Holidays & Festivals

Amsterdam

Holidays:
In the Netherlands, expect banks, shops and most museums to be closed, and public transportation to operate on limited schedules, on the following major holidays: New Year’s Day (January 1), Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Easter Monday, Ascension Day (40 days after Easter), Queen’s Day (April 30), Pentecost (seventh Sunday after Easter), Pentecost Monday, Christmas Day (December 25) and Boxing Day (December 26).

Festivals:
Amsterdam is a city that hosts many arts and cultural festivals. These festivals include the Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival (April), which celebrates all film genres; Holland Festival (end of May–June), the biggest performing arts festival in the Netherlands; the Grachtenfestival (August), more than 80 classical concerts throughout the heart of Amsterdam; and Uitmarkt (end of August), considered the largest cultural event in Amsterdam.

Luxembourg

Holidays:
In Luxembourg, public holidays include New Year’s Day, Carnival (February 4), Easter Monday, May Day (May 1), Ascension Day, Whit Monday (the Monday after Pentecost), National Day (June 23), Assumption Day (August 15), Luxembourg City Fete (September) and All Saints’ Day (November 1).

Festivals:
From October to November Live at Vauban offers a range of rock, pop, jazz and blues concerts. Summer in the City, from June to September, is Luxembourg’s presentation of concerts, ballets, street theater, outdoor movies and sculpture exhibitions. The Echternach International Festival, from May to June, is a festival that offers classical concerts held by artists of international standing.

Brussels

Holidays:
Public holidays in Brussels include New Year’s Day, Easter Sunday, Easter Monday, Labor Day (May1), Ascension Day, Pentecost, Whit Monday, Independence Day (July 21), Assumption Day, All Saints’ Day, Armistice Day (November 11) and Christmas Day.

Festivals:
The majority of festivals in Brussels occur from early summer to late fall. Some of these include Festival Pistes de Lancement, a month-long festival that hosts European trapeze artists, acrobats and street performers in the Saint-Gilles area; Brussels Summer Festival, in which the city comes alive with concerts hosted at venues throughout the city center; the Brussels Flower Carpet, which takes place every two years (the next is August 2008) and covers La Grand Place in a carpet of fresh blooms; and Belgium National Day which celebrates July 21, 1831, when Belgium became an independent state. During Independence Day, visitors are able to experience Brussels full of action as the streets fill with musicians, theater and parades.