebrations in all of Amsterdam. It is a Netherlands-wide celebration of Queen Beatrix’s official birthday. Coinciding with April’s Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival, Queen’s Day is a two-day long party, Amsterdam style.
The festivities begin on Koninginnenacht, Queen’s Night. The clubs in Amsterdam have special activities planned, including live music. Young people move from one club to another as they work their way across town through the all-night party and celebrations.
The Vondelpark offers families and visitors to Amsterdam from Leeds-Bradford an opportunity to avoid some of the crush and madness associated with the street fairs, performers, concerts and other entertainment of Queen’s Day. With the free markets (or ‘flea markets’ as they are known), the enjoyment of alcohol and the crush of hundreds of thousands of visitors, families will do well to steer clear of the central city during the Queen’s Day celebrations.
Queen’s Day is a tradition across all the Netherlands, and will undoubtedly draw the usual hundreds of thousands again to the city-wide street fairs. Concerts are scheduled, and everyone will be wearing orange in honour of the royal family. Like wearing green on St. Patrick’s day in Ireland, the wearing of the orange on Queen’s Day is nearly a requirement for visitors to the city on this joyful, chaotic, noisy holiday. Locals even dye their hair orange in celebration of this fun holiday!
