Festival · Stichting Prinsengrachtconcert
Prinsengracht Concert
Prinsengracht, outside Hotel Pulitzer, Amsterdam52.37280, 4.88340
About the event
Since the early 1980s, one August evening has turned the Prinsengracht outside Hotel Pulitzer into Amsterdam's best-known open-air concert. A floating stage hosts a pre-concert set from 20:00 and the main programme from around 21:20, broadcast live on Dutch TV since 1984, plus a separate afternoon children's concert with young soloists and the Youth Orchestra Netherlands. Boat spots on the water are allocated by an early-year lottery, boats up to 8 metres get priority, longer ones only if space remains; everyone else watches free from the banks and bridges.
The organiser
The foundation behind Amsterdam's best-known open-air classical concert, run every August since the early 1980s from a floating stage on the Prinsengracht outside Hotel Pulitzer, broadcast live on Dutch TV since 1984.
From the water
One evening every August the Prinsengracht fills with boats end to end for a concert broadcast live on national TV. If you're not one of the lottery's boat winners, you can still watch it unfold from any bridge or quay along the route, it is genuinely free either way.
How it works
Going to this one by boat
Being there: A lottery-won boat spot on the water, or free from any bridge or quay along the Prinsengracht, arrive early for a clear view either way.
Toilets: No facilities on the water and the quaysides are packed. Go before you leave, or plan around a nearby café.
Tickets: Free to watch from land or (if you won the lottery) from the water. Pontoon seating is reserved for sponsors, not sold publicly.
Joining
There are two ways in: a boat spot on the water, limited and allocated below, or completely free from any bridge or quay along the Prinsengracht, no registration needed there at all.
Boat entryClosed Sat 30 May
Registration opens 1 April and closes 30 May each year, a roughly twelve-week window. It only becomes a real lottery if more boats register than there's room for: those up to 8 metres get priority, longer ones only if space remains, with a waitlist after that. No cost to enter, and registering doesn't guarantee a spot. Historically, everyone who registered heard by email a few weeks before the concert (by 29 July in the 2022 season), not on the day.
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Where to moor
Watching from your own boat needs registering months ahead (see Joining below), it is not a turn-up-and-raft-up event like some others. Without a registered spot, the bridges and quays along the Prinsengracht give a proper free view instead.
Public canal-wall docking where the Rozengracht crosses the Prinsengracht, in the Nine Streets (de Negen Straatjes), room for about 3 boats. Step off for Maijard Smashburgers, with an Albert Heijn (Westermarkt 21) a short walk for ice and provisions.
Weather & wind
Forecast lands closer to the day. Check back within 10 days of the event.
Our take as floating people
A proper Amsterdam institution, worth building an evening around even without a boat spot: the bridges and quays along the route give a genuinely good free view, and a packed canal on a summer night is hard to match. If you do want to watch from the water, remember the lottery opens in spring, months before the concert, so it needs planning well ahead, not a decision made in August.
Don't miss the next one
Events like this need real planning, sometimes a captain's spot needs booking weeks out. Set a reminder, and we'll email you about this one and others like it.
Good to know
Do I need a ticket to watch this?
No. It is free from the bridges and quays along the Prinsengracht. Only a boat spot on the water needs the lottery.
How do I get a boat spot?
Register when it opens each spring, 1 April to 30 May. It only becomes a lottery if there's more demand than room: boats up to 8 metres get priority, longer ones only if space remains, with a waitlist after that. There is no cost to enter, and registering does not guarantee a spot. You'd hear by email a few weeks before the concert, not on the day.
Is it broadcast on TV?
Yes, live on Dutch television since 1984, and the pre-programme airs on NPO Klassiek radio too.
Is there a children's version?
Yes, a separate afternoon children's concert runs the same day, with young soloists and the Youth Orchestra Netherlands.
Around the event · 6
Curated Floating Today spots within a short hop of the water here.
More on the water
We list this as an event we think is worth knowing about. We're not the organiser, and these details aren't official. Stichting Prinsengrachtconcert and the signs on the quay have the final say, so give them the final word. More in our Terms.