Koningsdag is one of the most important holidays in the Netherlands. On April 27 Holland is dressed in orange to celebrate the birth of King Willem-Alexander.
This tradition started on August 31 with the birthday of Princess Guillermina, but once she became the Queen this holiday changed from "Princess' Day" to "Queen’s Day". After that, Juliana, Guillermina’s daughter celebrated Queen’s Day on April 30 with a parade in Soestdijk Palace. Queen Beatriz continued celebrating this holiday on April 30, even though that her birthday is in January; and finally, the King Willem-Alexander continued this tradition on his birthday April 27.
And now that we know a little more about this tradition we can start with the most important part. What is the best plan for King’s day??
If you have the opportunity to visit the Netherlands on this special day, it’s great, but if it's not part of your plan, well it must too!! And you can choose between two good options.
The first kind of celebration is more traditional, you can go to the small towns and visit the flea market, because King’s day is the only day when you are allowed to have a “garage sale” in pretty much every place in the country, so you will find a lot of products, from food and beverages to antiques and clothes.
You know what they say, one man's trash is another's treasure.
Normally small towns celebrate king’s day in a more traditional way, the schools have different presentations, activities, and concerts, so it’s a good way to enjoy the day. But if it’s your first King’s day and you don’t know when are you going to come back to Holland, I definitely recommend to go to one of the main cities and live the experience of a major party.
Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague are the top cities to enjoy this day in the way it should. But Tip #1, the party actually starts on April 26, the King’s Night, and go all night long until April 28, so you will find a lot of events, concerts, DJ, and of course, parties all over the city.
Some people actually think that the best parties are in the King’s Night, so keep that in mind and check the events in the city, most of them are outdoors, you will find one pretty much in every corner
One the “must do” on king’s day, considerate that you are in a country full of canals, it's have a boat party, it's even better if you do it in Amsterdam because you know, it's Amsterdam! But remember that for the same reason, it’s one of the most visited cities during king’s day, so if you enjoy having some personal space, do not choose this city, and if you decide to go, prepare to celebrate (walk, dance and breathe) with a huge crowd.
Tip #2, the canals of the major cities, in this case, Amsterdam, are not prepared for this huge amount of people and boats, so keep in mind that you will find a lot of traffic (each boat and each corner with a different type of music), but at the end of the day this is also part of the celebration.
Taking that into account, we decided to buy tickets for the Supperclub Cruise, that cost around €23 because we bought the Early birds tickets; Tip #3, most of the companies that offer travels or events have this “Early birds tickets” and it’s a great way to get good discounts to special events, so if you are interested in some specific activity, check the website of the company and subscribe to receive the notification on time. Those tickets are limited.
...So this supposed to be a 5 hours party with 3 levels of different music. It was good but no the best, and one of the reasons is Tip #4, the most of the DJ’s presentations and some activities are free; You can find a lot of events in different places around the city, so you just have to walk and see what kind of music do you prefer. That’s why the boat party was a little disappointed because from 3 levels of different music only one was good, and you can see that because most of the people were on the same level. So you had the feeling that you pay a lot of money for bad music when you have better DJ’s in the street and free.
Also, we paid for 5 hours (12:00 - 17:00) but actually the party started around 13:30 and finished around 16:00 - 16:30; the boat wasn’t in perfect condition and the toilets were such a mess; and as a views fan, this part was a little disappointed too, due to it was a huge boat, they can only go outside the city, so are “great view” was the factories around Amsterdam. But even though, it’s up to you to fully enjoy the time and the place where you're, so we really had a great day.
After the boat party, we walked around in Amsterdam which completed our day. We had great music, the streets were full of people drinking, so Tip #5, if you want to drink a lot is better to buy the alcohol the day before, since on King’s day, some of the stores don’t sell alcohol or they don’t have enough, but as I said, you will also find a lot of “flea markets” where you can buy different kinds of beverages, especially beer.
And last but not least, in case it wasn’t obvious, Tip #6, use something orange!! It’s part of the tradition and you have to enjoy this to the fullest. You will find a lot of stores and really cheap things to be part of this celebration, so please do not forget that important detail, you can use anything as long as it's orange. The only thing left it's enjoying your day! You can see everyone having a lot of fun, people are really nice, and this is something that you have to do at least once in your life; It’s like the Oktoberfest!!, Which hopefully I would go and I will tell you how it goes.
Hope you enjoy your next King's day!! But tell me what other traditional party like this do you like? What do you recommend to make this kind of celebration unforgettable? Share your experience with #postcardjourneyblog #traditionalparty #kingsday #netherlands #nextstopoktoberfest
More videos in my Instagram https://www.instagram.com/aleparra.24/