Currently booked for 3 nights in April. We fly out the 28th. I booked us at the Anatara on Dam Square. I have been looking at pictures of Dam Square on King's Day and it's a bewildering crowd of people. I'm thinking of moving to the Hotel Jakarta. It's less central but also quieter...I think.
Any Amsterdam experts have a thought?
:)
A bewildering crowd of people on Dam Square during Kingsday? My guess is that you found photos of Kingsday 2013 (or actually Queensday) when Queen Beatrix abdicated and King Willem-Alexander was sworn in. The festivities of that day took place on Dan Square as the Royal Palace is where the Queen abdicated and the Nieuwe Kerk is where the new King was sworn in. So that year, there were huge crowds of people on Dam Square to watch the proceedings and greet the new King.
In normal years, Dam Square isn’t really crowded on Kingsday. And in the morning of April 28, it’s like as if nothing ever happened.
Thank you so much! That’s exactly the info I needed! We’ll stay put where we are booked - it’s a great central location:)
Please don’t get me wrong, Amsterdam will be absolutely packed and crazy busy on Kingsday. It’s just that, unlike in 2013, the festivities don’t center around Dam Square. It will be more spread out into the entire historical city center.
Read here for more info about Kingsday; https://www.iamsterdam.com/en/whats-on/kings-day
Dam Square will actually be a bit quieter than usual. Most all the tram lines pass right next to it, on King’s Day they don’t operate so that’s a significant amount if noise pollution that won’t be happening on that day.
The Iamsterdam site is one that made me think we should move our hotel lol!
This isn’t even an Amsterdam trip for us - it’s a month-long trip around Germany. But, when I bought the airline tickets to come home, I just decided to give us 3 days in Amsterdam to see a few things I missed when I was last there 15 years ago. And I just failed to check the events calendar and only discovered the King’s Day event a couple of months ago.
Oh well…should be interesting!!!!
