At a Glance
Compared to this destination's peak season Busy from the first week through New Year despite being the wettest and darkest month, because nobody comes to Amsterdam in December for the weather. The festive fortnight and New Year are the most expensive winter dates of the year.
Amsterdam in December — Travel Guide
By Harry Nara · Last updated
Amsterdam in December offers some of the best conditions of the year, ideal for light festival, sinterklaas & new year. Expect temperatures of 2–7°C, around 14 days of rain, and high crowds across the city. Daily budgets typically land around €105–165 for mid-range travellers. Book accommodation two to three months ahead — the most popular rooms sell out fast during peak visiting windows.
Contents16 sections
- At a Glance
- Weather in Amsterdam in December
- Three Celebrations and a Quiet New Year
- What to Do in Amsterdam in December
- Getting Around
- Budget & Costs
- Food & Dining
- Nightlife
- Shopping
- Culture & Etiquette
- Essential Local Phrases
- Packing List
- Backup Plans (Rain or Gales)
- Safety & Health
- What's New for December 2026
- About This Guide
#At a Glance
December is Amsterdam's wettest and darkest month and one of its busiest, because it holds three celebrations in four weeks: Sinterklaas on Saturday 5 December 2026, Christmas, and New Year.
Over all of it the Amsterdam Light Festival lights the canals from dusk, which this month means half past four. And this New Year is different from every one before it: the Netherlands banned consumer fireworks from 1 August 2026, so the night of 31 December will not be the street-level barrage that Amsterdam has been known for.
#Weather in Amsterdam in December
Amsterdam in December averages 2–7°C (36–45°F) with around 14 days of rain, and crowds are high.
| December | |
|---|---|
| Daytime high | About 7°C / 45°F |
| Overnight low | About 2°C / 36°F |
| Wet days | About 14, the most of any month |
| Sunset | 4:31pm on the 1st, 4:29pm at the solstice, 4:36pm on the 31st |
Figures are KNMI 1991–2020 normals for Amsterdam Schiphol; sunset times are calculated for the city centre.
What that actually means for your trip:
- Darkness sets the timetable. The sun is up for under eight hours around the solstice and rises after a quarter to nine, so a December day has one long, grey stretch of usable light.
- It is wet more than cold. Fourteen wet days means drizzle on most of them; temperatures sit a few degrees above freezing, and snow that settles is unusual.
- The wind is the hardship. Gusts across the IJ and down the long canals make 5°C feel like zero.
- Light Festival weather is any weather. The artworks run in rain, and a damp night makes the reflections in the canals better.
Is December a good time to visit Amsterdam? Yes, if you want the city at its most festive and do not mind short, damp days. The first week, around Sinterklaas, is the most Dutch; Christmas is quiet and family-centred; New Year is the most expensive time of the winter.
#Three Celebrations and a Quiet New Year
Sinterklaas, 5 December. The Dutch St Nicholas arrives in mid-November, and his evening, pakjesavond, falls on Saturday 5 December 2026: families swap presents with joke poems and riddles, and the day belongs to children. By the next morning the shop windows have switched from Sinterklaas to Christmas, while the Light Festival carries on along the canals through all three celebrations.
Christmas, 25 and 26 December. The Dutch keep two Christmas days, Eerste Kerstdag and Tweede Kerstdag, both public holidays, falling this year on Friday and Saturday. Christmas Day is for family: most shops close and many restaurants serve set menus by reservation only. On the 26th much of the city reopens.
New Year, 31 December. Until now, Amsterdam's New Year meant fireworks let off by the public in every street for days.
From 1 August 2026 the Netherlands bans consumers from buying, keeping or setting off fireworks, apart from small ones such as sparklers; only professional shows with a permit, and local associations with an exemption, may set them off. In recent years the city's big countdown has been Electric Fireworks on Museumplein, free to attend, with light, music and eco-friendly fireworks, and an earlier show at seven for families. Its plans for this New Year had not been published in October 2026, so check before you build the night around it.
#What to Do in Amsterdam in December
Solo Travellers
Take a weekday morning slot at the Rijksmuseum, then hand the dark afternoon to a brown café, the old wood-panelled pubs, with a newspaper and a hot drink. In the evening walk the Light Festival route, or hear the Concertgebouw orchestra in the hall many musicians call the best in the world for sound.
Couples
Book a covered boat for the Light Festival, some of whose artworks are made to be seen from the water, and a canal-side dinner after it.
A Christmas service at the Westerkerk, under Amsterdam's tallest church tower, or at the English Reformed Church hidden in the Begijnhof, is a quieter way to spend a festive night than any bar.
Families
Before the 5th, every Dutch child is waiting for Sinterklaas, and the shop windows, chocolate letters and pepernoten are all aimed at them.
NEMO, the science museum, and ARTIS, the zoo, take care of the wet days, and the Light Festival is dark enough for children to see from about half past four.
Groups
Book well ahead for the week between Christmas and New Year, when the city is full.
A long rijsttafel, the Indonesian feast of many small dishes, is the best group dinner in December, and the clubs and venues run late programmes all through the holidays.
#Getting Around
From Schiphol the train reaches Centraal in about 20 minutes, and a contactless bank card or phone is the ticket on trains, trams, buses and metro. Trams are the December default: bridges are slippery when wet, and cycling home in the dark rain is for people who live here.
The free IJ ferries cross to Noord, for the Eye Filmmuseum and the bars in the old shipyards.
On 31 December GVB runs a special timetable, and in past years trams and buses have stopped for part of the evening; check it, and plan your way home before you go out.
#Budget & Costs
| Travel style | Per day | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Budget | €105–165 | Hostel or simple hotel, café meals, trams |
| Mid-range | €230–360 | A canal-side room, timed museum tickets, a booked dinner |
| Luxury | €550+ | Grand hotels, festive tasting menus, a private boat for the lights |
Costs worth knowing:
| What | Price |
|---|---|
| City tourist tax | 12.5% of the room price |
| Light Festival walking route | Free |
| Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh, Stedelijk | About €20–25 each |
| Oliebollen from a stall | A few euros for a bag |
Where the money actually goes:
- The first fortnight is the cheaper half, apart from the Sinterklaas weekend.
- Christmas to New Year is the dearest week of the winter, and New Year's Eve the dearest night.
- The tourist tax is a percentage, so it rises with the festive room rate.
- The Light Festival costs nothing on foot; boats are the extra.
December rewards early booking more than any other winter month: the first fortnight is ordinary winter value, and the last is priced like summer.
#Food & Dining
December food comes in three courses of celebration, starting with Sinterklaas: chocolate letters, a child's initial in solid chocolate, pepernoten, speculaas and banketstaaf, puff pastry filled with almond paste. For Christmas, many Dutch families stay home for gourmetten, gathered round a tabletop grill where everyone cooks small pieces of meat and vegetables.
And for New Year, oliebollen, doughnut-like balls of fried dough with icing sugar, and appelflappen, apple turnovers, from stalls that appear on street corners in December.
#Nightlife
December's nights out start in the afternoon, when the light goes, and the concert halls, Paradiso, the Melkweg and the clubs run busy holiday programmes, and many venues host New Year parties with tickets on sale from the autumn.
On 5 December and Christmas Day the city is quiet, as most people are at home.
#Shopping
The Nine Streets, De 9 Straatjes, and the shops of the Jordaan are the places for presents, and De Bijenkorf on Dam Square has the department-store windows. Sinterklaas drives the first week, Christmas the rest; most shops close on Christmas Day, and many open on the 26th. Amsterdam's Christmas markets are small and come and go from year to year; they are a pleasant half-hour, not a reason to travel.
#Culture & Etiquette
- 5 December is a family night. Many shops close early and the city quietens.
- Do not bring fireworks. They are banned for consumers from 2026; sparklers are fine.
- Book everything in the festive weeks, from museums to dinner.
- Bike lights are compulsory after dark, which in December begins mid-afternoon.
- Tips are modest: round up for coffee, add a little for a good meal.
#Essential Local Phrases
| Dutch | Meaning | When to use |
|---|---|---|
| Fijne feestdagen | Happy holidays | All month |
| Prettige kerstdagen | Merry Christmas | From about the 20th |
| Gelukkig nieuwjaar | Happy new year | From midnight on the 31st |
| Pakjesavond | Present night | 5 December |
| Twee oliebollen, graag | Two oliebollen, please | At the stalls |
| Gezellig | Cosy, convivial | The whole point of the month |
#Packing List
- A waterproof, windproof coat with a hood, more useful than a heavy one
- Boots that stay dry, because bridges and cobbles are wet for days at a time
- Warm accessories: a hat, gloves and a scarf for evenings on the canals
- Thermals if you plan an open boat for the Light Festival
- Smart-casual clothes for a festive dinner
- A contactless card, which is also your transport ticket
#Backup Plans (Rain or Gales)
If it rains all day: a timed slot at the Rijksmuseum fills a morning and the Van Gogh Museum an afternoon; check opening hours on 25 December and 1 January; the Wereldmuseum Amsterdam, formerly the Tropenmuseum, and Foam are quieter.
If the wind is too strong for boats: walk the Light Festival route instead; the narrow inner canals are sheltered from the worst of it.
If you need a warm hour: the glasshouses of the Hortus Botanicus, a brown café, or a film at the Eye, across the IJ.
#Safety & Health
The main risks are slippery bridges, unfenced canal edges in the dark, and crowds. Pickpockets work the Light Festival crowds and the area around Centraal and Dam Square. With street fireworks banned, New Year should bring far fewer of the burns and eye injuries that used to fill the hospitals, but illegal fireworks may not vanish in the first year, so keep away from anyone setting them off, and call 112 in an emergency.
#What's New for December 2026
- The national consumer fireworks ban applies to New Year for the first time; only sparklers and similar small fireworks remain legal
- The Light Festival's 15th edition runs until 17 January 2027
- Pakjesavond falls on Saturday 5 December 2026
- Christmas Day and Boxing Day fall on a Friday and Saturday, so the festive weekend runs to three days with Sunday
- Room tax stays at 12.5% for December stays; a higher rate for 2027 has been proposed to the council
#About This Guide
By Harry Nara (founder of WhenToWander), first written in September 2026 and rewritten in October 2026 for December 2026. Climate figures are KNMI 1991–2020 normals for Amsterdam Schiphol. Dates and rules verified against:
- Rijksoverheid for the fireworks ban
- Electric Fireworks for the Museumplein countdown
- Amsterdam Light Festival for the festival dates
- Gemeente Amsterdam for the tourist tax
- KNMI for the December averages
For the season as a whole, see Amsterdam in winter; for the months either side, Amsterdam in November and Amsterdam in January.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Is December a good time to visit Amsterdam?
Yes, if you want the city at its most festive: the Light Festival, Sinterklaas on 5 December, Christmas and New Year. It is the wettest month, with about fourteen wet days, and sunset is around half past four, so plan indoor days and evening walks.
What happens on 5 December in Amsterdam?
Pakjesavond, the Sinterklaas evening of presents, which falls on Saturday 5 December in 2026. It is a family night at home, so many shops close early and the city is quiet; by the next morning the Christmas decorations are going up.
Are the Christmas markets in Amsterdam worth it?
They are small and change from year to year: worth half an hour, not the journey. The Light Festival, free on foot, is the city’s real December spectacle.
Can you set off fireworks in Amsterdam at New Year?
No. From 1 August 2026 the Netherlands bans consumers from buying, keeping or setting off fireworks, apart from small ones such as sparklers, so 2026/27 is the first New Year without street fireworks. In recent years the city’s countdown has been a free show on Museumplein; check its plans before you go.
What’s the weather like in Amsterdam in December?
Amsterdam in December typically sees temperatures of 2–7°C with around 14 days of rain across the period. Pack warm layers, a waterproof coat, and sturdy shoes — days stay chilly.
How much does it cost to visit Amsterdam in December?
Budget-conscious travellers can expect daily costs of €105–165, covering accommodation, food, and local transport. Prices climb during peak weeks — book early to lock in the lower end of this range.