Our flight arrives on April 27 and we would like to stay 5 days. So far 5 hotels booked. We see a holiday on the 27th but will the whole week be really busy? There seem to be a huge number of hotels so I’m sure we could find something but will the city be a mad house?
We have the ability to flip our whole months itinerary and end in Amsterdam the last week of May if we would regret this last week of April. Please advise.
It does not matter when you go Amsterdam is busy all year round (except maybe the 2nd week in January) .You will pay a premium to stay in the center of town
April 27th is the King's Birthday holiday - one of the major blowouts in Amsterdam. There will be massive crowds in the streets and along the canals doing their best to paint the town orange. It's one gigantic street party.
If you have the option it might be a good idea to reschedule your proposed stay in the city.
Thanks, we are thinking about staying in Haarlem instead.
hey hey andrea
are you planning to stay one night in each hotel changing rooms daily? that sounds crazy to me. been to amsterdam twice and loved it. it is a busy city between people and bikes bikes bikes!! first week we stayed in an apartment on prinsengracht near amstel river, second visit was on a houseboat in the jordaan area near north church. we enjoyed both places, near public transportation. the apt had front door, 6 steps down to kitchen, that looked onto canal. all kind of private boats or tour canal boats went right by us, ducks coming near shore for their piece of bread, few steps to bridge and tram to see the beauty of it all.
any interests in an apartment or houseboat? book early, check cancellation policies, read reviews and look at pictures carefully, any mobility issues (lots of stairs/steps to climb with luggage), shared bathroom or kitchen. lots to think about.
what time do you arrive on april 27th? there will be street closures, very crowded, you may be pulling luggage through crowds and cobblestones, look at a map for of strret open and easy to get to. everyone has opinions good bad and ugly, i would love to see this kind of celebration, been to a few celebrations/festivals in europe and really enjoyed what their culture offered. have patience, eat street food, have a local drink, take pictures, once in a lifetime, we laugh till this day about fun we had at them. dutchamsterdam.nl, amsterdam.info/kingsday
i don't think it matters which month you go, end of may will be crowded with people wanted to travel before summer begins. if interested i'll send you more info about people, places, and things to do.
aloha
"we are thinking about staying in Haarlem instead."
Probably a wise choice if you want to avoid the crowds.
On the other hand, the day is actually a lot of fun if you aren't averse to wading into the middle of it and getting into the spirit of things - reminded us of 4th of July celebrations here in the US. There's a parade of boats along one of the canals that's quite an experience and there are neighborhood events all around the city that are generally pretty family-friendly during the day. Can get a little more rowdy after sunset but if you stayed somewhere on the outskirts of the city (the airport maybe, with trains into Centraal Station every 15 minutes) you could enjoy the festivities for a few hours and then retreat to the relative quiet of your hotel.
Thanks for the input. Decided to book 5 nights in Haarlem and base from here. Not into crowds and noise.
Andrea, we arrived at AMS on King's Day 2018 and took the bus straight to Haarlem, where we found lots of orange-wearing people partying in the streets, carnival rides set up in the main square, etc. We were worried about street noise since our room (at the Lion d'Or, recommended) was on the ground floor near the corner. The desk clerk said don't worry, it will all quiet down at 10:00. And sure enough, it did.
It was fun to see this big celebration. Wherever you are that day, in the Netherlands, you'll encounter it. The scale will depend on what city or town you're in at the time. Next year King's Day is on a Sunday, so maybe Saturday will be high-powered too, but the following week should be routine. One downside for us was that King's Day was a Friday and the carnival stuff wasn't taken out of the main square till Monday, though it wasn't in use on the weekend. That complicated my efforts to obtain the perfect artistic-historical photos of the church and other old buildings. But I have some pretty fun shots of historic buildings with carnival rides in front of them. ;-)
Haarlem is a great place to stay. You should have success in getting reservations.
We stayed in Zandaam, about 15 minutes from Centraal Station in Amsterdam and rented a house through VRBO. It worked out well and the price was competitive with hotels in Amsterdam.
Good luck finding reservations and enjoy your trip!
