Amsterdam Dance Event – ADE
The biggest electronic music festival in the world
In October, Amsterdam Dance Event takes over the city for a week of electronic music events right across Amsterdam. The ADE is a conference and electronic music festival celebrating and supporting everything to do with the electronic music scene. It is designed not only to enjoy the music at various hugely popular events around the city but also explore electronic music and support its creators through a full programme of conference events too.
If you are in Amsterdam in October you can blow the winter blues away and continue summer’s party.
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Amsterdam Dance Event – ADE – is incredibly popular and regularly attracts over 400,000 visitors to almost 200 locations throughout Amsterdam.
Visiting Amsterdam Dance Event – ADE
When is ADE 2024?
Amsterdam Dance Event is an annual celebration of all things electronic music – it lasts for five days and takes place between 16-20 October 2024.
Getting around
Most of the events are spread out across the city. There are nearly 200 locations involved in the ADE, some will be closer to each other, others may be further afield. You can use the excellent Amsterdam public transport to help you get around the city or walk/cycle. There are late options too with a night bus for those late club nights.
Some events are held at the NDSM Warehouse across the River IJ. Learn how to get to NDSM from Central Station for free.
Main events at Amsterdam Dance Event
The festival runs over five days from Wednesday to Sunday (16-20 October). The conference runs during the day for four days and is centered around DeLaMar Theatre, Compagnietheatre and De Braake Grond. The Generator Hostel is also involved in the programme. The music is not limited to the evenings only, there are day time events too, which include art exhibitions, film screenings, DJ performances and special products too.
Johan Cruiyff ArenA
On Saturday night (20 Oct) the Johan Cruyff ArenA hosts the biggest live event of the festival where you can expect the biggest DJ’s to attend and entertain the vast crowds. You can find out more about Johan Cruiyff ArenA and even take a tour of the stadium.
Over 1000 events
You are spolit for choice during the ADE Festival. There are usually over 1000 special events running over the five days, these are hosted in 200 different venues and attract well over 2000 electronic music artists. Basically, if you love electronic music then Amsterdam in mid October is your mecca.
Full schedule at Amsterdam Dance Event
With such a packed schedule of events and major stars of electronic music in attendance, we’ll pass you over to the official ADE Programme 2024 for full details of who is performing and where.
Where to stay for the Amsterdam Music Event (ADE)
Amsterdam is a compact city with an excellent public transport network. It has buses, the famous trams, the canals and a metro (underground/subway). However, you’ll also find a lot of people just like to walk from place to place enjoying the beautiful city or use a bike. Whichever transport you prefer, you’ll find it easy to get around Amsterdam.
The reason we say this is because it does not matter too much where you stay in Amsterdam, as it is easy to get from place to place fairly quickly. If you want to experience more than just the festival then staying in central Amsterdam or in the museum district will put you in the heart of the city near a lot of the biggest attractions.
We have a whole section on where to stay in Amsterdam, along with our hotel recommendations for Amsterdam. You can also use our Amsterdam map which lays out some of the biggest tourist attractions, so you can work out what else you might like to see and enjoy whilst visiting.
Heineken partners the Amsterdam Music Event
Heineken is one of the main sponsors for the ADE in Amsterdam. It is a logical partnership, especially when you think of the Heineken Experience attraction situated in the heart of Amsterdam. This is one of Amsterdam’s most popular attractions and looks at the history of the brewery and how the brand was built. It’s a very good way to spend a few hours in the lead up to your evening events.
We have a dedicated page all about the Heineken Experience or if you already know you want to go as part of your visit to Amsterdam, you can use the link below to book your tickets now.