Canal Parade

Description

Route

Oosterdok – Nieuwe Herengracht – Amstel – Prinsengracht – Westerdok

Visitors on boats

Due to the growing number of visitors who want to arrive at Pride by boat and the limited space available, visitors arriving by boat need a Pride Vignette. If you want to come with family or friends by boat (up to 10 metres) and moor at the canal side, this is possible with a Pride Vignette. This helps prevent groups who do not contribute to organising our Pride from running their own parties during our event and causing most of the nuisance. Pride Vignettes go on sale from 1 July 2026 via www.botenparade.nl.

Visitors on the quayside

To create space for the many visitors on the quayside, it will be made car-free and a parking ban will apply on Saturday 1 August from 00:00 to 23:59. Residents with a parking permit will be given the opportunity by the municipality to park their car elsewhere (indoors).

Notice about Photography and Videography

During this event photo, video and audio recordings will be made for the organisation’s promotional, communication and editorial purposes. By entering the event area and/or taking part in the event you grant the organisation permission to capture and use images in which you may be recognisable via, among others, website, social media, print and other (online and offline) communication channels. No separate consent is required for this use and there is no right to compensation.

No amplified music on the quayside

To improve the event experience and further reduce neighbourhood noise, amplified sound on moored boats and on the shore has not been allowed along the route since 2019.

Visitors with disabilities

We have also considered visitors with disabilities and created a safe environment where people need not fear ending up in the water with a wheelchair. We will cordon off a section of the quay for this and provide wheelchair-accessible toilets there. Important: A maximum of 1 caretaker per visitor is allowed.

The registration form is now closed

Food & Drink

Along the route we have licensed several bars where beer, wine and soft drinks are sold and snack trucks offering burgers, fries, hot dogs, satay or a ham roll. The concessionaires make it possible for us to organise a boats parade. We hope you will bear that in mind and buy your drinks and snacks from them as much as possible.

Use toilets, please!

You may have to walk a bit further to find a portaloo or wait longer in line for paid, clean toilets; we are aware of this and try to provide as many facilities as possible. It is disrespectful to urinate against a car or lower your trousers in an entranceway. Urinating against trees or through mail slots is strictly forbidden and will be acted upon. Public urination is prohibited in Amsterdam under the General Local Regulation (APV) and carries a fine of €140. At the bottom of this page you’ll find a map showing all toilet locations.

Keeping Amsterdam clean

We understand that hundreds of thousands of Pride visitors can leave behind a considerable amount of litter, but we want to keep this to a minimum and therefore ask everyone to use the provided rubbish bags and to dispose of them afterwards in one of our bins along the route.

Toilets

Aftermovies

Participants

Organisations of small local LGBT foundations, national LGBT advocacy organisations, gay hospitality, pink networks of multinationals and banks, pink public institutions, political parties, ministries to (media) companies that support the emancipation struggle of the LGBT community were able to register until 2 February 2026 and on Saturday 14 February, during the kick-off event at Hotel Arena, it was announced which submissions best matched the theme and were awarded a start permit for Saturday 1 August 2026.

Despite heavily subsidised start permits for LGBTQIA+ organisations, total participation costs can be high and sometimes little money is left to decorate the boat beautifully. To convey the substantive message well and keep the parade interesting for the public, this is however necessary. Therefore, participants in categories 3 and 4 (Rainbow Friends S and L) and 10 and 11 (Pride Rainbow Partner L and XL) can apply to our visibility fund and request a financial contribution of up to €5,000. The application may not exceed 50% of the total costs.

Price List & Participant Regulations 2026

Selection Framework Canal Parade 2026