Experiencing SAIL Amsterdam 2025: An Incredible Maritime Event!

2025 is an important year for Amsterdam. It’s the 750th anniversary of Amsterdam becoming a city (it was originally a fishing village) and there have been many events held this year to celebrate this. One of the events coinciding with this monumental anniversary is SAIL Amsterdam, an exciting maritime event that has been held (nearly) every five years in Amsterdam since 1975. We were lucky enough to experience some of the events surrounding SAIL Amsterdam 2025, which was a very special and monumental edition of the event – so here’s what it was like!

About SAIL Amsterdam

SAIL Amsterdam is an event where tall ships from around the world sail to Amsterdam and dock for five days in August, with activities for visitors to enjoy. This event was first held in 1975 to celebrate the 700th anniversary of Amsterdam and it has been held every five years since, except when it was cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic. This means that SAIL 2025 is the first time it’s been held for ten whole years, plus it’s the 50th year since SAIL was first established and the tenth ever edition of SAIL. Combine that with Amsterdam’s 750th anniversary and you are guaranteed five days full of fun!

What it Was Like Experiencing SAIL Amsterdam 2025

Since the 2020 edition of SAIL was cancelled, we were very excited to get to see the 2025 version. We visited Amsterdam on two different days to experience SAIL, on the second day after the ships arrived (for an event that I wanted to see, more on that in a bit) and then on the last day to see some of the ships leaving during the SAIL-Out parade. This is what it was like:

SAIL-In Parade

The very first part of SAIL is the SAIL-In parade, where all the attending ships sail from IJmuiden up the River IJ to Amsterdam, most with their sails up to look their best. Since this goes on for hours and was held on a Wednesday, we didn’t actually attend, I watched a live stream from home instead. It looked very cool though, so I will probably try to experience it next time if possible! The video above will give you an idea of what the first day of SAIL is like.

The Ships

Sailing ships from around the world dock in Amsterdam for five days during SAIL, and during that time it’s free for visitors to go on board to explore the ships. We went into the city on the second day to wander around and look at all the ships, although we didn’t bother going on board any of them. There were SO many beautiful big ships to look at, and they were spread out all along the river near Centraal Station and all around Java-Eiland, so it requires a LOT of walking to even see a fraction of them.

Of course, you can also join a special cruise which will take you around past all the ships. We just wandered along the river taking photos before heading to an event, but it was very enjoyable. And while there were lots of ominous clouds during the morning, we were lucky to have no rain at all.

Events During SAIL

Aside from the parades at the beginning and end of the festival, there are lots of special events during SAIL, including concerts, special activities for kids, special boat cruises, a Ferris wheel, and a light show (with fireworks) every evening on Amsterdam Tower. Since Dennis and I are both rather averse to crowds we only attended one main event (aside from just wandering around looking at the boats), but if you are going to attend the next SAIL, you can see everything that’s scheduled on the website.

The Pieremachocheltocht

One of the events I definitely wanted to experience (and took a day ‘off’ work for!) was the Pieremachocheltocht, which doesn’t really have a proper English translation but is basically a ‘home-made boat tour.’ There’s a different theme for each edition of SAIL and this year the theme was the animal kingdom, so there were a lot of animals represented in the quirky procession of rafts, DIY boats, and other creative vessels. The entrants sail through a route of Amsterdam’s canals, not near the big ships of SAIL, and it was very fun to sit and watch them go by.

My favourites were the man on the yellow fish in the photo at the beginning of this section, the giant horse pulling a chariot (the horse even reared up and neighed) and the ‘peace’ boat which had a giant bird at the front flapping its wings! Dennis particularly liked the tractor boat.

Where we were sitting to watch the parade was obviously where a local flock of geese like to hang out (there was lots of goose poop on the ground) and this group of geese also seemed to be interested in being part of the parade! I particularly enjoyed seeing the dog that was sitting in the boat called Blurp (what a name!) eyeing the geese.

And here are some more photos of the unique boats, as they were just so many cool ones to see! I later read that the horse chariot boat won the prize for most beautiful vessel, while the set of ‘boats’ with flowers and bees (see immediately below) won the prize for most original vessel.

Sail-Out from LuminAir

For the SAIL-Out parade on the Sunday, I booked tickets for us to watch it from the LuminAir sky bar, which is part of the Doubletree by Hilton Amsterdam Centraal Station Hotel. I mostly chose this because I wanted to see the ships from up above and I’d never been to LuminAir before and wanted to see what it was like. I had also looked at the tickets for Amsterdam Tower, which were cheaper, but I’d already been there before.

We didn’t have a great experience at LuminAir though, we weren’t happy with the service (especially for the price we paid) and even the drinks we ordered were a bit lacklustre (although I did like the fancy chocolate praline that came with it). However, the views over Amsterdam and the River IJ were very cool, so we managed to get lots of photos and video footage of the ships departing the city. Later, we walked down to the water in front of Centraal Station and took some more photos from ground level as well.

Tips for Attending the Next SAIL Amsterdam

If you’re thinking of heading to Amsterdam for the next SAIL event, here are some tips and things I learned from attending this one! The main thing to know is that it is incredibly busy, and since Amsterdam is already a very busy city, that is saying something. If you’re someone who can’t handle crowds, this event might not be for you. If you can handle crowds for a while, keep these pointers in mind:

• Book ahead but be careful where you stay: SAIL is a big deal, so accommodation in Amsterdam will fill up fast and be very expensive. Make sure you book as far in advance as possible, but also be aware that it gets very noisy around the waterfront at night (particularly with the fireworks and light show) so while you will probably want to stay close by, you probably don’t want to to be too close if you’re hoping to get some sleep!

• Watch the parade/s from A’DAM Toren or ground level: After our experience at LuminAir, I would suggest you actually watch the parade (or parades) either from on the ground or by purchasing a ticket to go up Amsterdam Tower (A’DAM Toren). Not only is it cheaper to watch from Amsterdam Tower, but I think the views would probably be nicer with the main city and the roof of Amsterdam Centraal as the backdrop. I would also prioritise the SAIL-In parade over SAIL-Out, just because nearly all of the ships had their sails open for the arrival parade and there was music, cannons being fired and other fun stuff. Of course, it also looked FAR busier in terms of crowds, so you’ll have to decide for yourself if you want to prioritise more spectacle or (slightly) fewer crowds.

• Use the app but be wary of outdated info: There is both an app and a website for SAIL Amsterdam, but I discovered that quite a lot of the information hadn’t actually been updated since the last SAIL, so don’t take everything it says as gospel!

• Wear sunscreen (and comfy shoes): Even if it’s cloudy, make sure you wear sunscreen as the UV rays off the water will easily burn you – learn from my mistake! Also, you’ll probably be walking a LOT, so dress for comfort, not style.

• Be prepared for daylight robbery: There are food and drink stalls throughout the festival area, but prices are much higher than you’d pay elsewhere/not during the festival. If you want to save money, bring your own food and drinks or go into Centraal station to buy stuff. Of course, prices are still higher within the train station than at a supermarket or something, but it’s mainly cheaper than at the stalls. Since the festival is also incredibly busy, make sure you’re extra vigilant with your belongings as well, so you don’t get pickpocketed.

• Buy merch on the last day for half price (if not sold out): If you want to buy some merchandise/souvenirs but you’re not too bothered about what you get, we noticed that they were selling everything for half price on the last day, although a lot of things were sold out. Dennis got a hat and I got a t-shirt during the week, then on the Sunday I also got a hat but paid half of what we paid for the one Dennis got earlier in the week.

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Have you ever experienced SAIL Amsterdam? Tell me about it in the comments or pin one of these if you’re hoping to attend the next edition!