Good day. We arrive in Amsterdam Friday afternoon 25 April 2025 and stay until Sunday morning 27 April before heading to Haarlem. We want to do a canal cruise. Should we do it:
1. Friday evening
2. On King’s day and which time?
3. The Sunday morning before we depart.
We are late fifties but fit and avid backpacker travelers. We want to experience the energy of the day that’s all.
Your help will be appreciated.
Normally, Kingsday is on April 27. Except in the years when April 27 is a Sunday. In that case, Kingsday is celebrated on the Saturday before; April 26. This means that in 2025, Kingsday is celebrated on Saturday April 26.
The whole city and the canals are extremely busy on Kingsday, so I wouldn’t do a canal cruise on that day.
The museums,like the Van Gogh and the Rijksmuseum, tend to be more quiet on Kingsday. If you want to visit one of these museums, I would do so on the morning of Kingsday. That will still give you plenty of time to join in the celebrations. Make sure to wear something orange!!
We arrived in Delft on King's Day this year. Such a fun celebration in a much smaller city. By the next morning everything was cleaned up and no worse for wear. We arrived the next day in Amsterdam, and it was definitely showing the after effects of a massive celebration.
I would definitely do the canal cruise on Friday evening. Saturday would seem impossible, and Sunday seems like it would not be ideal. No matter what you do on King's Day in the Netherlands, you'll experience the energy because it's everywhere.
