Explore Amsterdam’s winter magic: Top activities to enjoy
The hugely popular Dutch city is celebrating a very significant birthday this year, but go early if you want to beat the crowds.
Visiting Amsterdam in winter may seem counterintuitive, but the benefits far outweigh the extra packing required for a snug trip. Amid twinkling lights and cobbled streets, the perks of an off-season sojourn include opportunities to ice skate, leisurely hours in cosy cafes, and a dusting of snow that presents the canal houses in their full beauty. Thanks to the lack of travellers, and the fact temperatures rarely dip below zero, the need for planning is low; you can have a relaxed breakfast then cruise into a day of freewheeling around the Dutch capital.
This winter, or what remains of it, offers even more compelling reasons to visit. The city is celebrating its 750th anniversary in 2025 and some of the planned events – a neat 750 in total – kick off just before the onset of spring. This gives travellers time to experience “gezellig” before the hordes of tourists descend. The word means warm, cosy and comfortable; it’s the Dutch equivalent of the Danes’ “hygge”, and it’s currently in abundance.
Typically, touring the main sights of Amsterdam in summer requires high levels of organisation. The most popular – The Van Gogh Museum, the Rijksmuseum and Anne Frank House – book out weeks if not months in advance. Arriving just 15 minutes late for a scheduled time slot can mean you miss out. This is not to say the Dutch are inflexible; it is simply the only way to manage visitor numbers that have broken the 22 million-a-year barrier. For a city with a population of just over 920,000, that’s a lot to manage.
Visit next month, though, and queues should be negligible. Art is a central theme to Amsterdam’s revelries. The Netherlands’ creative scene is a heady mix of ancient masters through to bamboozling concepts that can leave viewers high or dry. This year promises to be memorable. February 7 marks the opening of Europe’s most comprehensive exhibition of American photography, with more than 200 images on display at the Rijksmuseum on Museumplein, Amsterdam’s largest square. Legendary names such as Diane Arbus, Richard Avedon, Nan Goldin and Robert Frank are among those featured. The show will create an interesting counterpoint to the Rijks’ usual fare, drawn from an 800-year-old collection that includes the Dutch masters from Rembrandt to Vermeer and Hals. Also at The Netherlands’ esteemed national museum is a revolving series of engravings, etchings, woodcuts, lithographs and photographs depicting Amsterdam from 1442 to today (until June 2).
Museumplein is also home to the city’s premier concert hall, Concertgebouw, which has a full music program in store. One highlight is on February 27, when the Concertgebouw Orchestra, conducted by Manfred Honeck, performs Richard Strauss’s Vier letzte Lieder (Four last Songs) with soprano Renee Fleming, plus some beloved pieces from Puccini’s Turandot. Museumplein has public gardens and a winter ice skating rink, a diamond museum and the MOCO, a Museum of Contemporary Art that displays works by Yayoi Kasuma, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol, and has a year-long Banksy offering.
Fans of Impressionism should detour to The Hague, a 50-minute train ride from Amsterdam’s splendidly Gothic central station. On February 15, New Paris: From Monet to Morisot opens at the Kunstmuseum. The exhibition has 65 paintings by artists including Renoir, Degas, Caillebotte, Manet and Monet.
Back in Amsterdam, things get spooky at Phantasmopolis, a night-time event featuring a series of ghostly photomontages and videos in the Art Deco City Archives building. Apparitions are brought to life using contemporary technology and the strange aesthetics of Victorian spirit photographs, paying homage to surrealists Man Ray and Dora Maar (until February 15). More contemporary art is at H’Art Museum’s Happy Birthday Amsterdam exhibition (until March 16), comprising 75 works by creatives who have lived, worked and resided here, including Marina Abramovic, Karel Appel and South African-born Dutch resident Marlene Dumas.
Meanwhile, in the Centrale Markthal, a team of ice sculptors has used more than 500 tonnes of ice and snow to recreate some of Amsterdam’s best-known landmarks, including Anne Frank House, Paleis van Volksvlijt and the “Skinny Bridge” that spans the Amstel River (until March 31).
As winter thaws and crowds gain momentum, Amsterdam will take the celebrations outdoors with sporting events and incredible floral displays. The true finale, though, is a party on October 27 that remains shrouded in mystery. It will be precisely 750 years since the Toll Privilege, a road toll document, designated the place a city way back in 1275. It’s an occasion certainly worth celebrating.
Dates to remember for Amsterdam 2025
February 1-28: Amsterdam’s Royal Palace opens its doors for a guided tour and a peek at the regal interiors.
February 8: Artist Naid Nuur will lock 100 vases inside the Iron Chapel, the historic vault in the city’s oldest building, Oude Kerk. One will be auctioned each year for the next century.
March 7-June 9: Van Gogh Museum stages a joint exhibition with the neighbouring Stedelijk Museum for German artist Anselm Kiefer, who has long been obsessed with the Dutchman. Kiefer has created a 24m-long frieze for the occasion.
April 1-4: Spring colours will burst forth from Damtrak in the city centre to Dam Square for the Tulip Festival.
May 9-17: A 10-day Mahler festival at the Concertgebouw, where the composer’s symphonies and songs will be performed by exceptional orchestras, including the Chicago Symphony.
June 21: A summer party and mass wedding will be held on Amsterdam’s Ring Road.
July 4-31: Queer Spaces explores the history, intimacy and community of the LGBTQI+ community. The retrospective includes World Press Photo images.
August 20-24: A fleet of ships will sail into the North Sea Canal in an event that ties SAIL Amsterdam’s 50th anniversary and the 750th with music performances and fireworks.
September 12-28: Kids and grown-ups alike will be wowed by dazzling circus performances through the De Pijp neighbourhood.
October 19: The 50th TCS Amsterdam Marathon will see runners start and finish the 42km route at the 1928 Olympic Stadium.
October 27: The city has kept details of the final party under wraps. Information will drop in the Euro summer.
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