Click here to see the calendar of 2011 in the Netherlands. On the red days most people have a day off and most shops are closed.

Learn here about several festivals brought together in a schedule by IAmsterdam.

Start of Summertime or Daylight Saving Time:

On Sunday, March 27, 2011 at 2:00 am, clocks will be turned forward 1 hour to 03:00 am.

Click here for more information

"Keukenhof: the most beautiful spring garden in the world. Open daily from March 24th until May 20th 2011. Daily from 08:00 – 19:30. Ticket office is open till 18:00. Flower Parade: 16 April 2011"

Click here and find the way to go there by bus. Every 15 minutes there is a red bus (number 197) going from the Leidseplein to Schiphol where you can change to bus 58 to Keukenhof. The Leidseplein stop is near the bridge, it is not where the trams stop. It is in front of the American Hotel and a pond. Combination tickets for the bus from Schiphol to Keukenhof and back and entrance are sold in the VVV (tourist office) on platform 2b in Centraal Station, in the wooden building in front of the Centraal Station, near the western entrance or in the AUB Ticketshop on the Leidseplein. But you can also try to buy online excluding the bus trip between Amsterdam and Schiphol.

Click here to read a customer review.

Read here all about Koninginnedag or Queen's day in Amsterdam on Saturday 30 April 2011.

Click here for City Map side (pdf, 4.5MB) and the text side (pdf, 5.6MB) of a folder about Koninginnedag 2011. Even though it is all in Dutch, I think it is informative. See the red, blue, orange, green and yellow walking routes from the Railway Stations to the center and the absence of trams in the center. You can see that the tram network will be quite different.
On Koninginnedag you may buy a special ticket for all GVB vehicles, including the night buses, for €5, that can be used during 24 hours after purchase. Available in trams and buses. Only GVB, so not in Connexxion and Arriva buses.

The Text side gives advice to people who come by train (the departure times of the return trip, among other things). You are requested to buy a ticket on internet and to avoid the central station and to use the metro , in stead of the train, between the Amstel and Centraal stations where your train ticket will be valid on that day. Some years ago, when it suddenly started raining, there was a great surge of people towards the Central Station so that for security reasons the trains could not depart.

Entering or leaving the center by car will be impossible.

Those who dislike beer and bustle should arrive at 9 am precisely in the Vondelpark, especially west of the bridge over the park, and, later on that day, go to the Bredeweg festival. For this festival take tram 9, get off near the eastern edge of the afore mentioned city map at the stop Hogeweg, just outside the map. After getting off the tram you will soon see where the activities start. Click here for the street plan (pdf 300KB).
In the Vondelpark is a vrijmarkt (unregulated street market) for children. After noon it will be really overcrowded.
Take a look on the Bredeweg Festival site, in Dutch. On the evening before, at 9:30 pm, opera music will be performed; the singers will be on the balconies of the neighbours' houses and you may sing along. Last year: the famous aria from Verdi's Nabucco and the Toréador's song from Bizet's Carmen. On Koninginnedag itself there are music and performances on different stages. It will start on Friday, april 29 2011, at 5:30 pm.
There are no parking places near the Bredeweg.

Remembrance of the Dead (Dodenherdenking) is observed every May the 4th. It commemorates all who have died in wars or peacekeeping missions since the outbreak of World War II. The main ceremony is in Amsterdam at the national monument on Dam Square. This ceremony is usually attended by members of the cabinet and the royal family, military leaders, representatives of the resistance movement and other social groups. At 8:00 p.m., two minutes of silence are observed in the Netherlands. All transport is stopped and shops etc. will be closed after about 7 pm.

"As every year, the Amsterdam Canal Museums organise the Open Garden Days in the third weekend of June. On 17, 18 and 19 of June 2011 some thirty canal gardens will be open to the public. Each year the Open Garden Days are being organised around a theme. This year the theme will be 'Courts and Community Gardens'.
The gardens will be open all three days from 10 am to 5 pm.
Starting addresses are:
Bijbels Museum, Herengracht 366-368
Huis Marseille, Keizersgracht 401
Museum Van Loon, Keizersgracht 672
Museum Willet-Holthuysen, Herengracht 605
"

"The 8th edition of SAIL will take place from 19 to 23 August 2010. For five days long, the Amsterdam IJ harbour will serve as the backdrop for a festive programme full of music, culture and nautical riches. Preparations are in full swing and the event promises once again to be an unparalleled nautical spectacle"

Next SAIL will be held in August 2015.

"Sunday 16 October 2011 the 36th edition of the Amsterdam Marathon will take place. Online registration for this year’s event will be possible from 1 January till 19 September 2011 on this website. However registration will close earlier if the maximum number of entrants has been reached. Programmed are the marathon, the Mizuno Half Marathon, the Menzis 7.5 km, the 1K Runaway and the Mini Marathon."

Information about the blocking of the traffic and diversion of the trams will follow here later.

End of Summertime or Daylight Saving Time:

On Sunday, October 30, 2011 at 3:00 am, clocks will be turned backward 1 hour to 02:00 am.

Click here for more information