By Ricardas Beilskis
— You want to have a remarkable King’s Day experience, but are too adventurous or too hipster to confine yourself to Amsterdam, right? Or maybe you just want to make sure that if you wake up in a random place after King’s Night, say Rotterdam, you don’t waste time trying to get back home; no, you have stuff to do, places to see. If so, this section might just be the right one for you.
The Hague
Say you end up in The Hague, not a bad place to start. You might want to begin by equipping yourself with some cool stuff you can find at many of the local free markets for pennies on the dollar. The Hague is renowned for its variety of markets during King’s Day, many of which are located near the city center in streets like Boekhorstraat or Hamerstraat. Once you’re done browsing for trinkets and orange glasses you might want to check out some of the open parties going down in places like Spuiplein or Kerkplein.
Rotterdam
The Hague can’t handle you? You don’t just want to party, you want to after-party…on a boat! If so, take a short nap while you ride the bus to the city of Rotterdam. Then go to King William’s plaza, where under the bridge and next to the river you’ll find a massive outdoor electro/house party with an impressive lineup including UK artists Josh Butler and Mark Ikin. The event begins at 1pm and ends at 10:30pm, and the entrance costs 15eu. Once you’re done warming up, it’s time to depart the shore and show that river who is boss by partying for two and a half hours straight while drifting in a boat. This will set you back another 12.50eu, but then again, conquering a river to a house beat is not an option you get every day! Event link – click here.
Eindhoven
An outdoor party with a few thousand people and an after party on a boat is still not big enough? You’re looking to go all out, you want to make this day stand out, right? If so, parties are just not going to cut it. For this, a full-blown festival is required, and that is what you will find in Eindhoven’s Supersized. It is a huge event that has all the elements of a great festival: a lake, a beach and more stages than you can hope to see in a day. It is a bit more costly, with tickets being sold for 25eu, but it may be worth it since you are paying for eleven hours of pure joy, engulfed in music with your feet buried in the sand. Event link – click here.
Utrecht
If you’re feeling moderately adventurous, you might be interested in checking out the King House Festival at Utrecht’s Jaarbeurs. It looks to be a promising electro/house party with two stages, one indoor and one outdoor, that will be happening from noon until 22pm. However, the event does employ an orange / white dress code, so don’t forget to pack some suitable clothes and 17.50eu for the entrance. Event link – click here.
Groningen
If, on the other hand, you feel like exploring the horizons, you just might be interested in visiting Groningen. There, Upgrade Events is organizing a huge party with nine DJs from around Europe. The bash will be dance music oriented and will last from noon until 10pm. Tickets go for 15eu; however, getting there might be more expensive. Event link – click here.
The Herring 