Top things to do during Queer & Pride Amsterdam
In 2024, Queer & Pride Amsterdam is expanding to month long event. Queer Amsterdam gets the party started with events from 3 July to 4 August, and Pride Amsterdam celebrates from 27 July to 4 August. The biggest event is the iconic Canal Parade on 3 August.
Queer Amsterdam had its debut in 2023, they are on a journey of collective resistance and empowerment. Their goal is to create a future where everyone can be fully celebrated, regardless of their identity. Through resistance, recharging, and reinvention, they strive to support the LGBTQ+ community and ultimately work towards a world where organizations like Queer Amsterdam are no longer necessary.
Pride Amsterdam has over 25 years of history and is using 2024 to take on the divisiveness of today's society. This year's Pride theme is "Together". The theme serves as a reminder that even if society is polarising, standing together makes you stronger both because of and despite differences.
Over the course of Queer & Pride Amsterdam, there will be over 400 activities and events to attend throughout the city. Something to fit everyone’s interests and ideas. These are our top things to do during Queer & Pride Amsterdam in 2024.
Join the Pride Walk
The Pride Walk on 20 July is one of the main events of Queer Amsterdam. The Pride Walk is a manifestation and demonstration against the discrimination of the LGBTQIAP+ community. The Pride Walk starts with a demonstration at noon on Dam Square, the route than takes you via the Rozengracht, Marnixstraat, Haarlemmerdijk, Haarlemmerstraat and Damrak back to the square.
See and create artful expressions of Queer & Pride
Art and culture are an important part of both Pride Amsterdam and Queer Amsterdam, with amazing theatre, film, music, books, shows, visual art and photography for all to enjoy. There are special expositions at some of the best museums in Amsterdam, for instance at the Amsterdam Museum which will feature the exhibition Grande March: A Historic House Through A Ballroom Lens.
Over in the Westerpark you can visit the Pride Photo Exhibition from 27 July to 31 July. The annual international photography contest gives a platform to imagery about sexual and gender diversity. This year's exhibition is a love letter to the resilience of queer people.
Explore Amsterdam’s gay history
Amsterdam has frequently been named as one of the most LGBT-friendly cities in the world. The city is rich when it comes to LGBT emancipation, history and gay icons. To learn more about this connection we recommend the LGBTIQ+ Historical Amsterdam Tour. This two hour tour covers 400 years of Amsterdam gay history.
The tour starts at the Homomonument, the first monument in the world dedicated to the gay and lesbian victims of the Holocaust. From there you’ll make your way through historic Amsterdam as the guide tells you about being gay in the 17th-century, about prosecution over the centuries and how gay men and women found ways to live their lives. The tour ends at Café ‘t Mandje, a gay bar that opened in 1927.
Enjoy the Canal Parade
If there is one event that sets Amsterdam apart from other pride events around the world it is the world famous Canal Parade. This year the parade will take place on 3 August, starting at noon from the Oosterdok near the Maritime Museum. From here the floats will make their way via the Nieuwe Herengracht to the Amstel river, under the Skinny Bridge, and on to the Prinsengracht all the way to the Westerdok.
During the parade around 80 boats or floats, representing everything from small LGBTI foundations through to pink networks within multinationals, cruise through the canals celebrating the past, present and future of the LGBTI community. The bridges and canal quays are packed with people watching the parade and partying to the music coming from the boats.
Celebrate at street parties
In the final days of Queer & Pride Amsterdam, the city sees street parties wherever you go, especially on Friday 2 and Saturday 3 August. The street parties start in the afternoon. One of the biggest street parties is Prik Pride, a two day street party on the Spuistraat. Entry is free and on stage will be famous local DJs, MCs, Queens and performers.
The closing party of Pride Amsterdam is also a street party, at the mainstage on Dam Square. From 2 in the afternoon on 4 August until 11 at night, Amsterdam’s main square says goodbye to Pride and starts counting down till next year. Of course, after the closing party, the after parties take over in the clubs all over the city.
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