Amsterdam Dance Event - The world’s best dance music party and conference

Every October, Amsterdam hands itself over to electronic music for five days and nights. The Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE) runs 21 to 25 October 2026, and it's the 30th edition. What started in 1996 as a small industry conference now claims more than 1,200 events at over 300 locations, and the organisers counted a record 600,000 visitors and 11,000 music professionals in 2025.

When this page was first written, ADE ran three conference days, the festival used about 40 venues, and a delegate pass cost around €250. The scale has changed completely. The basic idea hasn't: the business happens by day, the parties happen at night, and the professionals go to both.

Our original writer attended both ADE and Miami's March conference week several times and thought Miami was the bigger party but Amsterdam the better event for people who work in the industry. That still holds. In Miami the daytime sessions come second to the pool. In Amsterdam the panels are the point, and the big names actually show up to them.

Two events in one

The ADE Foundation, a not-for-profit, runs the conference. It doesn't run the parties. The festival is made up of events that clubs, promoters and cultural venues organise themselves under the ADE banner, which matters when you buy tickets.

The conference: ADE Pro and ADE Lab

ADE Pro is the business side: panels, keynotes, masterclasses and networking for labels, promoters, agents, artists, tech start-ups and brands. The main venue is Felix Meritis, the old cultural society building at Keizersgracht 324, a few minutes' walk from the Anne Frank House, with sessions spread over other official ADE venues too. The 2026 programme includes Jean-Michel Jarre as guest of honour, and sustainability sessions run under the ADE Green label.

ADE Lab On Track replaced the old cheap Saturday mini-conference for young producers. It's now a three-day academy for emerging artists and professionals, with classes, mentoring and studio sessions, and you have to apply to get in. In 2026 it runs 21 to 23 October at the ADE Lab Village in Westerpark. A Lab ticket doesn't get you into ADE Pro, and a Pro Pass doesn't get you into Lab.

The festival

Every club in town and plenty of places that aren't clubs join in: concert halls, churches, warehouses, boats. Most of the city's nightlife and live music venues put on ADE nights, and the Arts & Culture strand has taken electronic music into the Westerkerk and the Concertgebouw. Line-ups run from stadium headliners to techno you've never heard of, and almost everyone brings their best set of the year.

Tickets and passes

• ADE Pro Pass: the only way into the conference. There are no day passes or conference-only tickets. As of September 2026 it costs €725 plus a booking fee and covers all conference days, the festival and Arts & Culture programmes (capacity is limited at the busiest venues), networking events, and five days of free GVB public transport.
• Single festival tickets: sold by each event's organiser, not by ADE. Find them through the ADE programme or the ADE app, which links to each promoter's ticket shop.
• Group and company discounts on Pro Passes are available if you contact ADE directly.

The big-name nights sell out weeks ahead. If there's one party you care about, buy the ticket when it goes on sale instead of turning up at the door and hoping.

Picking up your pass

Pro Passes are personal and need to be collected in person with ID. The Info & Ticket Desks in 2026 are outside Felix Meritis and at Stromma Pier 6, Damrak 16, by Centraal Station, from Tuesday 20 October. Both are closed on the Sunday, so collect by Saturday.

Where to stay

Hotels fill up early for ADE week, and the cheap rooms go first. Book as soon as you know you're going. ADE has its own accommodation page, and our guides to Amsterdam hotels and hostels can help you pick an area. Staying near Leidseplein or Rembrandtplein puts you close to a lot of the club action. Every hotel booking also carries Amsterdam's tourist tax of 12.5% of the room rate.

Plan on getting around by tram and night bus, or on foot. If you don't have a Pro Pass, our public transport guide explains how to tap in with a bank card. October weather is cool and often wet, so check October in Amsterdam before you pack.

Then and now

The 2007 line-up on the original version of this page read like a trance and house who's who: Tiësto, Armin van Buuren, Paul van Dyk, Groove Armada, Erick Morillo, Kevin Saunderson and Junkie XL among them. Our writer also predicted that dance music was close to extinction in the United States. A few years later EDM was filling American stadiums, so that one didn't age well, and today's ADE programme is far more global, with a 2026 focus on scenes in Brazil, the Middle East and North Africa, and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Coming from further away and want to fold ADE into a longer trip? AirTreks, BootsnAll's sister company, has built multi-stop and round-the-world tickets since 1987. This route starts in Amsterdam:

FAQ

Can I go to ADE without a Pro Pass?

Yes. Most visitors never go near the conference. Buy tickets for the individual festival events you want, and you're part of ADE.

When is ADE 2027?

ADE is held in mid to late October, usually from a Wednesday to a Sunday. Dates for 2027 hadn't been announced when we updated this page, so check the official site.

Is ADE only for techno and house fans?

No. The programme covers most electronic genres, and the Arts & Culture events include ambient concerts, installations and crossover shows in some of the city's historic venues.