20 Best European Cities to Visit in the Winter, According to Travel Experts
"A winter-long public art event featuring high-tech, artist-designed light installations along the city’s canals; programmed to brighten the dark months and complement other seasonal treats like street-bought hot doughnuts." - Lydia Mansel
Lydia Mansel
Lydia Mansel is a writer with more than eight years of experience editing and writing for both brands and online publications—with a particular focus on travel, fashion, and lifestyle. She’s also the founder of the travel site justpacked.com.
Travel + Leisure Editorial Guidelines
"A seasonal festival running into mid-January that features a route of light installations (27 installations in the edition noted) viewable by foot or canal boat, making winter evenings visually engaging." - Sophie Friedman
Sophie Friedman
Sophie Friedman is a journalist, editor, and fact-checker specializing in travel and anything related to it. She also writes for AFAR, Fodor's, and The Infatuation, and was previously editor-in-chief of Michelin Guide US.
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Very disappointed from this light festival!! Can't believe that some artist do such ugly art work and other bay big money they display it! Very overrated. As a dutch citizen told me- we advertise big but the product does not exist! The boat trip was standard, nothing different than other boat trips. Don't go, don't waist your money.
Michael Wu P.
Google
We saw the light festival in Amsterdam in 2018 and it was so great that we wanted to see it again this year, 2023. However, we were very disappointed at the 2023 light festival. Perhaps the theme of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is not quite ready for artist to grasp and express yet. I hope the light festival will be much better in future years.
Marta B.
Google
Its a pure scam.
Extremely poor selection of artwork which anyway is close to invisible if one decides to travel by boat….
And on the boat its impossible to see anything- windows are continuously covered in FOG.
Take it in account when uou decide to pay close to 30eurofor a ride.
Waste of money.
Frank G. S.
Google
It's not worth the extra trip.
The boat trips are organized chaotically in winter. In the summer it is much better managed.
The departure points for Floating Amsterdam Tours and Amsterdam Boat Experience are described inaccurately in the ticket. There is no exact name on the pier on site. Boarding is chaotic. Amsterdam Boat Experience sends its passengers back and forth. Everything is so unprofessional. There are tickets online with a QR code and glow sticks on the pier that assign the boat. The glow stick was retracted during boarding.
The choice of boat is lottery. If it's half open, it'll rain and you'll be partially wet. When it's dry, the boat has windows that are smeared and it's like being in a sweat lodge inside.
You can forget about taking photos.
The paths on the pier are not prepared for winter. Danger of accidents.
The usual explanations on board.
Some Stewarts are very frugal with drinks. Passengers must serve themselves.
The motto and the artwork are a matter of taste, but art is okay.
Overall, the Light Festival wasn't a big hit for us. You can take a look. The problems on the boat detract from the already charmless atmosphere.
Simona B.
Google
Let's just not call it festival! There're only a few illuminated sculptures or objects. Far from what is presented and much too over-appreciated! In the end, it was just a very nice boat ride!
ricardo A.
Google
Nice light sculptures over de canal with good stories behind. Nothing spectacular. The artworks are, in my opinion, too separated from each other, which means that if you want to see it all, you need at least 2 to 3 hours to walk. An option is, of course, by boat, but this is too limited and costly. After seeing the Christmas light festival in Medellin for a few years (which is really fascinating), it is difficult to be easily content.
Nyasha 'Naya' U.
Google
Underwhelming to say the least. The boat tour was nice and so was the captain and the idea of the art is actually very interesting, also liked the tid bits about Amsterdam's history (this is why I gave two stars). But they were so little. They say there was 20+ pieces but it was not relative to the length of the tour(1 hour). Were they 20+ pieces? Yes. But it was soooo far scatterd and small that you felt like you saw 5 pieces. People on the boat fell asleep!! The word "festival" is far from what it is. My advice, take all of this art and put it in a smaller museum showroom (trust me it can fit) and walk the streets of amsterdam at night during the holidays (those lights a big, pretty, bright and free! (They are not art sure but it puts more of the word "festive" in festival)). Sad part is? ALF will continue to make money because people (like me) will just go expecting a lot, already paid, and leave dissatisfied. Dutch and tourists alike had the same sentiments as we did when we got off that boat... and it was summarized as "that's it?"
Romina L.
Google
What a bad tour!
My worst 28.5€ spent ever in a sightseeing
We did it with Stromma in a closed boat because they didn’t have semi open ones, but just fully open boat, which looked like a kayak, no way in December you get into one of those with rain and wind. Anyways, you will not see all they advertise in the website! If you sit on the left side of the boat, most attractions are in the right side 🙃 so you don’t see them at all
The explanation is soooo fancy but when you get to see one of the lights is so disappointing
I also think some of the lights announced in the speakers of the boat were not at all there tbh ….
I attach the “photos” of what I could see from my seat