Easter in Amsterdam is not a family celebration with Easter eggs in the park but a long weekend of festival crowds, packed terraces and a handful of cultural moments that the year doesn't often offer. DGTL takes over the NDSM wharf, Klaus Mäkelä fronts the Concertgebouw Orchestra and Amsterdam Cocktail Week runs through April 5. No need to leave the city.
DGTL Amsterdam 2026 - techno and house at the NDSM Wharf, North - April 3 to 5
DGTL is the perennial anchor of Amsterdam's Easter weekend. For three days, the festival takes over the NDSM wharf in North, with an industrial setting that lends itself better to a night of house and techno than almost any other venue in the city. The 2026 edition features Armand van Helden and DJ HEARTSTRING in the lineup, in addition to a lineup of emerging international talent. Tickets go fast every year. Those who don't have a ticket yet: check the resale via the official DGTL site. - NDSM Wharf, North
St. Matthew Passion, Concertgebouw Orchestra - The Concertgebouw, South - April 5
Once every few years, the Concertgebouw Orchestra itself conducts the Matthew Passion, and 2026 is such a year. Klaus Mäkelä is on the staff, with the Netherlands Chamber Choir and the National Children's Choir as the vocal cast. This is the heaviest program classical music has to offer and rarely does it sound in this composition. Tickets are scarce. Those not yet there: the waiting list runs through the Concertgebouw website. - Concertgebouwplein 10, South
“The St. Matthew Passion is not just another concert. It is a ritual that draws people every year, even if they have little else to do with classical music.” - Sander Kollaard, music critic (NRC, 2023)
Easter brunch at Café Caron - Canal Belt - April 4 to 6
Café Caron cooks a three-course lunch at Easter based on the first spring produce of the season. Price is 59 euros, including vegetarian options. The restaurant is small, the atmosphere French, the menu seasonal. Reservations are a necessity. - Runstraat 7, Canal Belt
Easter brunch Strandzuid - Olympic Quarter - April 3
On the first day of Easter serving Beach South an Easter brunch for 28.50 euros, including mimosa. Tramezzini, salads, scones and soup, by the water. It's the cheapest Easter brunch on this list and already works as a reason to spend an afternoon on the Amstel. - Europaboulevard 1, Olympic Quarter
Amsterdam Cocktail Week - multiple locations - through April 5
The Amsterdam Cocktail Week runs this year through April 5, falling right into the Easter weekend. Twenty bars throughout the city are creating special cocktails in partnership with a beverage brand. LuminAir at the DoubleTree Hilton, Flying Dutchmen, Shakerato and Taxman are participating. You can download the cocktail menu from the ACW website and make it your own itinerary. - Locations, see amsterdamcocktailweek.nl
“Amsterdam Cocktail Week shows how far the cocktail scene in the Netherlands has come in a short time. Five years ago this was unthinkable.” - Timo Janse, co-founder Amsterdam Cocktail Week (Het Parool, 2022)
House Willet-Holthuysen - Canalside - April 4 to 6
This city palace on Herengracht opens its house and garden for the Easter weekend. There are Easter eggs hidden in the city garden, and craft activities in the studio. The building itself is one of the few Amsterdam canal houses that you can see inside as they looked in the nineteenth century. Not a children's party but a good excuse to finally look inside. - Herengracht 605, Canal Belt
Fruit Gardens of West - New West - April 3 to 5 (farm bingo), April 5 (Easter story)
The Fruit Gardens of West are a working orchard in New West, on the border of the city and the green. This Easter weekend there are two programs: a farm bingo from Friday through Sunday where you go into the orchard with a scavenger hunt map, and on Sunday, April 5, an Easter story based on the Greek myth of Demeter and Persephone. Afterwards, sow cress in eggshells to take home. Special address few people know of. - Fruit Gardens of West, New West
“We want to show that in Amsterdam there is just room for food, nature and community side by side. The orchard exists because people want it.” - Administrator Fruit Gardens of West (AT5, 2021)
Tulip Festival Amsterdam - throughout the city - Entire month of April
The Tulip Festival runs throughout April and spreads to more than 85 locations throughout the city, from downtown to North and Southeast. Tens of thousands of tulips in bins and flower beds on squares, bridges and shopping streets. No counter, no ticket, just walk or bike around town and see where the concentrations are. The Tulip Festival website has a map with all the locations. - Multiple locations, see tulipfestival.com
You don't have to come up with any excuse to leave town at Easter. The offerings run from early morning to deep into the night, from industrial North to the Herengracht, and from 28.50 euros for a brunch with mimosa to an evening Klaus Mäkelä at the Concertgebouw. The Easter weekend is four days. That's enough.