Liberation Day 2025 & Anne Frank House

This doesn't answer your questions, but most important; are you aware that the tickets for May 2-4 go on sale on Tuesday @ 10am Amsterdam time. If not, be sure to familiarize yourself with the website now and know what time to set your alarm to secure your tickets. May 5-6 would fall within the time frame of purchasing the following Tuesday. I would try to get tickets for May 2-4 because if for some reason you aren't successful; you'll still have another chance. But, I like to hedge my bets.

Thanks KD - Yes, I'm aware of the ticketing (I've been testing at Amsterdam 10AM time the past three weeks - many lessons there). I agree in not waiting for Tuesday the 6th to open up. Monday works great for us, but only if the crowds don't make things too difficult.

Also, I was pretty sure that tickets opened up from Tuesday through Monday, but I may have missed something.

Could it be you’re thinking about Kingsday when you mention crowds and limited public transport? Liberation Day doesn’t really have that much impact. If you didn’t know it, you probably wouldn’t notice anything. In Amsterdam the only big liberation day celebration takes place in the evening; the freedom concert held on a floating podium on the Amstel and attended by our King and Queen.
Be aware that May 4 is Remembrance Day. The official ceremony for the nationwide 2 minutes of silence is held at Dam Square at 8 pm. During the 2 minutes of silence, live stands still throughout the entire country. Public transport halts etc etc

The Anne Frank house releases tickets each Tuesday for the entire week Monday thru Sunday 6 weeks later. Well technically 5 weeks and 6 days later.

Haarlem has one of the largest free liberation festival in the Netherlands so worthwhile to visit it (just south of the city center in the Haarlemmerhout). There will be a free classical concert there the 2 minutes of silence from 20:30 onwards on May 4.

The festival location is just around the corner where resistance fighters were executed in retaliation in 1945. This is also where the main remembrance in Haarlem will take place at 20:00. The national remembrance is on the Dam in Amsterdam but each city, town and village will have their own one.

You may also want add the new National Holocaust Museum in Amsterdam to your list: https://jck.nl/en/location/national-holocaust-museum.

West of Haarlem in the dunes of Overveen, where over 400 resistance fighters were executed and buried, is one of the few fields of honours in the Netherlands: https://www.eerebegraafplaatsbloemendaal.eu. It is a short cycle ride from the city centre and on the way to the beach.

After 30 minutes of trying to get through to the ticketing for the Anne Frank house at 2am this morning, I finally secured tickets. Most were gone for the week (six weeks from now) in that 30 minute time frame. Crazy.

I had difficulties too: I started at 5:02AM EST and got a Queue-it message that there were about 100 people in front of me. About a minute later, my turn came up and I selected my two tickets (50 showed as available for 5PM May 3). However, when I hit the next step I got a "Please Wait" message, which lasted several minutes. When it disappeared and I tried to proceed, I got the wait message again. This continued for about 15 minutes and I gave up and exited, deleted my browsing history, and restarted my computer. When I got back in the line was much longer (might have been upper 800s). After about 10 minutes I got into the sight and was able to select and purchase my tickets for May 3 without any technical issues. However, I snagged the 15:00 timeframe not the desired 17:00 slot (I was bleary eyed and a little rattled). Further, I found the checkout a little confusing, so note to future users: the donation is a two step process - select an amount and then check a check box to accept it; agree to terms by checking the somewhat discreet check box; and select the method of payment. And don't be intimidated by the bright red message that shows the time to finish ticking down.

I had performed the ticket process the last three Tuesdays in early hours and never got the Queue-it messages, so that was a surprise. I am happy to get the tickets on the day we wanted. And MANY THANKS to those responding to my questions as well as those of others in this forum.

Sorry for rambling. and Happy Travels to all.

Since you are in Haarlem, you can (and should) add the Corrie Ten Boom house to your itinerary. Tickets are also likely to be tough to get, so don't wait too long.

Is your worry about Amsterdam being crowded (it is usually quite busy in general) or that Haarlem will be crowded? I think if you have a timed entry ticket for the Anne Frank House, crowds will be a non-issue. Both Amsterdam and Haarlem are also very walkable, and they have the additional benefit of being great for cycling, so you can be less reliant on public or private transportation in many situations.

Thanks for the recommendation - we are interested in the Corrie Ten Boom house, but it's been booked for over a month when I first checked. I'll continue to check and see if any slots open up.

JELD, glad you got your tickets to Anne Frank House. We also had tickets for Corrie Ten Boom house in Haarlem, having secured tickets at least six months out. They give very limited tours and tour size is small, which is why tickets are difficult to come by. I don't think watching the website will help, but we had a woman wait in the line with us. She didn't have a ticket; and was hoping there would be a no show. She managed to get in. If there's more than 2 of you, it's unlikely as the tour size is very small; but if you are in Haarlem and really interested in the tour, that might be your best option.

KD, appreciate the Corrie Ten Boom Tip, we'll see if can fit into our ever-expanding dance card. Also, thanks to all others for the many thoughts and recommendations - what a great community!