Avoiding the King's Day crazy

Going to Bruges for the day is not realistic as it’s a 4-hour train ride ( 8 hours roundtrip) from Haarlem. I would just embrace King’s Day and enjoy watching it
unfold in person- obviously Amsterdam may not be the place for you- but it is just one day and you might find some shopping bargains on the tax-free day the Dutch
hold their version of a huge garage sales in street markets.

It's celebrated throughout all of Holland; not just Amsterdam. So there is going to be a party atmosphere in the middle of all population centers, so Burges will be be the better option.
Be aware that the night before King's day is when most of the alcohol consumption occurs. On the actual day, it will be crowded in Amsterdam but a more friendly neighborhood family street party vibe.

Having been twice I wouldn't go to Keukenof on Kings Day. Moreover, the best time to arrive Keukenof is around 3pm when all the tour group buses leave. I recommend getting up early and catching a train to Antwerp.

Kingsday is our national holiday and it’s celebrated throughout the Netherlands, not just in Holland.
Since April 27, 2023 is a Thursday most people will take Friday off too, thus creating a long weekend. Hotels, museums, restaurants etc will be busy. So even though the area in Amsterdam where the museums are, isn’t party central on Kingsday, you should still book time slots for museums well in advance. And by well in advance I mean weeks or months, rather than days, especially for popular sights like the Van Gogh museum, Anne Frank House and the special Vermeer exhibit in the Rijksmuseum. The Rijksmuseum may have been quiet 10 years ago during Queensday, The Vermeer exhibit will make sure it won’t be quiet in 2023.

We spent the last week of April in Haarlem this year, which included King’s Day. We spent that day walking around Haarlem in the morning to see some of the festivities, then we took the bus to Keukenhof. I have no other day to compare it to, but while it was busy I didn’t feel like it was overly crowded. We returned to Haarlem and enjoyed walking from party to party to observe from the sidelines. The biggest and best was just a block away from the house where we were staying. People were having a lot of fun. They had also gathered there the night before.

We had an experience similar to Andrea's on King's Day 2018, landing at AMS that afternoon and taking a bus to Haarlem, where the party was in full swing but enjoyable to watch. Our hotel was on a square and our room was on the ground floor, so we were concerned about nighttime noise. Don't worry, the desk clerk said, it will all stop at 9:00. He was off by about ten minutes, then the streets quieted down. I'm sure there was revelry in the bars but it was inside and not a problem for us.

The Grote Markt square (not where our hotel was) was full of carnival rides, and the ride equipment (infrastructure?) remained in place for several days afterward. This made for some interesting juxtapositions in my photos of the big church next to the ferris wheel. All I can suggest is to roll with it and plan activities away from bars and big squares.

When I was there large party scenes developed in some areas two - three nights before. The day before it was obviously getting crowded noisy busy.
My departure was the actual day and it was nuts.

If you’re not a large crowd party person I suggest you go to a smaller locale to enjoy the festivities without too much craziness especially the night time.

It is nice if you wear something Orange colored that day to blend in and support the Holiday.

We were there this year---I'm not a fan of huge crowds/heavy drinking, and I would have planned a day away, but we were meeting a friend who arrived that morning to travel a few days with us and he wanted to stay in Amsterdam and see. None of us are big drinkers. I would say the crowd was not as bad as what I thought it might be---it is more family friendly on the day itself. We easily navigated through the city away from big squares but watched a lot of the boats on the canals and that was fun.

I would probably go ahead to Keukenhof, but spend a little time watching boats on the canals and just people watching. It's not as bad as you may fear and we are in our 60s!

Thanks for this post! I just posted a similar question about how far out the "crazy" goes. I'm not a crowds fan, but will find myself in the area this April on or around Kings Day. My intent on this trip is to spend more time outside of Amsterdam so I was wondering how rambunctious the celebrations are in Delft, Leiden, or elsewhere. Also, noting that Kings Day falls on a Thursday the long weekend is likely to be busy, correct?

@Christine; please see my reply in your own topic.

We were in the north province of the Netherlands for King's Day in 2019. We planned to do our traveling the day before, as the trains can be very crowded that day. We had a lovely time! We enjoyed walking through the neighbourhood-wide garage sales by the canal, and seeing carnival games. Busy but family-oriented during the day. Do wear something orange, and learn how to say "Happy King's Day"!