Amsterdam Light Festival 2026-2027: cruise, walk or bike?

1. The cruise: see the artworks from the water

The canal cruise

From €29.75 About 75 minutes Enclosed, heated boat Departures from 4:30pm

According to the festival’s ticket FAQ, the cruise starts at €29.75 per person. Several guides and operators note that many artworks are designed to be seen from the canal, close to the reflections, which is the main difference from walking. The nearest departure points are a few minutes’ walk from Centraal Station: according to Stromma’s 2026-2027 page, its boarding point at Damrak is less than five minutes from the station.

Highlights

• Heated boat and audio guide in Dutch and English, plus German depending on the operator.
• 50% off for children aged 4 to 12, free for children aged 0 to 3 who don’t take a seat, and 25% off for students with a valid CJP card.
• Mobile ticket, with changes or cancellation possible up to 24 hours before, depending on the operator.

The open-top boat exists too. It comes with blankets, but the December cold is hard to shake. According to visitor reviews on Headout, the audio can be hard to hear from the bridge.

Pixidia tip: arrive 15 to 30 minutes before departure and book your slot in advance. In winter, boarding can take a while even with a booked ticket, as visitor guides point out.

Amsterdam Light Festival Canal Cruise With Unlimited Drinks €31.80 per adult (based on 2 people) during the festival · departures confirmed on every day of the festival · ★ 4.4 (701 reviews)

Book my cruise with drinks

2. The walk: free and at your own pace

The walking route

€0 to see the artworks About 1.5 to 2 hours Cold and rain are common Dark from 4:30pm

You see the artworks without a ticket, from streets, bridges and canal banks. The route follows the canals and you can start anywhere: according to the official walk page, the suggested starting points for a first visit are Amstel 1 and Waterlooplein. Nothing says you have to do it in one go, so you can split it across several evenings.

The 2026-2027 route isn’t published yet, and the official pages don’t give the same route length. Plan for an hour and a half to two hours depending on your pace, and check the map in the app before you set off.

Highlights

• The festival app is free to download. The Light Walk audio route costs about €7, with official pages listing €6.99 or €7.99 depending on the source.
• The Kids Walk, at €3.99, is a treasure hunt with quizzes and a small prize at the end, recommended for ages 7 to 12. Younger children can come along.
• Map and app announced for mid-November, with walk tickets on sale from 24 November.

Pixidia tip: there are no toilets along the route. The festival points to the city’s public toilet map instead. Download the app before you go, as signal can be weak along the quays. Bridges and uneven cobbles need care with a pushchair.

3. The guided bike tour: fast, with a guide

The bike tour

Price not officially published 1.5 to 2 hours, break included 12 people maximum Pre-booking from late November

According to the Yellow Bike tour page, the tour starts at Yellow Bike Central Station, on De Ruijterkade, and ends at Nieuwezijds Kolk. A local guide rides with you, a hot drink is included, and the group is capped at 12 people.

The price doesn’t appear on the official page. Resellers quote roughly €22 to €40 per person, depending on the slot and the platform, so compare what’s included before you book.

Highlights

• Gets you close to the artworks, which is what the official pages highlight.
• Faster than walking, so a good option if you want to see a lot in one evening.
• Rental bikes come with lights, but check them before you set off.

Pixidia tip: in the Netherlands, a front light (white or yellow) and a rear light (red) are mandatory after dark, as iAmsterdam reminds riders. The tour isn’t suitable for people with reduced mobility or very young children. Dress warmly.

4. Cruise, walk or bike: what to pick for your visit

For a first visit or with children, the cruise is still the simplest choice. You sit inside, warm, with an audio guide, and get an overview of the canals in one evening. The downside is the fixed departure time and a view that doesn’t change.

For budget and freedom, walking is hard to beat. Seeing the artworks costs nothing, and the pace is yours, in one evening or several. You’ll be exposed to cold, rain and crowds on the bridges, and some artworks look better from the water. An audio guide adds the descriptions for about €7.

For getting around fast with a guide, the bike is the most packed option. It gets you close to the artworks in under two hours, but it takes confidence cycling at night and it isn’t for younger children.

For two adults, here are rough figures: walking without audio €0, walking with the audio route about €14 to €16, standard cruise about €59.50, guided bike between €44 and €80 depending on the reseller. The combination we recommend most often is a cruise on the first evening, then a walk the next day, on a weekday, early in the run. The Christmas holidays and New Year are the busiest times.

5. Dates, times and tickets

The festival runs from Thursday 26 November 2026 to Sunday 17 January 2027. According to the general FAQ, the lights come on every day from 4:30pm until 11pm. On 31 December, switch-off is brought forward to 9pm. The information point is open Thursday to Sunday from 4:30pm to 9pm, and every day during the Christmas holidays except 25 and 31 December, as stated on the dates and times page.

Cruise and walk tickets have been on sale since 1 October 2026. Cancellation rules depend on who sells the ticket: tickets from the official shop can’t be cancelled, but they can be moved up to 24 hours before. Stromma and LOVERS allow cancellation or changes up to 24 hours before, subject to their terms. If the festival is affected by force majeure, the official shop refunds within four weeks after the festival ends. Read the terms at checkout.

From London, the Eurostar runs direct from St Pancras to Amsterdam Centraal in about four hours. Eurostar’s site shows fares in pounds sterling, from £30.50 at the time of writing, but prices move with the date, so check when you book. For more ways to fit Amsterdam into a longer trip, our guide to international day trips from Paris covers transport and time on the ground.

British visitors need a valid passport to enter the Netherlands. For a tourist stay, no visa is needed for up to 90 days in any 180-day period across the Schengen area. Your passport must have been issued less than 10 years before you arrive and must expire at least 3 months after you plan to leave the Schengen area. The EU Entry/Exit System (EES), which applies to non-EU visitors, takes fingerprints and a photo on your first entry. Check the UK government’s Netherlands travel advice before you fly, as it doesn’t mention ETIAS, the EU travel authorisation, yet.

In December and January, the average temperature sits around 5°C, with highs of 7 to 8°C, frequent rain and very little sun, according to Introducing Amsterdam. Night falls around 4:30 to 5pm, so book the museums for the daytime and save the light for the evening. The city is also under tourist pressure: Dutch press reports 23.7 million overnight stays in 2025, above the municipal ceiling of 20 million. For a breakdown of tourist taxes across Europe, see our 2026 comparison of tourist taxes.