By Harry Nara · Last updated
- Edition 15 opensThursday 26 November 2026
- Final nightSunday 17 January 2027
- Where
- The festival route along the city’s canals
- Tickets
- Free
- Time of year
- November to January
- Dates
- Around the same dates every year
Dates from amsterdamlightfestival.com, whose Dates & Hours page gives edition 15 as Thursday 26 November 2026 to Sunday 17 January 2027. The lights are on every day from 4.30pm to 11pm, closing at 9pm on 31 December. The next edition’s dates are not yet published.
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The Light Festival places commissioned light artworks along and above the city’s canals for the darkest weeks of the year. There are three ways to see them: from a heated, glass-roofed canal boat, from an open boat under blankets, or on foot along the route with the festival app. On foot is the way that needs no ticket at all.
What Light Festival actually is
Each edition commissions new light art around a festival theme, and the works go where the city is most itself: over the water and along the quays of the canals.
It runs through the weeks when Amsterdam is dark by late afternoon, which is the idea. The feature that puts people off a winter visit becomes the setting.
There is no venue. The organiser builds the visit around three kinds of route, by boat, on foot and by bike, and choosing between them is most of the planning.
Where to watch Light Festival
- From a covered canal boat, which is heated and has a toilet on board. You see the works through large windows and a glass roof, with the official audio guide or a guide aboard, and it is the comfortable choice on a cold night.
- From an open boat, in a smaller group with a guide or skipper. Blankets instead of heating, and nothing between you and the artworks except the cold.
- On foot, with the festival app, which carries the walking route, an audio guide about each work and your position on the map. A Kids Walk turns the route into a quiz and a scavenger hunt for children of about seven to twelve, and can be done in full or in half.
- By bike, on a guided tour for groups of no more than twelve, or on a private tour booked for your own party.
Tickets and what it costs
Walking the route costs nothing, because the artworks stand in public space. The route is 4.5 kilometres and can be walked in sections, and the festival app, out from mid-November, is the optional extra that tells you what you are looking at.
Canal cruises and bike tours are sold through the festival. A cruise takes about 75 minutes and costs €29.75 on the covered or the open boat, or €39.75 with drinks, and the evening sailings are the ones to book first.
Official information and booking: amsterdamlightfestival.com/en
Getting there
The artworks are on the city’s canals, so start from the centre. The app shows where the walking route begins and where you are on it.
Cruise departure points depend on the operator, so check the one on your ticket before you set out.
Dress for standing still. A walking route in the middle of winter is slow and cold, and most of the time is spent looking up.
Mistakes worth avoiding
Leaving the boat until the last minute
Cruise tickets go on sale in the autumn and the evening sailings are the ones everybody wants. If a boat is the plan, book when they open.
Going before it is properly dark
Light art needs the dark, and in these weeks the dark arrives by late afternoon. The hour after dusk shows the works better than the hour before it.
Walking without the route
The works are spread along the canals. Without the app or a map of the route it is easy to see three and miss the rest.
Underdressing for the open boat
The blankets help, but an open boat on a winter canal is cold in a way a walk is not, because you are sitting still in the wind off the water.
Looking for a main site
There is no gate and no central venue. The festival is the route.
Other Amsterdam events
Frequently asked questions
When is the Amsterdam Light Festival?
Each edition runs through the darkest weeks, from late autumn into the new year. The current edition’s dates are on the dates card above.
Is the Light Festival free?
Seeing it on foot is, because the artworks are in public space. Canal cruises and guided bike tours are paid and sold through the festival.
Is a boat or a walk better?
A boat is warmer and easier, especially the covered kind with heating and a toilet, and it puts you on the water the works are built around. A walk is free and slower, and lets you stop at the pieces you like. With children, the Kids Walk turns the route into a game.
Can I see it by bike on my own?
The organiser runs guided bike tours in small groups. The artworks are on public canals, so cycling past them independently is possible too, with the usual care on busy quays after dark.
Is it worth planning a winter trip around?
For many visitors it is the reason to come in the dark months at all. It turns the long evenings, the usual objection to a winter trip, into the thing you came for, and its last weeks overlap with the cheapest stretch of the year for rooms.
Sources
- Amsterdam Light Festival, official site
- Amsterdam Light Festival, cruise
- Amsterdam Light Festival, walking route
Dates on this page are checked against the organiser’s own listing and confirmed through 2027. Written and maintained by Harry Nara.