30+ Of The Best Dutch Music Festivals This Summer [2023]

By MFW Staff / January 26, 2023

Kicking of the Netherlands summer in style, the Intents Festival is a multi-day dance event featuring the best of hardstyle, hardcore and freestyle. The stage production is top-notch with video, pyrotechnics, and lasers all culminating in an impressive finale on the iconic main stage.

7th Sunday is a multi-genre festival, held annually on the seventh Sunday after Easter in the south of the Netherlands.

Vestrock is the coziest boutique festival in the Low Countries of the Netherlands and is situated on a beautiful island in the middle of the fortified town of Hulst. Experience great music, theatre, a day just for children, and a campsite within walking distance of the festival grounds.

Kicking off the Dutch summer, this music festival is a collaboration of friends and promoters that put together an epic electronic music lineup. In the spirit of all partners being equal, there's no main stage, with every area being curated as its own unique experience.

Free Your Mind, one of the oldest dance organizations in The Netherlands, puts on events across the country, but the highlight is their annual underground festival in Arnhem. 16,000 visitors gather at this epic single day fest which has seen the likes of Joris Voorn, Marco Carola, Paul Kalkbrenner, Speedy J, Boris Brechja, Amelie Lens, Skream, and Sven Väth.

'Do you want to dance, wander, drink, laugh, discover and enjoy music, theater, nature, nightly after parties and a large campfire? Do you like a crazy paradox between 'a lot to do' on the one hand and total casualness on the other? Hidden in the middle of nature, near a castle and far away from the gray masses, lies Mañana Mañana. A four-day mind-expanding festival with camping, where thousands of curious bon vivants gather from near and far.'

One of the highlights of the Dutch festival season, the Best Kept Secret Festival brings a world-class lineup to the south of the Netherlands. The beautiful location boasts an incredible lake, plenty of camping options, and multiple stages to complete the weekend.

This Dutch metal festival makes brings out the hard rock during the sunny days of June at the foot of the Oldehove (an unfinished medieval tower) in Leeuwarden. The small two-day festival is perfect for metal fans who want to some incredible bands in a close atmosphere.

Delighting the Netherlands since 1970, Pinkpop is the old and longest running annual dedicated pop and rock music festival in the world. 60,000 festies a day show up for the three-day festival to groove out to music on 4 separate stages.

Mystic Garden is a paradise where time has no meaning. It is a place where people can discover the Magic of an enchanted secret place where life and music and creativity come together for one glorious day to remind us of how life should be savoured and cherished at every moment! It begins as the sound of far-off music echoing throughout the woods, the drums lightly beating and the violin tune. The light at the heart of the forest calling you towards it.

Holland's finest punk, hardcore, and metalcore get together in Ysselsteyn along with international touring acts. This 8,000 attendee open air festival has grown over the years and now includes two festival tents, the famous Punkbrockbar, a chill area, a food court, signing sessions, a festival market and camping.

Defqon.1 is an annual hardstyle festival held in Biddinghuizen, Netherlands. It's a massive affair with 65,000 fans a day in attendance and 14+ stages. Produced by Q-Dance, there's also similar editions in Australia and Chile.

WiSH Outdoor is a three-day outdoor electronic festival. The production values are outstanding with plenty of options for camping and partying all night. Make sure to reserve a spot in Camp Wow! which features hammock lounges, beer pong, and afterparties.

Lose yourself at Down the Rabbit Hole. Set on the edge of a lake (yes, there is swimming) this indie rock bonanza in The Netherlands is one of MFW's favorite fests of the summer. All of the main stages are placed under massive circus tents so no need to worry about the famous rains of the region.

It's hip-hop in The Netherlands when Rolling Loud comes to Rotterdam this summer with a two-day festival.

A festival for trance lovers, Luminosity Beach features over 40 artists highlighting everything special about this genre of electronic music. Taking place on the famous beaches of Bloemendaal, this popular seaside town is a perfect place to welcome the summer.

Since 1976, the North Sea Jazz Festival has been entertaining The Netherlands with jazz legends and Dutch artists. 75,000 attendees gather in Rotterdam to more than 1,000 musicians and 150 performances over 15 states. The diverse amount of music means that there's something for everyone in this wildly diverse selection of artists.

Bospop is an old-fashioned cozy pop-rock festival that has existed since 1980. It started as a small-scale festival for amateur bands in particular, but has since grown into a music spectacle with bands of international allure.

After a successful debut, the epic Awakenings Festival returns with a spectacular, summertime camping experience not to be missed. Featuring the best of European techno and dance artists, this is an incredible introduction into the Dutch festival scene.

All of your dreams come true during the open-air Dreamfields Festival held on the beachside shores of the Rhederlaag Recreational Festival. This hardstyle festival boasts some of the most outlandish stages you've ever seen at an electronic festival along with an absolutely wild crowd.

The aptly named 18HRS Festival takes electronic fans on a full day journey through house, techno, tech-house and disco. There's outdoor stages for the day and old school warehouse stages during the night. From dusk until dawn, this is one of Europe's most insane single day raves.

'A deafening sandstorm approaches with deadly speed. Seven extreme formations will compete for a tremendous trophy. Screaming engines, smoking exhausts and dreaded drivers will invade our savage sands. Hardcore will ignite its murdering machines in the desert of domination. Gasoline is gold when you enter…The Rally of Retribution.'

The Black Cross is a festival with a bizarre mix of motocross, music, stunts, theater, humor and a lot of craziness and spectacle in Lichtenvoorde, Holland.

There's drum and there's bass and there's the Dutch Liquicity Festival. Head north from Amsterdam to find huge beats spread across three stages at Geestmerambacht Park. Amusement parks, hot tubs, and volleyball courts are just some of the non-music perks of this wild weekender.

Dekmantel Festival returns stronger than the ever with a bold 'choose your own adventure' programming that welcomes a broad array of electronic tunes. The Amsterdam based festival takes place at the stunning Amsterdamse Bos, a massive city park oasis inside the city.

Solar Weekend began life as a progressive initiative but has since evolved into a creative multi-day festival with an inspiring lineup of artists. The festival is filled with all sorts of adventures including massive water gun battles, fairground rides, and merry-go-rounds. Each year has a theme that ties all the fun-stuff together along with a dizzying array of musical zones to fit your mood.

House music meets techno at the Loveland Music Festival in Amsterdam. Starting in 2018, Loveland expanded to two days of beats. The venue, the greenfield Sloterpark, sits on a scenic late, perfect for relaxing in between dancing.

For over two decades, the iconic Dance Valley has welcomed electronic to this massive single-day festival. With 10+ stages and 60,000 dance happy revelers, this is truly one of the wildest parties of the summer. The electronic music is varied, dipping into sub-genres like trance, hardstyle, EDM, and techno.

Dutch Valley festival is the largest and most fun musical fair in the Netherlands with more than 100 top artists.

Although it’s officially called A Campingflight to Lowlands Paradise, most fans simply call it Lowlands. The annual 3-day music and camping festival is held just 40 miles outside of Amsterdam and covers a wide range of genres. The festival calls itself “a true backpacker’s Garden Of Eden and Holland’s most adventurous cultural outdoorevent, offering a cutting edge choice of only the best in alternative music, film, stand-up comedy, visual arts, literature and street theatre.”

Welcome to one of the craziest and loudest festivals of the summer. Decibel Outdoor Festival is a huge hardstyle fest in the Netherlands featuring 250 artists divided over 23 separate areas -- and the stages change genres every day so you will always be exploring the beautiful festival grounds and the creative art production. Like the website says: Let's live loud!

The longest running dance festival in the world takes place in the Netherlands for two days every August and even spawned a spin-off in the United States. After a day of hedonistic dancing, Mysteryland fans find solace at Holy Ground Camping. Mysteryland strongly believes in festival soul, focusing on sustainability, and local participation.

'Into The Great Wide Open is a pop festival on Vlieland, a small island on the coast of The Netherlands. A gathering with your friends and family: good music, visual arts, film, oysters and Mother Nature in all its grandeur. Into The Great Wide Open is a festival for all ages, an initiative of a group of people who know each other from pop music and who are creating their dream festival on Vlieland.'

Let's get psychedelic in the Netherlands. Psy-fi is a transformational festival held in August and draws a massive international crowd for five days of psytrance, drum & bass, goa trance, and local musicians.