Essentially Amsterdam – Wednesday, October 28, 2026

Wednesday October 28, 2026

Good morning, Amsterdam. Today: soul legend Stevie Wonder plays Songs in the Key of Life in full tonight at the Ziggo Dome, the free Amsterdam Light Festival turns 15 with 19 artworks, and Klaus Mäkelä leads the Concertgebouworkest in Mahler’s Seventh.

Unused Cold War bunker in De Baarsjes now €295,000: A former sewage pumping station at Postjeskade 36, converted in 1960 into a shelter for 80 residents, is for sale again after a failed 2022 attempt at €1.1 million. Bids close at 17:00 on 6 November. Nobody may live there; the agent says to ask the city first.

Amsterdam now counts 37,200 millionaire households: Almost 7,000 more Amsterdam households passed the million-euro mark between early 2024 and early 2025, partly because rising house prices count towards wealth. Millionaires now make up 7.2% of households in the city, against 3.5% in Rotterdam and 38% in Bloemendaal.

Sinterklaas’s Amsterdam steamboat needs €3 million restoration: The Scheepvaartmuseum has launched a crowdfunding drive for the 126-year-old Christiaan Brunings, whose last major overhaul was in the 1970s. The first million is already secured. It will carry Sinterklaas into Amsterdam and Weesp this year before about eighteen months out of service.

Free Amsterdam Light Festival turns 15 with 19 artworks: From 26 November to 17 January, a new route on and along the canals features new works and returning favourites such as Darth Fisher. The opening at the Stopera coincides with the first of three Light Nights, with performances and storytellers on 26 November, 12 and 19 December.

Revamped Westergas Gashouder becomes permanent Amsterdam concert hall: Rapper Mula plays first on Friday 30 October, after two years digging out a basement for dressing rooms, toilets and 2,000 lockers, which replaces the tents once trucked in for events. The 1883 building holds 3,500 people, and its owners hope for a hundred events a year.

Free stroopwafels at KLM pop-up café in Amsterdam Zuid: KLM has opened a temporary café at WTC Plaza, next to Amsterdam Zuid Station, to showcase its new Economy Class menu for European flights. Coffee, tea, juice and stroopwafels are free, while sandwiches and salads cost the same as on board. It opens daily 7:00 to 17:00 until Friday 30 October.

Another tree falls, this time in the Vondelpark: A tree blew over in the Vondelpark at around 16.45, closing part of the park to cyclists as enforcement officers stood by. Nobody was hurt. On Sunday evening a falling tree killed a cyclist on the Sloterweg in Sloten, days after another landed on a moving car on Anne Frankstraat.

Aircraft maintenance industry meets at RAI Amsterdam: MRO Europe, a three-day aviation maintenance conference, opened at the RAI on 27 October, and its exhibition hall opens the next day. Speakers from Boeing, Lufthansa Technik and TU Delft talked about US tariffs, parts supply and recruitment. Women now make up 24% of TU Delft’s aerospace students.

Betondorp resident, 77, builds feeding houses for hedgehogs: Dik Verhaar and his neighbours built five feeding houses in April with a city grant, and residents put out cat food in them every evening. He urges neighbours to plant native species, leave water out and cut gaps in fences. Next he plans an ecologist-led neighbourhood walk.

Diemerzeedijk roadworks near IJburg run until 11 December: Crews are stripping the worn-out asphalt and foundation from the Diemerzeedijk, a busy cycling route to and from IJburg, and laying new paving stones. Work now covers the stretch between the Hein de Haanbrug and the Buitenkerkerweg, phased so homes and marinas stay reachable.

Da Costakade in Oud-West closes for underground survey: The odd-numbered side between Kinkerstraat and Potgieterstraat shuts from 2 to 7 November, the even side from 9 to 14 November, as crews dig trenches to map cables and pipes before quay wall replacement in 2027. Drivers and cyclists must detour, parking is off limits and waste containers close.

moveNmeet Halloween Edition, a free workout for parents and toddlers: Parents and children up to four exercise and play together with neighbourhood families, costumes optional, with registration required in advance. 28 October, 09:30 – 10:00, Broedplaats SUP. SPORTS (ACTIVE)

Lanterns through the Amsterdamse Bos with the ranger for Sint Maarten: Each child brings their own lantern for a loop through the woods, with a treat en route and accompanying adults free. 28 October, De Boswinkel. OUTDOOR / ACTIVE

Pumpkin carving for kids at a campsite restaurant: Kids from four to ten hollow out and decorate pumpkins next to a natural water and sand playground, for €5 each. 28 October, 13:00 – 16:00, Knoest Eten en Drinken. KIDS WORKSHOP

Ghost and witch portraits from egg boxes and paint: In a children’s bookshop, kids glue, paint and draw little Halloween portraits for an hour, all ages welcome and costumes encouraged. 28 October, 15:00, De Kinderboekwinkel. KIDS WORKSHOP

Punch and Judy, Dutch style, in the old tram depot: Hand puppets play out a classic Dutch poppenkast, the local cousin of Punch and Judy, in the former tram depot. 28 October, 15:00, De Hallen. FAMILY SHOW

Shaun the Sheep’s third film, a Halloween mystery dubbed into Dutch: The farmer wrecks the pumpkin patch and vanishes as a beast roams the woods, 81 minutes of stop-motion for ages six up. 28 October, 08:45, Het Ketelhuis. FILM

Songs in the Key of Life in full, played by Stevie Wonder: The full 1976 double album, ‘Sir Duke’ and ‘Isn’t She Lovely’ included, played by the soul great for its fiftieth anniversary. 28 October, 20:00, Ziggo Dome. POP / ROCK

Mahler’s Seventh with Klaus Mäkelä and the Concertgebouworkest: Mahler led this orchestra’s Dutch premiere of the Seventh in 1909, and this performance in the Grote Zaal runs without a break. 28 October, 20:15, The Concertgebouw. DANCE / PERFORMANCE

Fifty years of blues-rock guitar from Walter Trout: Once of Canned Heat and John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, the 74-year-old guitarist plays on the back of his album Sign Of The Times. 28 October, 19:00 doors, 20:00 start, Melkweg. DANCE / PERFORMANCE

Girls In Hawaii live in the old church on Weteringschans: A live set from the band Girls In Hawaii, played in Paradiso, the concert hall in a converted church near Leidseplein. 28 October, Paradiso. DANCE / PERFORMANCE

Gospel Music on vibraphone, the new Blue Note album from Joel Ross: Bible stories shape the new album, played by a quintet of vibes, alto sax, piano, bass and drums. 28 October, 20:30 – 22:00, Bimhuis. DANCE / PERFORMANCE

Ryan Beatty’s Arms Over Armor Tour, with girlsweetvoiced opening: The Los Angeles songwriter, who worked with Tyler, the Creator and co-wrote on Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter, brings his new album Sweet Fortune. 28 October, 20:30, Paradiso. SINGER-SONGWRITER

Canto Ostinato beneath aerial film of the Netherlands at Tuschinski: Piano, organ and trumpet play Ten Holt’s piece while Karel Tomeï’s aerial footage of the country fills the Art Deco cinema’s screen. 28 October, 15:00, Koninklijk Theater Tuschinski. DANCE / PERFORMANCE

Two Gentlemen of Verona, Shakespeare’s first comedy, in a bathhouse theatre: Two friends fall for the same woman in Milan, in a 90-minute staging built in 14 weeks around the verse. 28 October, 20:00, Mike’s Badhuistheater. THEATER

La Haine with English subtitles, Kassovitz’s 1995 Cannes winner: Vincent Cassel, Saïd Taghmaoui and Hubert Koundé star in the French film, shown with English subtitles in the old canal-side cinema. 28 October, 16:00, Filmtheater de Uitkijk. FILM

Tapis Rouge opens with Congo Boy and a Q&A in English: A 17-year-old in the Central African Republic raises his siblings and enters a radio rap contest, with English subtitles throughout. 28 October, 19:00, Het Ketelhuis. FILM

Barbara Bloom and General Idea, relayed from Vienna to de Appel: On a monitor, the archive follows a Vienna show in a former horse stable, with LAURENZ books on the shelf to browse. 28 October, 14:00, de Appel. ART / MUSEUMS

Teenagers, slammed doors and phone habits, from podcast to stage: Kluun and Yvanka van der Zwaan bring their teenager podcast, Help, ik heb een puber, to the stage, taking audience questions. 28 October, 20:30, DeLaMar Theater. THEATER

Final days of Fragments, a five-artist summer group show: Elsa Tomkowiak’s six oversized painted zip bags hang among works by Pinelli, Bonnot, Zhu Hong and Stempfel, until 29 October. 28 October, The Merchant House. ART / MUSEUMS

Hidden Garden, Iranian mirrorwork for three days in Amstelveen: Peyman Gerami and Azadeh Baloochi of mirroRE set mirrors to catch light and the visitor’s reflection, alongside their recent collections. 28 October, 16:00 – 20:00, Ateliers 2005. ART / MUSEUMS

Make your own jar of kimchi with chef Soyeon: Seasonal winter vegetables, salt and time become a jar you take home, with the chef explaining what the lactic acid bacteria do. 28 October, 19:00 – 21:00, Stretch & Fold Café. WORKSHOP

Cook and share Azerbaijani dishes in Amsterdam West: Three hours of hands-on cooking with guidance, then everyone sits down to eat together. 28 October, 18:00 – 21:00, The Social Hub Amsterdam West. WORKSHOP

BioBlitz #7, hunting hidden fungal networks on the Marineterrein: The last of the series sets out from Pakhuis de Zwijger to look for lichens, mushrooms and how fungi work with trees. 28 October, 16:00, Pakhuis de Zwijger. TOUR

Free tape-art lanterns for Sint Maarten with Max Zorn: Children turn packing tape into a colourful lantern with a funny face or odd creature, and must sign up as places are limited. 28 October, 15:30, De Wollen Gymzaal. KIDS WORKSHOP

Clothes, shoes and bags traded for points, men’s and women’s welcome: Bring gently used clothes, shoes or bags, get points on a QR wallet after assessment, then spend them on other people’s things. 28 October, 16:00, The Swap Clubhouse. FOOD / MARKETS

Learn punch needle, the looped-yarn craft behind shaggy rugs: At a rug shop, an evening of pushing yarn through stretched fabric with a hollow needle to build up a looped design. 28 October, 18:00, Shaggies Rugs Amsterdam. WORKSHOP

Group singing for seniors with memory problems and their carers: Former opera singer Maartje de Lint leads about 25 seniors with dementia, Parkinson’s or aphasia, singing alongside carers at their own level. 28 October, 11:00, The Concertgebouw. CLASS

•  Café de Vlieger: Dutch food with a twist in the De Baarsjes corner where André Hazes once tended bar, with a private karaoke cellar downstairs for groups of 15 to 50.

•  Papillon: Papillon is an all day bakery café and restaurant in Amsterdam-Noord.

•  The Marlin Bar: Oysters and seasonal seafood on Van Baerlestraat in Amsterdam-Zuid, one block from the Royal Concertgebouw with a pre-concert two-course menu.

 

Daily markets open today: Markt Plein 40-45, Nieuwmarkt, Dappermarkt, Albert Cuyp (De Pijp) and Ten Kate (Oud-West).

FP&A Analyst: Adyen, Amsterdam – Support the FP&A team by analysing Adyen’s cost base, improving forecasts and turning financial developments into actionable insights.

Logistics Technician: Microsoft, Schiphol – Handle inventory audits, deliveries, records, returns, and warranty claims for the Cloud Operations & Innovation data centres supporting Microsoft cloud services.

Senior Engineering Manager: Mollie, Amsterdam – Lead a team of 20+ engineers delivering Mollie’s existing and new products and shaping their technical direction.

Finance Process Manager Engineering & Maintenance: KLM, Schiphol – Improve and standardize financial processes for KLM Engineering & Maintenance, leading initiatives from analysis through implementation and results tracking.

More international jobs in Amsterdam: see the full list or get them in your inbox every day.

Looking ahead: Imagine Film Festival (from Thu 29 October), Brainwash Festival (from Thu 29 October) and Tribal Art Fair Amsterdam (from Fri 30 October). See the week ahead →

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