Last updated: September 2026
Amsterdam in January can be desolate and grey. It’s a month of short and dark days, with a lot of rain. One must take advantage of every ray of sun and, whenever a sunny day comes, you will see many people sitting outside, face turned towards the sun, like lizards absorbing the much needed solar energy. The year usually starts with a lot of rain, and, with all the vitamin D supplements, I feel depleted and down by January. After continuous rain, when we are finally blessed with a sunny day, I make sure to take advantage of it.
As soon as I see the sun in the sky, I am immediately out, taking pictures and drinking coffee on a bench, outside, at zero degrees Celsius. Years ago, I would have never dreamt of sitting at an open-air restaurant in the winter. But after surviving many winters in the Netherlands, I learned how to do that. I enjoy it very much nowadays. The happiness of sitting in the sun, face and body warmed up by the light, is the thing that gives me hope that this year too, the spring will come.
What to do in Amsterdam in January
↪ Hide in a cosy café
As most days are dark and rainy, the best thing to do is hide somewhere indoors, for a coffee or tea and cake. If you are to survive the winter, you need that cake! Some of my favourite cake shops in Amsterdam are: De Drie Graefjes, Petit Gateau, De Laatste Kruimel, Tout Patisserie, Winkel 43.
For something darker and older, go to a brown café instead. Café Chris, Café Papeneiland and Café ‘t Smalle are all small and warm, and they serve coffee as happily as jenever. If you want to eat your way through the city rather than drink your way through it, I’ve written a whole guide to that.
↪ Go to museums and art galleries
January is also a good time of the year to check out the city’s museums and art galleries. There are cool exhibitions all year round in Amsterdam, so there’s plenty to see. I love going to the museum in winter, when I can watch the exhibitions without feeling rushed.
It is also the emptiest month in them. The queues are smaller or non existing. The Anne Frank House is the exception — book that one ahead whatever the month. If you’re planning more than two or three museums, a Museumkaart or a city pass pays for itself almost immediately.
↪ Dance shows and concerts
Or maybe you would prefer a concert or a dance show? For this, check out the ITA Amsterdam, Paradiso, Mezrab, Melkweg, Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ, Bitterzoet, Concertgebouw and the many other smaller venues.
The Concertgebouw also runs free half-hour lunchtime concerts every week. They’re free, but you still need to reserve a ticket, and they go quickly.
↪ Enjoy the sun
When it’s sunny, you have to go out, no matter what. Leave everything behind and go outside to enjoy those yellow sun rays. Clear skies offer a postcard-like view over the canals, and you can almost feel the joy of a sunny day in the surrounding air. Have a lunch in the sun, watch the boats or people passing by and think about the fact that days grow longer from now on.
↪ National Tulip Day
To feel a taste of the spring to come, go to National Tulip Day. It happens on the third Saturday of January, which in 2027 falls on the 16th, and it has moved: it outgrew Dam Square in 2022 and now takes place on Museumplein. Growers lay out a picking garden of around 200,000 tulips and hand you a bag, and you pick ten of your own to take home. It’s free. Go early, as the garden opens at one in the afternoon and in recent years the queues were impressive.
If the tulips get you, the fields themselves start flowering in April; I’ve written a full guide to where to find them: Where to See Tulip Fields in the Netherlands: A Complete Guide.
↪ Amsterdam Light Festival – until 17 January 2027
In the evenings, you can enjoy the Amsterdam Light Festival, a yearly event that illuminates the city’s canals and streets with light installations, from November until January. It’s one of those things people look forward to each year, because it’s a welcome distraction during the dark winter days.
The fifteenth edition runs from 26 November 2026 to 17 January 2027, so January gives you about two and a half weeks of it. The works are lit from five in the afternoon, which in January is just after sunset. It works better by boat than on foot, and it’s warmer, but the walking route is free if you’d rather not book anything.
Seeing Amsterdam from the canals is always special, which is why I’ve partnered with Pure Boats. You can book a luxury cruise here:
↪ Go ice skating
If you are lucky, and it’s cold enough for the canals to freeze, you can experience one of the most magical winter activities in Amsterdam: ice skating. This doesn’t happen often, though. But if it does, you’ll see that everyone and their mom is on the canals, skating or walking, drinking mulled wine from the stands appearing on the ice. Not as magical, but still fun!
It takes several nights of hard frost in a row before the ice is ready, and this country gets slightly obsessed while it waits. The word you’ll hear on the news is Elfstedentocht — the 200-kilometre skating tour through eleven Frisian cities, which needs 15 centimetres of ice along the entire route before it can be held. It was last skated on 4 January 1997. If the conditions ever line up again, the organisers give 48 hours’ notice and the Netherlands stops what it is doing.
When the canals insist to stay liquid, which they usually do, there are two rinks. The one on Museumplein sits in front of the Rijksmuseum and runs from mid-November to early February; it’s small, busy and easy to walk to. The Jaap Eden rink in Oost is the serious one: a 400-metre outdoor track where Amsterdammers actually train, open from October into March, with skates for hire.
↪ Book a photo session
To get a boost to your self-esteem and have some fun, you could book a photo session. Most of the people who joined me for a portrait photo session told me afterwards that they enjoyed it because it was an activity that took their mind away from the daily issues.
↪ Browse the bookstores
Browse one of Amsterdam’s bookstores and find new books to read on the rainy days. Then go home, get cosy and read those books. Winter is, after all, the season of rest, of taking things slowly and remembering the little joys in life.
For English-language books, Athenaeum and the American Book Center sit next to each other on the Spui, and Scheltema is a few minutes away on the Rokin. The Spui also holds a book market every Friday from ten to six, all year round and rain doesn’t stop it.
The Dutch January
Some of what happens in January isn’t on any visitor calendar.
The oliebollen stands are still up in the first days of the month, selling the fried dough balls everyone eats around New Year, and then one morning they’re gone until next December. The Christmas trees go next. From around the second of January the city opens collection points and sends trucks to take them away, and for a few weeks the pavements are lined with dead spruce.
The food gets heavier. Snert is thick pea soup with smoked sausage, thick enough that the spoon is supposed to stand up in it. Stamppot is mashed potato with kale or sauerkraut. Both are winter food and January is their month.
On 1 January people run into the North Sea for the Nieuwjaarsduik, which is supposed to be a great way to welcome the new year.
And there are the sales. The uitverkoop starts in the first week of January and runs through most of the month, which is when the Kalverstraat gets busy again.
January dates for your diary
- 1 January — Nieuwjaarsduik, Scheveningen
- Until 17 January 2027 — Amsterdam Light Festival, fifteenth edition
- Saturday 16 January 2027 — National Tulip Day, Museumplein, from 13:00
- 28-31 January 2027 — Jumping Amsterdam, RAI
- Mid-November to early February — ice rink on Museumplein
- October to March — Jaap Eden outdoor rink, Amsterdam Oost
If you’re planning further ahead, I’ve written about Amsterdam in spring and Amsterdam in autumn as well. And here is a yearly events list, month by month: Amsterdam Events: Your Month-by-Month Calendar.
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