A Dispatch From WorldPride 2026 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands' LGBTQ+ Haven

It’s apparent within minutes of my Eurostar pulling into Amsterdam Centraal how accepting and celebratory the Dutch capital is of the LGBTQ+ community. I'm here for WorldPride 2026, and as I get my bearings facing the canals, Progress Pride flags—honoring transgender individuals, marginalized communities of color, and those affected by HIV and Aids—dance in the breeze in every direction.One of countless Pride flags catches the wind along Amsterdam's canals Dancing flags become regular scenes over the following days. There was little doubt in anyone’s mind that the Dutch capital would put on an appropriately kaleidoscopic spectacle when it was awarded WorldPride 2026. Amsterdam is notoriously a city of acceptance—the Netherlands was the first country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage. The legalization was marked by a series of marriages officiated by Amsterdam Mayor Job Cohen at midnight on April 1, 2001. So, how better to mark a quarter of a decade of love than one of the world’s queerest extravaganzas?Sofitel Legend The Grand's exterior in white chocolate, embellished in edible paint The exterior of Sofitel Legend The Grand, ready for Friday's Pride event “Is Amsterdam always this… gay?”, I ask Alicia, a friend who now calls the city home, as I point to one of the dozen or so Pride flags I can see from a canal-side bar one evening. “They’re always here,” she says, confirming the city’s accepting stance isn’t a corporate showing but rather a year-round declaration.Spectators watch the Canal Parade from the first-ever Prinsengracht grandstand in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on August 1, 2026. NurPhoto/Getty ImagesAfter committing to walking the hour back to my hotel, I indulge in a nightcap beside a people-watching ginger cat. I sip a local blonde beer and look on as a line builds across the street, sequinned bodies perspiring in the balmy summer evening air. “It’s a gay sex club,” a bartender informs me as I enquire about the nightlife scene. “Very popular,” she adds, before listing off a handful of the best bars in the city. “There’s something for everyone here, even though the city is small.”Nightlife plays a big part in the WorldPride celebrations, but it’s by no means the draw for everyone. Rijksmuseum’s Queer Stories collection details LGBTQ+ history through various Dutch masterpieces, namely historical and contemporary tales of love and persecution, speaking to visitors from storied frames.Jan Adam Kruseman’s portrait of King William II on display at The New Church Queer Amsterdam: the Pink City exhibition at The New Church At The Nieuwe Kerk (The New Church), an exhibition, Queer Amsterdam: the Pink City, paves the way for a dedicated museum for all things LGBTQ+. The showcase opened its doors ahead of WorldPride in July 2026 and is set to remain until April 2027. Jan Adam Kruseman’s portrait of King William II is among the antique masterpieces that greet us, the accompanying description alluding to potential same-sex, extra-marital relations. On discovering the rumors were set to be revealed, William agreed to a constitutional revision that limited his influence and gave the public more political influence, writing, “the taboo surrounding homosexuality forces a king to make political choices that he likely would not have made otherwise.”Posters across Amsterdam express the city's uber-inclusive stance. Other highlights include Abraham Storck’s Dam Square in Amsterdam, a 1675 snapshot of a popular cruising site that later became the site of large-scale raids and prosecutions—with the crime of sodomy punishable by death in the Netherlands until 1811. The activity became a notorious element of queer life in the city, with another map exhibited highlighting known gay bars and cruising sites between 1850 and 1940. In a glass case underneath lies Jaap van Leeuwen’s Adventure Accounting, a diary recording his sexual encounters in public urinals across the city between 1935 and 1947.Soho Amsterdam during the WorldPride events, one of the popular LGBTQ+ bars on Reguliersdwarsstraat “Like much of Europe, the political shift is moving to the right,” explains our guide as we look on at a Pride flag that was torched in one of the city’s neighborhoods. More than 180 nationalities call the Dutch capital home, and with multiculturalism comes varying attitudes and tolerances of sexualities and gender identities. The comments warrant a moment of reflection in the wake of Berlin Pride, where a young man drove into a crowd of pedestrians who’d shown up to celebrate the freedoms many LGBTQ+ Europeans enjoy.Velvet Scars – A Kingdom of Courage exhibition at Pulitzer Amsterdam Interiors of Pulitzer Amsterdam, where multiple galleries house contemporary and historic art It’s a cultural affair at Pulitzer Amsterdam, too, thanks to photographer and visual artist Jasper Abels’ exhibition Velvet Scars – A Kingdom of Courage. Until August 9, forgotten stories from Dutch queer history—lip-locking men and androgynous figures—gaze out from between centuries-old paintings on gallery walls throughout the canal houses.A private boat trip through the canals to Artis Amsterdam, the city's zoo Flamingos spotted at Artis Amsterdam on a tour about sexual diversity in the animal kingdom At Artis Amsterdam, the city’s zoo, we embark on a similarly educational, yet unique, adventure through the animal kingdom’s sexual diversity. Tongue-in-cheek quips about dark rooms and fetishes from our guide, Dennis, follow intriguing details of the reproductive habits (and organs… with pictures) of the likes of the resident jaguars, elephants, giraffes, and penguins.Dancers take to the stage at Sofitel Legend The Grand's “Pride Cocktail Party” KLM's Pride activation in the courtyard of Sofitel Legend The Grand Once clued up on the multi-vagina wallabies, we’re escorted back for one of the biggest nights in the city’s annual Pride celebrations—Sofitel Legend The Grand Amsterdam’s “Pride Cocktail.”Several attendees I encounter return year after year for the party, singing the property’s praises for the welcome they receive as queer travelers. As the first hotel in the world to achieve Booking.com's Travel Proud certification, The Grand pioneered the inclusive hospitality initiative that provides free training to staff about LGBTQ+ travelers; to date, more than 150,000 properties participate. The Grand also boasts a Gold Label from the SHe Travel Club, which recognizes hotels that meet women's expectations.Partygoers at Sofitel Legend The Grand In the hotel’s courtyard, the wine flows and an international crowd mingles in new groups, familiar faces from the drag world (Danny Beard and Courtney Act among them) appear and Dorothy takes to the stage for a rendition of Somewhere Over the Rainbow as her friends watch on from below. Just another day at The Grand, perhaps?At the Amsterdam WorldPride Canal Parade: (L-R) Connor Sturges, Luka Drulovic, Carly Reed, Robbie Hodges, Ben Jureidini, Ashley Davey The Canal Parade has long been an iconic part of Amsterdam Pride’s celebrations. Dozens of boats typically glide past thousands of spectators as they jostle along the waterside—it’s not uncommon for an occasional onlooker to fall in, I’m assured. The interest in 2026’s WorldPride edition led to the construction of the WorldPride Stadium on the Prinsengracht, with almost 10,000 seats transforming the canal-side. We cheer and raise our drinks in the sweltering heat, waving our arms into exhaustion with beaming smiles. Some boats launch everyone out of their seats with booming sound systems, while others turn heads and trigger conversation—namely a highly-publicized inflatable Putin and Trump making out.The Canal Parade at WorldPride Amsterdam 2026 The Canal Parade at WorldPride Amsterdam 2026 The streets of Amsterdam come alive again late into the night. Queer nightlife revolves around Reguliersdwarsstraat, where a string of (primarily mainstream) LGBTQ+ bars reverberate until the small hours. Kerkstraat’s bars cater to more niche desires, while leather and fetish bars can be found tucked into the Red Light District. It took a light tapping of acrylic nails on a window at 4 p.m. to realize the latter is easy enough to stumble upon while exploring.People dance aboard a boat during the Canal Parade, celebrating 25 years since the world's first same-sex marriage in the country NurPhoto/Getty ImagesWe take to the city outskirts come Saturday for Adonis at Club Raum, a queer-run cultural space with music at its core. Stickers are placed on phone cameras, skin is exposed, and anonymous limbs embrace bedewed bodies until well past sunset, all inhibitions abandoned at the door as hands roam and kisses are stolen under pulsating lights.An AIDs quilt on display at The New Church's Queer Amsterdam: the Pink City exhibition Velvet Scars – A Kingdom of Courage exhibition at Pulitzer Amsterdam Groggy heads back on board, we whizz through the Netherlands, Belgium, France, and the countryside of southeast England, grateful for the comforts of Eurostar Premier. Heavy eyelids lure us towards a slumber, but it doesn’t come—there’s more than enough debriefing to be had to fill the five-hour journey.Eurostar's Premier Lounge at St Pancras International Pride cocktails available in the Eurostar Premier Lounge, available throughout WorldPride We raise a final toast and enjoy enough silent, table-tapping laughs to remind us that this was one adventure we’ll remember for years to come, made possible by those who came before. Two hundred fifteen years on from the decriminalization of same-sex relations in the country and 25 years after the first flurry of legal same-sex marriages, the city of Amsterdam has shown itself to be the archetype of a LGBTQ+ positive haven.This article was originally published in Condé Nast Traveller UK.