This winter, Amsterdam Light Festival celebrates 15 years of illuminating the city with extraordinary works of light art. From 26th November 2026 until 17th January 2027, Amsterdam’s winter evenings will once again become the backdrop for a new collection of installations created by artists from the Netherlands and around the world.
Book Your Private Amsterdam Light Festival Cruise Now
The artworks are made to be seen from the water. We arrange private Light Festival cruises with a heated, covered boat just for your group, a local captain who knows the route, and drinks and snacks on board.
Booking is open now for the 2026/27 season, and the best evenings and boats go first.
This year’s festival marks an important milestone. Over the past 15 years, light artworks have appeared along Amsterdam’s canals, bridges, streets and waterfronts, transforming familiar parts of the city for a few weeks each winter. Some have been playful, others thought-provoking, and many have used Amsterdam itself as part of the artwork.
For 2026, the anniversary brings something new too. Alongside a fresh collection of light art, the festival moves to a new route through the eastern side of the historic centre, giving both first-time and returning visitors a different way to experience Amsterdam after dark.
Would you rather see it from the water? Our private Amsterdam Light Festival cruises take you along the route on your own fully electric boat, for anything from 90 minutes to 3 hours, with drinks and snacks available on board. Weekends and the Christmas holidays book up quickly, so it is worth reserving early.
Amsterdam Light Festival first illuminated the city in 2012. In the years since, artists from around the world have used light to tell stories, challenge ideas and transform Amsterdam’s streets and waterways into an open-air gallery.
The 2026 festival celebrates those 15 years of light art while looking ahead to what comes next. A new generation of installations will once again interact with the city around them, using reflections, historic architecture, bridges and water as part of the experience.
And while 15 years is certainly something to celebrate, this isn’t simply a look back. New artworks, a new route and a new setting give the 2026 festival its own character, continuing a winter tradition that has become part of Amsterdam’s darker months.
Amsterdam Light Festival 2026 runs from 26 November 2026 until 17 January 2027, covering 53 of Amsterdam’s darkest winter evenings.
It is an evening festival, so the artworks only come into their own once it is properly dark. The festival has now published its official times: the lights are on every day from 4.30pm until 11pm.
A cruise along the route takes about 75 minutes. The walking route is 4.5 kilometres, and you can walk it in one go or in shorter sections using the festival app.
The festival also runs information points at Inside Amstel 1 and near Central Station. They are open Thursday to Sunday from 4.30pm to 9pm, and every day between 19 December and 3 January. The organisers ask visitors to travel by public transport or bicycle, which is sound advice in the centre on a winter evening.
The 2026/27 route is a 5.3 km loop through the eastern canals, and you can follow all of it by boat or on foot. It starts on the Amstel, turns into the Nieuwe Prinsengracht and the Plantage Muidergracht, comes back along the Nieuwe Keizersgracht and the Nieuwe Herengracht, then runs up through the Schippersgracht into the Oosterdok. From there it heads back down the Oudeschans and the Zwanenburgwal, past the Groenburgwal, and rejoins the Amstel where it began.
The Amsterdam Light Festival 2026/27 route: a 5.3 km loop you can follow by boat or on foot. We will add each artwork to this map, with details, as soon as the festival publishes it.
By boat the loop takes about 75 minutes. On foot it is a comfortable evening walk, and because the paths run alongside the canals the whole way you can join the route at any point. Waterlooplein and the Plantage are the easiest places to pick it up from the middle of town.
The light artworks are free to see from the streets and canal sides, so you can simply wrap up warm and walk from one to the next.
The 20 artworks are spread along the whole route rather than gathered in one spot, so no single place shows you everything. Some stretches are better than others though, and these are the ones we point our guests towards.
The Amstel itself is the widest water on the route, and that width is the point. Both banks give you a clear view straight across, so wherever you end up standing you are looking at the art with open water in front of it rather than peering down a narrow canal.
The Magere Brug is the classic. The river is at its broadest here and on a still evening the water doubles everything above it, which is why it is the most photographed bridge in the city during the festival.
The stretch beside the Rembrandthuis works for the opposite reason. The canal narrows, the old houses lean in over the water, and the light has somewhere to bounce.
Around City Hall and the Stopera it opens out again, with room for the bigger pieces and a clear line of sight across the water.
At the top of the route, NEMO and the Oosterdok give you the widest view of all. Open water, the city behind you, and on a calm night reflections that run for a hundred metres.
By boat you pass every one of them in a single loop. On foot, each is only a few minutes from Waterlooplein.
We will add every artwork to the map above, with the artist, the title and what to look for, as soon as the festival publishes the list. That usually happens shortly before opening night, and we update the same day.
For returning visitors it means a different view of the festival and a new backdrop for the artworks, with historic canals, bridges and waterside neighbourhoods becoming part of the experience.
One of the joys of Amsterdam Light Festival is never quite knowing what will appear around the next corner. Over the past 15 years, artworks have floated above the canals, climbed buildings, illuminated bridges and transformed familiar parts of Amsterdam into something completely different.
Some installations are enormous and impossible to miss, while others reward a closer look. There have been works that make you laugh, pieces that tell a much deeper story and others that are simply beautiful to see reflected in the water on a dark winter evening.
One particularly memorable example was Starry Night by Ivana Jelić and Pavle Petrović. Inspired by Vincent van Gogh‘s famous painting, the installation recreated its swirling night sky in light, bringing one of the world’s most recognisable works of art into the streets of Amsterdam. It was a wonderful example of how the festival can take something familiar and allow you to experience it in a completely different way.
At the other end of the spectrum was Hiding in the Wolf’s Lair, created by Republic of Amsterdam Radio and Nomad Tinker House for the 2019 festival. Set beside ARTIS on the Plantage Muidergracht, four illuminated wolves surrounded figures hiding in the attic of a waterside building. The work told the remarkable story of the 250–300 people who found places to hide within Amsterdam’s zoo during the Second World War, including Jewish people, resistance members, families and men escaping forced labour.
It is an extraordinary and still relatively little-known part of Amsterdam’s wartime history, and one that gave the artwork considerably more meaning once you understood the story behind it. That connection feels particularly relevant again in 2026, as the new route takes the festival through this part of Amsterdam and the historic Jewish Quarter, which you can explore by day on our private Anne Frank and Jewish Quarter walking tour.
That variety is part of what has kept the festival interesting for 15 years. The route and artworks may change, but the pleasure of discovering Amsterdam transformed by light remains.
Prefer to see it from the water? A private boat, your own captain, and drinks on board.
There are two main ways to experience Amsterdam Light Festival, and they offer quite different views of the artworks.
Walking gives you the freedom to explore at your own pace. You can stop for photographs, spend longer with a favourite piece and get closer to installations that reward a little more attention. It also gives you the chance to explore the streets and neighbourhoods around the route, and perhaps stop somewhere warm along the way.
Seeing the festival from the water is a very different experience. Many of the artworks are designed with the canals in mind, and reflections on the water, bridges and surrounding buildings can all become part of the work. A canal cruise also has the considerable advantage of being warm and comfortable on a cold Amsterdam winter evening.
If you have the time, there is no reason not to do both. Some artworks look completely different from the water than they do from the street, and walking afterwards gives you the chance to return to anything that particularly caught your eye.
For a warmer and more relaxed way to see the festival, a private luxury canal cruise gives you the chance to experience the artworks from the water without the crowds of the larger public boats.
The route is particularly suited to seeing the installations from the canals, where reflections, bridges and the surrounding architecture become part of the experience. With your own boat, there is also more space to sit back and enjoy the festival rather than simply moving from one artwork to the next.
We use several moorings around the route, and your boarding point depends on which cruise you choose. You will find the departure point for each one, along with times and availability, on our Amsterdam Light Festival cruise page.
See our private Amsterdam Light Festival boat tours
Whether you walk the route, see it from the water or do a bit of both, the 15th edition is a wonderful reason to visit Amsterdam in winter. Wrap up warm, allow a few hours, and give yourself time to linger at the artworks that catch your eye.
If you would like the artworks to yourselves, a private Light Festival cruise is the most comfortable way to see them, and we are happy to help you plan the rest of your time in Amsterdam around it.
Amsterdam Light Festival runs from 26 November 2026 until 17 January 2027. The lights are on every day from 4.30pm until 11pm.
Yes. The light artworks can be viewed free of charge from the streets and canal sides along the route. You only need to pay if you choose a ticketed experience such as a canal cruise or one of the festival’s walking experiences.
The 2026/27 route is a 5.3 km loop through the eastern canals. In order it runs along the Amstel, the Nieuwe Prinsengracht, the Plantage Muidergracht, the Nieuwe Keizersgracht, the Nieuwe Herengracht, the Schippersgracht, the Oosterdok, the Oudeschans, the Zwanenburgwal and the Groenburgwal, before rejoining the Amstel where it began. Waterlooplein and the Plantage are the easiest places to join it from the middle of town.
The route is a loop of about 5.3 km. By boat it takes roughly 75 minutes. On foot it is a comfortable evening walk, and you can do it in full or in sections.
Yes. The paths run alongside the canals for the whole route, so you can walk all of it or just part of it, and join at any point. Walking is free, and the artworks can be seen from the streets and canal sides.
There are 20 artworks in Edition 15, spread along the whole route rather than gathered in one place. The festival has not yet published the individual works or their exact positions. We will add each one to our route map, with the artist and the title, as soon as it does.
Walking lets you explore at your own pace, stop at individual artworks and see them from close up. A boat gives you the view from the canals, where reflections on the water and the surrounding bridges and buildings often form part of the experience. If you have time, it is worth experiencing at least part of the route both ways.
Yes. Canal cruises are one of the main ways to experience Amsterdam Light Festival, with the artworks viewed from the water along the festival route. Our private Amsterdam Light Festival cruises give you your own boat for the evening, so you can take in the artworks at your own pace, away from the crowds on the larger shared boats.
Yes. The festival can be a fun way for families to explore Amsterdam after dark, particularly as the artworks vary enormously in size, style and subject. If you are walking the route with children, bear in mind that it takes place outdoors during the Dutch winter, so warm clothing and comfortable shoes are important.
You do not need a ticket simply to walk along the route and see the artworks. Canal cruises and ticketed walking experiences should be booked in advance, particularly if you are visiting on a busy evening or during the Christmas period.
