Amsterdam in March — Travel Guide

By Harry Nara · Last updated March 5, 2026

#Weather in Amsterdam in March

Amsterdam in March averages 3–10°C (37–50°F) with around 10 days of rain, and crowds are low-medium.

March is a transition and behaves like one. The first week can feel like February and the last can feel like spring, and the clocks going forward on the last Sunday of the month makes the shift feel abrupt rather than gradual: one week the evening ends at seven, the next it runs to eight.

It is also the windiest stretch of the year. Ten wet days is an improvement on the winter, but March rain arrives sideways more often than it falls straight down, which is the month umbrellas are destroyed in.

#What to Do in Amsterdam in March

Keukenhof opens

The bulb gardens south of the city open in the middle of March and run to the middle of May. Mid-March is early: the crocuses and daffodils are out and the tulips largely are not. Going now means a quieter visit and a less spectacular one, which is a genuine trade rather than a wrong choice.

The bulb fields are not Keukenhof

This is the most common misunderstanding of a Dutch spring trip. Keukenhof is a ticketed garden, planted for display, in Lisse. The bulb fields are commercial flower farms spread across the countryside around it, and they are free: they are simply there, beside roads and cycle paths, and you look at them from the edge because walking into a crop is both rude and damaging. The fields also run on a different clock from the garden, because growers cut the heads once the bulb has taken what it needs, so a field that is spectacular one week is bare the next. In March both are early. Doing one does not substitute for the other.

The parks before the crowds

Vondelpark and the Amsterdamse Bos come back to life in March, weeks before the terraces are reliably warm. This is when locals start using them again and visitors have not yet arrived.

Museums on the last quiet weeks

The tulip season brings the year's first real crowds in April. March is the last stretch where the major museums behave the way they do in winter.

The first terraces

Somewhere around the middle of the month the first outdoor tables appear, usually with blankets and heaters. Sitting outside in March is an act of optimism and the city commits to it early.

#Getting Around

The wind matters more than the rain for anyone on a bike. A crosswind on an open stretch beside the IJ is the thing visitors are least prepared for, and it is worse than the same wind on a street with buildings either side.

Cycling becomes properly pleasant in the last week or so. Before that, the trams are the honest answer on a bad day.

March is also the month when named storms come through, and when they do the effects are practical rather than dramatic: the free IJ ferries can be suspended, exposed train lines slow down, and Schiphol handles more diverted and delayed flights than in any other month of the first half of the year. None of this is a reason not to come. It is a reason not to schedule a tight connection on a windy day.

#Budget & Costs

March is still shoulder-season pricing until the last week, when the first tulip visitors start to lift rates.

• Hostel dorm €35–50; mid-range hotel €120–180
• Lunch €10–16; dinner main €17–25
• Keukenhof entry is ticketed and cheaper booked online than at the gate
• Train south to the bulb region about €6–9 each way; the fields themselves cost nothing

Expect €100–155 a day outside the room. The date matters more than the budget here: rates start climbing in the last week, so a trip on the 20th and a trip on the 30th are priced differently for the same weather.

#Food & Dining

March food sits between the two seasons. The winter dishes are still on menus and the lighter things start appearing alongside them.

Booking becomes advisable again towards the end of the month, particularly at weekends, as the first spring visitors arrive. Early March is still walk-in territory.

#Nightlife

The clock change is the event. Before it, evenings behave like winter; after it, the city discovers it can be outside after work, and terraces start filling on any dry evening regardless of temperature.

Indoor venues run their full programmes throughout.

#Shopping

Spring stock arrives and the flower shops are the visible change: bunches of tulips appear everywhere and are absurdly cheap by the standards of anywhere else.

The Bloemenmarkt is worth a look now that buying bulbs makes sense, though check your own country's import rules before you buy.

#Culture & Etiquette

The clocks move forward on the last Sunday in March. It is worth checking, because it is the one thing most likely to cost you a flight or a booked museum slot.

Otherwise the standing rules apply, and the bike lanes get busier every week from here.

#Essential Local Phrases

#Packing List

• A waterproof with a hood, because umbrellas do not survive March
• Layers, for a month that spans two seasons
• Waterproof shoes
• A warm layer for evenings, which stay cold well past the clock change
• Sunglasses, for low bright sun between showers
• A contactless card

#Safety & Health

Wind is the March hazard and it is underrated. Gusts across open water unseat cyclists, and a crosswind on a bridge is the worst combination.

Wet cobbles and tram rails stay slippery. Canal edges remain unfenced, and it is still dark by seven in the first half of the month.

Pharmacies are apotheek; the emergency number is 112.

#Backup Plans

March rain is usually short and violent rather than all-day, so the useful backup is an hour long. Foam, the Willet-Holthuysen canal house and the Hortus glasshouses all fit. For a longer wait, the Rijksmuseum still absorbs an afternoon without a booked slot at this point in the year.