Amsterdam ready for King's Day festivities

"Weather or no weather, King's Day in Amsterdam will again be a big party for young and old this year with flea markets throughout the city, live music on smaller venues and big parties on the outskirts of the city", the city of Amsterdam said in a press release on Thursday. The municipality released some advice, tips and warnings, to make sure everyone celebrating King's Day in the Dutch capital will have an enjoyable day.

Be prepared, the city advices. Keep an eye on the weather forecasts and plan your train journey to Amsterdam using the NS travel planner. Make sure you have money on your public transit card in advance, to avoid lines at the ticket machines. Or buy a Oranje tour ticket, available at NS online with a 20 percent King's Day discount until 2:00 p.m. on Friday.

The five big parties on the outskirts of the city are: Loveland van Oranje in Meerpark, Oranjebloesem on Pampuslaan, Kingsland Festival in the RAI, Apenkooi Koninginnedag in Olympisch Gebied and Urban Music Festival on Turbinestraat. Tickets are available online until 11:00 a.m. on Friday. No tickets will be sold at the door, and only people with a ticket will be allowed in. More information about the parties can be found here.

A one-piece alcohol policy will apply to the Amsterdam city center on King's Day and Night. That means that visitors are only allowed to have one can or bottle of alcohol with them. 300 enforcement and supervision officers will be deployed to make sure everyone adheres to the rules.

As usual, there will be one-way traffic on the Prinsengracht on Friday. Waternet and the enforcement officers will keep an eye on the canals. Extra attention will also be paid to noise pollution both on the water and on the shore.

The Amsterdam police warns King's Day celebrators to be wary of pickpockets - stay aware of your surroundings, don't let a pickpocket distract you, and keep an eye on your personal belongings. Make sure you have a 'find my phone' app installed on your phone, in case it gets stolen.

The city is also placing 1,500 extra waste bins and deploying cleaning teams during the day, to keep Amsterdam as clean as possible. The municipality calls on celebrators to make use of the bins - don't litter. Celebrators on the canals can put their waste on one of the waste boats that will be on the water. Items that have not been sold at the flea markets can by dropped off at one of the 11 recycling containers in the city.

After the parties are over, the real clean up begins. 700 cleaners will be deployed to work through the night to get Amsterdam clean again within 24 hours.