Best Time to Visit the Netherlands

The Netherlands has a temperate maritime climate, with mild winters and summers that average just above 20°C. Travelers who want the tulip fields should visit from April through early May. June through August brings the warmest weather and the longest days. January, February, and early November have the lightest hotel demand. Choose the month based on what matters most to you, because the dates that bring tulips or Pride also bring the year’s highest accommodation prices.

Weather figures come from De Bilt in Utrecht province, the station the Dutch national weather service (KNMI) uses for national figures. Crowd figures come mostly from Statistics Netherlands (CBS), which counts hotel guests. Its most detailed monthly series covers Amsterdam. Event dates are for 2026 unless noted.

Weather across the year

The table pairs long-term De Bilt averages from klimaatinfo with the monthly count of Amsterdam hotel guests from CBS. August to December are 2025 figures. January to July are 2026 provisional figures.

Daylight spans sunrise to sunset, while sunshine hours count only bright sunshine intervals within that daytime period. — The climate table's sun hours measure sunshine duration. Cloudy intervals still have daylight, so this figure is different from the length of the day.

Month	Max / min (°C)	Sun hours per day	Rain days	Amsterdam hotel guests (thousands)
January	6 / 1	2	18	725
February	7 / 1	3	16	698
March	11 / 2	5	15	825
April	15 / 5	6	12	936
May	18 / 8	7	14	911
June	21 / 11	7	14	896
July	23 / 13	7	15	998
August	23 / 13	7	15	897
September	20 / 10	5	14	782
October	15 / 7	4	16	852
November	10 / 4	2	19	792
December	7 / 2	2	19	748

A rain day here means a day with at least 0.1 mm of rain, so even the drier months have a shower on roughly every second day. De Bilt records over 850 mm of rain and over 1,700 hours of sunshine a year, along with 53 frost days. It also logs 28 summer days (a maximum of at least 25°C) and 5 tropical days (a maximum of at least 30°C). The official definition of a heatwave there is at least five consecutive days above 25°C, including at least three days above 30°C, and heatwaves occur once or twice a year on average.

Recent years have run warmer than the averages. Mean temperatures in the 2026 De Bilt record were above the long-term normal in most months, and June 2026 averaged 19.1°C against a normal of 16.2°C. Through 16 October 2026, the year ranked first since 1901 for mean temperature at 12.96°C. Pack a light rain jacket for every month.

Hotel demand by month

Nationally, CBS counted 52.2 million guests at hotels, campsites and holiday parks in 2025, up nearly 2% on 2024. International guests made up 22.3 million of that total. Hotels hosted 33.7 million guests and campsites 5.6 million, the fastest-growing type at +9%. Germany supplies the most international hotel guests, and American and British visitors drove the 2025 increase.

Amsterdam’s pattern is clear in the table above: February is the low (698k hotel guests, 521k of them from abroad), and July is the high (998k, with 796k from abroad). April and May sit close to the summer level at 936k and 911k, so spring in Amsterdam is nearly as busy as summer. German guests peak in May at 104k and bottom out in February at 55k. Autumn falls between the extremes: September (782k) is the quiet gap after summer, and October rises again to 852k.

June stands out nationally. About 2.3 million tourists visited the Netherlands in June 2025, up from 1.9 million a year earlier, and they booked about 7 million overnight stays. CBS described it as the highest monthly figure since the pandemic. Amsterdam also takes in a large number of day visitors beyond its hotel guests: more than 14 million unique day visitors in 2024, alongside almost 10 million overnight visitors who averaged 2.36 nights.

Spring, March to May

Spring is the season for bulb fields and the Netherlands’ busiest festival stretch. Maximum temperatures climb from 11°C in March to 18°C in May, and sun hours rise from 5 to 7 a day.

Straight rows of pink and coral tulips in a flat Lisse bulb field, with dark soil furrows and a low farmhouse behind trees. — Tulip-growing rows near Lisse in the Bollenstreek. These agricultural fields are separate from Keukenhof's landscaped gardens; enjoy working fields from their edges.

March

March is cool, with a maximum of 11°C, a minimum of 2°C and 15 rain days. Amsterdam hotel guests rise to 825k from February’s low. Keukenhof, the bulb garden in Lisse, opens on 19 March 2026, and the early part of the season brings the first blooms with city streets that are still lightly populated. Pack for cold mornings.

April

April has the fewest rain days of the year (12) and a maximum of 15°C, with 6 sun hours a day. It is also the busiest spring month in Amsterdam at 936k hotel guests. The calendar is packed:

Easter weekend: 3 to 6 April 2026. Keukenhof tickets for the Easter weekend sell out quickly.
Amsterdam Tulip Festival: 1 to 30 April, free, at more than 100 locations across the city.
Flower Parade (Bloemencorso): 18 April 2026, with tickets that sell out quickly.
King’s Day: 27 April, with King’s Night on the evening of 26 April.

Keukenhof’s bloom peaks in mid-April, with the 2026 bloom window at 9 April to 3 May. Expect high demand on weekends and around 27 April. The city is livelier than at any other time of year, with the highest prices to match.

Curved beds of tulips and blue grape hyacinths beside a pond under mature trees at Keukenhof in Lisse. — Keukenhof in Lisse has landscaped tulip beds, mature trees and pond-side paths. Planting displays and flowering dates vary with the season.

May

May has a maximum of 18°C, a minimum of 8°C and 7 sun hours a day. Keukenhof and its Tulip Barn close on 10 May 2026, so the first ten days combine open bulb fields with warm, sunny weather. Pride season starts in the west: Pride The Hague runs 9 to 16 May and Alkmaar Pride 23 to 31 May. Amsterdam hotel guests hold at 911k, and German visitors peak this month.

Summer, June to August

Summer maxima are 21 to 23°C with 7 sun hours a day, and rain days stay at 14 to 15 a month. It is the best stretch for canal-side days, long evenings and outdoor festivals, and also the stretch with the highest prices.

Amsterdam canal with moored barges, a low masonry arch bridge, gabled houses and leafy quays in evening light. — Amsterdam's canal-side setting in the Jordaan, with gabled houses, moored barges and tree-lined quays. It illustrates the summer section's long outdoor evenings.

June

June has a maximum of 21°C and a minimum of 11°C. Amsterdam hotel guests are at 896k, though the national peak of 2025 makes it a busy month everywhere. The Holland Festival runs from 3 to 28 June 2026 in Amsterdam and other cities, and its programme is ticketed. Regional Pride events fill the month: ZaanPride runs 5 to 14 June with its parade on 13 June, Noordwijk’s Roze Zaterdag is on 27 June, and Achterhoek Pride takes place in June. Pre-Pride summer events begin in Amsterdam from mid-June. June balances warm weather, long daylight and a smaller crowd than late July.

July

July is joint-warmest at a maximum of 23°C, and it is Amsterdam’s busiest month at 998k hotel guests. Expect high accommodation prices, especially from late July when WorldPride Amsterdam opens (25 July to 8 August 2026, per the official WorldPride page). Other dates include Haarlem Pride on 18 July and Roze Woensdag in Nijmegen on 22 July. In late July the Milkshake Festival brings electronic music to Westerpark, and the free Open Air Film Festival runs 29 to 30 July at Mercatorplein.

August

August matches July for temperature (23°C maximum, 13°C minimum) and was the busiest month of 2025 in Amsterdam at 897k hotel guests. Pride weekend falls on 31 July to 2 August 2026, and the Canal Parade follows on Saturday 1 August with about 80 boats and hundreds of thousands of spectators along the bridges. WorldPride continues with a Human Rights Conference at Beurs van Berlage on 5 to 7 August and the World Pride March on 7 August. The Grachtenfestival, a classical music festival on canal stages, runs in August and includes the free Prinsengracht Concert. Dordrecht Pride follows on 22 August. Travelers who dislike crowds on canal bridges should avoid the first weekend of August 2026.

Autumn, September to November

Autumn trades warmth for space. Maxima fall from 20°C to 10°C over the season, and sun hours drop from 5 a day in September to 2 in November.

September

September has a maximum of 20°C and a minimum of 10°C, with 5 sun hours a day and 14 rain days. Amsterdam hotel guests fall to 782k, the lowest figure between the summer peak and the winter. Leiden Pride is on 5 September and Gorinchem Pride on 16 September. September balances mild weather with a thinner crowd.

October

October is cooler (15°C maximum, 7°C minimum) with 4 sun hours a day and 16 rain days. Hotel demand rises again to 852k. Ede Pride runs 2 to 4 October and Purmerend Pride takes place in October. The Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE) runs 21 to 25 October 2026 and is described as the world’s largest electronic music festival, with more than 400,000 visitors. ADE is one of the events that sends accommodation prices up, so plan dates around it.

November

November has 19 rain days, the joint highest of the year, and just 2 sun hours a day, with highs of 10°C and lows of 4°C. Amsterdam hotel guests number 792k. Museumnacht (Museum Night) is held in November, with more than 40 museums open until 2 AM, and the Light Festival begins on 26 November 2026 and runs to 17 January 2027. November suits an indoor city stay of museums, evening events and canal-side light installations.

Winter, December to February

Winter days are short and gray, with only 2 to 3 sun hours a day. Hotel demand is the lowest of the year, and the city’s cultural events carry the season.

December

December has 19 rain days, a maximum of 7°C and a minimum of 2°C. Amsterdam hotel guests are at 748k. The Light Festival continues through the month, which makes December a quiet city visit with a visual draw. Bring waterproof shoes and layers.

January

January is the coldest month, with a maximum of 6°C, a minimum of 1°C, 2 sun hours a day and 18 rain days. Hotel guests in Amsterdam were 725k in January 2026 (provisional). National Tulip Day on the third Saturday of January (17 January in 2026) is listed on the annual event calendar, and the Light Festival runs until 17 January 2027 in its current edition.

February

February is the quietest month in the Amsterdam series, at 698k hotel guests, with 521k from abroad. The maximum is 7°C, the minimum 1°C, and there are 3 sun hours a day and 16 rain days. Museums and restaurants are easy to book, and accommodation demand is at its lowest. This is the month to choose if price and space matter more than weather.

Regions and when to go

Nearly all the monthly crowd data describes Amsterdam, which dominates visitor numbers. North Holland had the most guests of any province in 2024, over 16 million (+4%), most of them in Amsterdam. Amsterdam alone had over 9 million overnight guests that year, more than 7 million from abroad, led by the UK, US and Germany. The weather figures above come from a single station in Utrecht province and serve as the national reference.

Amsterdam and North Holland. The city has the densest calendar: King’s Day on 27 April, the Holland Festival in June, WorldPride and the Canal Parade from late July, ADE in October and the Light Festival from late November. Beyond the capital, North Holland hosts Alkmaar Pride (23 to 31 May), ZaanPride (5 to 14 June), Haarlem Pride (18 July) and Purmerend Pride in October. Pride at the Beach in Zandvoort takes place during WorldPride. Keukenhof is in Lisse, about 40 km from Amsterdam.

South Holland. This province combines the bulb-field season with a run of regional events: Pride The Hague (9 to 16 May), Noordwijk Roze Zaterdag (27 June), Dordrecht Pride (22 August), Leiden Pride (5 September) and Gorinchem Pride (16 September). A spring visit built around Keukenhof fits easily with The Hague in early or mid-May.

Gelderland. The calendar is lighter here, with Achterhoek Pride in June, Roze Woensdag in Nijmegen on 22 July and Ede Pride on 2 to 4 October. Those dates suit a trip built around the east of the country, away from the Amsterdam peaks.

The Waalbrug's broad steel arch spanning the Waal beside Nijmegen's stone-lined Waalkade waterfront. — Nijmegen's Waalkade and Waalbrug in Gelderland.

Utrecht, Groningen, Friesland and Overijssel. Utrecht’s guest numbers rose 8% in 2024, which makes it an increasingly busy base, though still well below Amsterdam. Groningen had the largest increase at about 900,000 guests (+11%), Friesland rose 7%, and Overijssel was the only province to decline (-3%). Travelers who want fewer visitors can look to these provinces in any month, and a shoulder-season trip to them avoids the Amsterdam crunch altogether.

Utrecht's Oudegracht canal with brick lower wharves, arched cellar doors, a descending staircase and leafy trees. — Utrecht's Oudegracht, with lower wharves and cellar entrances beside the canal.

Keukenhof tickets and bloom timing

Keukenhof runs 19 March to 10 May 2026, a 53-day season, and opens every day, including weekends and public holidays, from 08:00 to 19:00 with last entry at 18:15. Visitors must book a date and time slot in advance, and popular slots sell out days or weeks ahead. Online ticket sales open around mid-November. Tulips are planted from early October to early December, which is why the display is complete by spring.

An adult ticket costs €21.50 online and €25.00 at the gate. A child’s ticket (ages 4 to 17) is about €9 to €10 online and €14 at the ticket office. A combined ticket with a bus from Amsterdam RAI costs €38.50. The nearby Tulip Barn is open 27 March to 10 May with timed tickets: €10 for adults and children aged 13 and over, €4.50 for ages 3 to 12, and €25 for a family of two adults and two children. Check keukenhof.nl for the current prices and slots before booking.

Prices, VAT and tourist tax

Accommodation prices rise sharply around King’s Day, Pride and ADE. Discover Amsterdam advises booking 2 to 4 months ahead in general, and 3 to 6 months ahead for King’s Day and Pride, because rooms sell out.

Two taxes add to the room rate. VAT on accommodation rose from 9% to 21% on 1 January 2026, as announced by the Dutch tax authority. Amsterdam’s tourist tax (toeristenbelasting, a per-night charge collected by the accommodation) is 12.5% of the overnight price excluding VAT. It applies to hotels, hostels, guesthouses, apartments, bed and breakfasts and campsites. For a room priced at €100 before taxes, VAT is €21 and tourist tax €12.50, so the guest pays €133.50. Breakfast priced separately on the invoice at a reasonable amount is excluded from the tax base, and the provider collects the tax and remits it to the municipality.

Amsterdam 2026 hotel room tax example: 100 euros before tax, 21 euros VAT and 12.50 euros tourist tax, totaling 133.50 euros. — For the article's illustrative 2026 Amsterdam hotel room, both taxes use the EUR 100 room price before VAT: EUR 21 VAT plus EUR 12.50 tourist tax makes EUR 133.50. Breakfast and other extras are excluded.

The rate may rise. A coalition agreement presented on 4 June 2026 proposes raising it to 16% in 2027, then by one percentage point a year to 20% in 2031. Confirm the current rate on the municipal tax page when booking.

Choosing dates by trip type

For bulb fields, aim for mid-March to early May, with mid-April the usual peak. Book the Keukenhof timed slot first, since the garden closes on 10 May in 2026, and then fit accommodation around it. Visitors who want tulips with less crowding can pick a weekday in late March or the first week of May. The Easter weekend and the days around King’s Day are the hardest to book.

For warm, long days, choose June or the first half of July. June has a 21°C maximum and 7 sun hours a day, and it avoids the WorldPride and Canal Parade crowds of late July and early August. Travelers who want those events should book three to six months ahead.

For quiet and lower accommodation demand, choose January, February or early November, in line with the CBS hotel data. Expect 2 to 3 sun hours a day and frequent rain, so plan museum and restaurant days. September offers a milder alternative with 5 sun hours a day and lower demand than August or October. Music fans can plan around ADE in October or Museumnacht in November, accepting higher prices during ADE. A long weekend covers Amsterdam on its own, while a week leaves room for The Hague, Leiden, Haarlem and Keukenhof.

Key Takeaways

Pick the month by priority: Tulips peak from mid-April (Keukenhof runs 19 March to 10 May 2026), warm weather peaks in June to August at up to 23°C, and the lowest hotel demand falls in January and February.
Book early for peak dates: Reserve 3 to 6 months ahead for King’s Day (27 April) and Pride (WorldPride runs 25 July to 8 August 2026), and 2 to 4 months ahead otherwise.
Reserve Keukenhof first: Entry requires a timed ticket (€21.50 online, €25.00 at the gate), so lock in the slot before the hotel.
Budget for taxes: Dutch accommodation VAT is 21% from 1 January 2026, and Amsterdam adds 12.5% tourist tax, which turns a €100 room into €133.50.
Expect rain in every month: De Bilt has rain on many days in every month, with the most in November and December (19 each), so pack a waterproof layer whatever the season.