People rate Amsterdam’s nightlife as the best in Europe. Many have named this great city as the party capital of Europe. This city is great for everyone! Stag dos, hen parties or a group of friends who want to party.
The popular nightlife areas in Amsterdam are called Rembrandtplein and Leidseplein. These places have loads of bars, Irish pubs, restaurants, lounges, coffee shops and nightclubs.
Most places will close in the very early hours of the morning. To be close to the nightlife, we would recommend booking a hotel in the city centre. The price of a hotel in Amsterdam is a little more expensive than other cities, but it’s well worth it.
With a capital city like Amsterdam you can go all year round to have a great time. There are however some fantastic events to go to throughout the year. There are quite a few music events/festivals in Amsterdam, so we have picked the very best events/festivals to go to:
Kings Day – this event happens every year on 27th April and it sure is a fun day. As the name suggest, the day is to celebrate the King’s birthday. This day is celebrated all over Holland but the place to be is Amsterdam as there are over one million people having fun in this great city. During the day it is a carnival atmosphere with many things to see and do.
There are street parties, boat parades on the canals, festivals and much more. These places will be like looking at an orange sea of people, so if you’re going to Amsterdam on King’s Day, make sure you wear something orange as everyone else will. It’s not compulsory to wear orange but it gets you into the spirit!
The night before King’s Day provides a great nightlife as bars and nightclubs have special parties and concerts. The night of King’s Day is also incredible.
Amsterdam Dance Event – the yearly Amsterdam Dance Event (12 – 16 October 2016) has over 1,500 DJ’s playing in over 200 gigs around this fantastic city. There are 200,000 people partying in 80 venues and it is unbelievable. If you’re into electronic music then this event is well worth going to. The DJs at the Amsterdam Dance Event are the very best. Armin Van Buuren and David Guetta have both played at this event.
The nightlife in the Red Light District is very good. There are a wide range of pubs and bars to go into and with the bright red lights, it creates a great atmosphere. Other than girls in the windows and the bars, there are also peep shows, sex theatres and sex shops for you to enjoy.
If you are on a stag do or a lads weekend you may want to visit Banana Bar! We would recommend seeing the Red Light District in the day (less busy) as well as at night (great atmosphere).
Here are a few things about the Red Light District and prostitution in Amsterdam:
- Prostitution has been legal since 2000
- There are over 6,000 prostitutes in Amsterdam
- Over 400 window brothels
- The Red Light District is open at 08:00 until 06:00
Nightclubs and Bars
Amsterdam have a lot of nightclubs and we mean a lot! The nightclubs below are the great nightclubs and party places to go. One of the great clubs in Amsterdam is Escape. This is located on Rembrandtplein and is one of the most popular and largest nightclubs in Amsterdam.
Other clubs which offer a fantastic nightlife are Studio 80, Club Air, Club Up, Paradiso, Club Closure (underground club) and Bitterzoet.
If you are after live music then try Sugarfactory and Melkweg. These are fantastic places for live music. Melkweg has had some great acts and is a very popular music venue. The Sugar Factory is recommended to go into as this place is very busy every day of the week.
The recommend bars to go to for a great night are Disco Dolly, Vesper bar and Jimmy Woo. When you’re in Amsterdam you will find many great pubs and bars. For incredible views of the city, have a drink at the SkyLounge at DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel.
Things to Do
Like any city there are coffee shops but in Amsterdam there a bit different. Theses coffee shops are all over the city. It won’t be hard to find one as there are over 150 coffeeshops. In these shops you can legally buy and smoke marijuana. If you’re planning to visit a coffeeshop we would recommend you to visit Damkring (was in Ocean’s 12), Barney’s, Grey Area and Green House Centrum.
Here’s a few things you need to know about coffee shops and drugs in Amsterdam:
- Coffee shops only sell soft drugs (hash, marijuana etc) and are not allowed to sell hard drugs
- Hard drugs are illegal to buy and take in Amsterdam
- Tourists are allowed to go inside coffee shops
- It is illegal to buy marijuana in the streets
- You are allowed to smoke marijuana in the streets
Other than going into coffee shops there are a wide range of activities to do in this great city. Here are a few things that you could do: go on a canal boat, go karting, Heineken beer brewery tour, paintballing, quad biking, hire a bike, hire a beer bike, indoor snowboarding and more. You can also visit the Van Gogh Museum, Anne Frank House and Dam Square to name a few.
Useful Information
Airport name: Amsterdam Airport Schiphol
Transfer time to Amsterdam: 30 minutes