Amsterdam Gay Travel Guide 2025

Upcoming Events in Amsterdam

|  12 – 15 June 2025
Amsterdam Bear Pride 2025: with bar nights, parties, canal cruise and Mr. Bear Netherlands election.
|  14 June 2025
Bear Necessity: Amsterdam's big gay party for bears and friends during the Amsterdam Bear Pride with DJ Charly (Madrid), Sergio Cardoso and Mike Jayy.
Tickets: from 30 €
22:00 – 05:00 @ Panama Amsterdam (Oostelijke Handelskade 4)
|  28 – 29 June 2025
Tropikali: LGBTQ+ oriented open-air world music festival in the north of Amsterdam. With various stages, including Kalinichta and Rosario. From tropical grooves to Balkan beats and music from all around the world. Mixed clientele.
Tickets: from 50 €
13:00 – 22:00 @ NDSM
|  26 July – 3 August 2025
Amsterdam Gay Pride 2025: Main event is the famous Canal Parade with 80 boats floating through the canals of Amsterdam on Saturday afternoon, 2 August, 12:00 – 18:00.
@ Oosterdok > Nieuwe Herengracht > Amstel > Prinsengracht > Westerdok
|  3 August 2025
Rapido After Party: Pride closing event with DJ Pagano (UK).
Tickets: from 10/20 €
24:00 – 07:00 @ WesterUnie (Klönneplein)
|  24 August 2025
Superflirt Festival 2025: annual queer festival in the east of Amsterdam with several stages of various hosts from the LGBTQ scene.
13:00 – 23:00 @ Kaap Amsterdam (IJdijk 10)

About Amsterdam and its gay life

Amsterdam had been a powerful city of maritime trade fame for many centuries. In the second half of the 20th century it was considered the gay capital of Europe, due to the beauty of the city and due to the city's liberal atmosphere which was far ahead of most other European cities and countries at that time.

As our Amsterdam Gay Maps show, there are several gay areas in Amsterdam, all of them not really far from each other. First of all you got the street with the unpronounceable name, Reguliersdwarsstraat, which is rather mainstream and quite busy at the weekend. Nearby are the Amstel street and Kerkstraat. And finally there are Warmoesstraat and Zeedijk in the very center of Amsterdam.

As you can see on our Clubs & Parties page there aren't many regular gay clubs and parties left in Amsterdam nowadays. The most popular and crowded parties are those which happen monthly or every few months. So, if you like dancefloors with hundreds of half-naked sweating guys, check for the next dates of those irregular parties.

Annual highlights and queer events in Amsterdam are the LGBTQ film festival Roze Filmdagen in March, King's Day on the 27th (or 26th) of April, the Milkshake Festival in July and the Amsterdam Gay Pride with the canal parade in August.