I honestly cannot NOT- recommend this festival enough! I travelled from Germany to Amsterdam for…read morethe festival. I arranged for a group of friends to go. I stayed in accommodation for the weekend. I paid for a ticket 3 months in advance. When I got to the door - I was rudely and aggressively told by the bouncer that I wasnt allowed in. Because he "Didn't have a ticket scanner" 20 emails later and 6 months later. Appelsap havent explained themselves, they still haven't apologised and they havent given me a refund for the ticket let alone compensation. Seriously, what a shambles. There are so many other great festivals forget these guys! Go to one of the others and have a nice time. And be allowed in.

This festival takes place during the winter holiday season. I had really high expectations as it…read morehas been quite popular for a few years. I was told that there is a free boat tour where people line up in cues to get a ride, you can walk it along the canal edge, or you can do what we did and purchase a ticket online from "Those Dam Boat Guys". Personally, the later is great and well worth it. Our boat was small and gave us an intimate experience because the boat captain told us a little about the artistic lights and were could ask questions or slow down to take pictures. The lights are illuminated after dark which during the winter is quite early in the evening. Some of the lights were small displays and some were pretty magnificent. The whole festival takes less that 2 hours to view and it really is something to see both as a tourist or a local resident. I do suggest that the best viewing is when it is not a rainy evening so that you don't have an obstructed view from the boat.

Float thru an Amsterdam canal at night, drinking a beer and looking at light art?…read more Duh. FIVE STARS!

3 stars for the sheer scale of this event. It is massive - probably unprecedented. And hilarious…read more The whole city lights up for a week with dance music of every ear-crushing variety, hosted in any venue that can put up speakers and free up a dance floor. Meanwhile, employers, policemen, and bouncers around the city turn a blind eye to the buffet of substances being carted around and consumed by the entire city. It's cool in concept - but huge minus points for the execution. For one thing it's almost impossible to pick an event if you're not familiar with the DJs, since you're essentially simply given a gigantic list of names and venues and left to flail around on your own. But my biggest problem with it is that (at least at the events I went to), they charged something like 2eur per glass of water!!! While also strictly policing bathrooms lest someone dare take a water-holding container near the sink. This is not only a rip-off, it's downright dangerous and flagrantly stupid. For this reason I won't be repeating the experience next year. If you're looking for a good dancing time - go to Awakenings or wait until festival season kicks off in early spring.

This was an invitation only party at Blijburg aan Zee. I had not been here before and it was a nice…read morebeach area with people windsurfing and paddleboarding etc as the weather was good. Corona's team had set up a great stage for live music, T-shirt printing, hippy style market with beach wear, a fire pit, a BBQ and a good cocktail bar outside as well as the main bar. I was talking to one of the organisers at the bar and apparently the next party was in Shanghai for 10,000 people and they were shipping in 2 tonnes of sand to set up the event. They clearly put a lot of effort into a good party and this event was gezellig by comparision! The music was good, the cocktails were made by some of the Corona Global mixology team and were very good. I had all of the Corojito (Mojito style one), the passionfruit Sunset one and the cointreau and tequila laden Dream. I personally didn't have the BBQ but more as I was put off by having to queue at the cocktail bar, which was sometimes slow to get served, to buy a token to queue again for food. The atmosphere was friendly, hippie and surfie though. It reminded me of a great summer night after a good surf. A great summer party!

my first sail event and unfortunately wasn't able to make it there till the weekend, when it's…read morecrazy busy. If you don't like crowds i recommend exploring during the week. I've never seen the water so busy with boats and it was fun to be in the middle of all of it on a boat. I only wish I could have seen the fireworks but maybe in 5 years i'll be able to see it...hehe. (this event only happens every 5 years). I heard there are plenty of events happening throughout the area (live music etc) and lots of great food. I wasn't able to explore all that but i definitely enjoyed and preferred watching everything happen from the water. i'm not much for huge crowds. If you happen to be lucky enough to be in amsterdam when this event happens it's worth a gander!

Amsterdam has so many festivals all year, but especially in the summer. This festival is extra…read morespecial because it is once every FIVE years. Yes, five! So, if you are in the area, you have to do something with SAIL. I attended the Pop-Up restaurant (http://www.yelp.com/biz/pop-up-l-invit%C3%A9-le-restaurant-sail-2015-amsterdam) for the SAIL IN which was amazing, but really over the 5 days there are a bunch of things going on. Music and themed events on Java-Eiland, Noord, especially on the NDSM area and more. There is a website, and a schedule, so be sure to grab one if you see it! Oh, and fireworks! There are fireworks each night! There is so much more to this festival that I don't even know about because I was happy just to watch the ships come into the Amsterdam harbor, and to leave again. It's a free festival that you can spend with friends and spend no money, or you can attend special events and get a VIP treatment. The pop-up shops and restaurants are great to visit. And there are food and drink trucks around if you want to grab a bite to eat. I can't believe we have to wait another 5 years for this!!

PACHA - the Ibiza party legend at a festival in Amsterdam. I was in straight away. The line-up…read moreincluded The Magician, Martin Solveig, Franky Rizardo, Claptone, Sander Kleinenberg, Todd Terry and Pep&Rash to name a few. The festival ran 12:00-23:00 so you could really make a day of it. There were hammocks where you could lay back and ease yourself into the day or do the opposite and party until your feet hurt and you had to have a lie down. There was a market selling hippy/festival, clothing including furry bodywarmers which I very almost bought as it was on sale but I decided to dance more to warm up instead. No hammock for me, I was here to dance! The four stages meant that there was enough variety that you could dip in and out if you weren't feeling the tunes on the main stage or just wanted to mix it up a bit. This was a well organised festival with tokens on sale for transactions to speed up payment and have queues shorter and make it easier for bar staff and influenced party goers. They had a good range of spirits and mixers on sale, beer, water and a very impressive Toro wine stall. This had a proper selection of wine including a fantastic celeste red which one of my friends and I were super impressed with. The pizza was good and they had a range of organic and other food options including the surinamese food which smelt great but had a longer line. Being a seasoned festival goer, I was impressed with the atmosphere at this festival. There wasn't any trouble that I saw but security and staff weren't heavy-handed either. After being to many festivals across Europe, Australia and NZ I was impressed with this particularly at an outdoor dance event. Not overcrowded, friendly and well done. It was also at a great location as next to Bijmer Arena so easy to get to and from after the event. Martin Solveig was the highlight of my night this time but there were some great dance moments at the other stages. I'll be back of more next year.

Roots Open Air!…read more Roots Open Air is a great family friendly festival, in Oosterpark Amsterdam, and best of all: it's free The Roots Festival has been in Amsterdam for over 30 years in various forms. It offers a stage to a variety of (inter)national artists and experts that share their art, culture and cuisines. In one week you can enjoy several indoor programs. And on Sunday it ends with a free outdoor festival, Roots Open Air. In this years edition I enjoyed the sound of a band with a didgeridoo (Soadaj'), participated in Salsa and Afrohouse workshops, saw a flashmob, danced to beautiful uptempo African and Cuban music and enjoyed a tasty Jamaican BBQ. And then there's so much more I did not even get so see! It has a full program that offers something for everyone! It also has a special section dedicated to children,with drawing tables, workshops and great performances some of which done by really skilled kids! It's one of the festivals that I try to see each year as it's always a great experience! This edition I attended as a Yelp reporter for WTF @ Salto, and had a chance to see the great enthusiasts and volunteers that make this happen. See my report via Salto TV or find my video on YouTube via TillyK101.

What an awesome experience. We went this past May and there was a line to get in before it opened…read more They were about 30 minutes late opening the event because of technical issues with the ticket scanning machines which was annoying but it was all worth it once we were in. It was huge! Food trucks everywhere, cooking classes, bean bags to relax on, music, etc. we tried a lot of food and drinks from delicious in and tonics, Asian style hot dog, salmon, mini burgers, their famous poffertjes, and fruity popsicles.

I will definitely be back again next year. What a fantastic event! Plenty of samples. Manageable…read moresize. The queues can be long for some of the restaurants but all the food was worth the wait! Standouts: A. The fruit! I'm not one to RAVE about fruit but holy cow. Brought home some mangos, the sweetest cherry tomatoes I've EVER tasted and pineapples. The lone disappointment was that the pineapple that I took home was nowhere near the sweetness of the numerous samples that I had at the festival. B. Makro. They were the big sponsor of the event and had a section displaying some of the various food and drink items that they sell. Truly effective marketing because I've never shopped at Makro but am planning my next trip already. Well done, Makro. Well done. Will happily add one more star if the variety of the restaurants that were there was greater. I'm sure this festival will only improve in 2014.