Massage Amsterdam in Pride week, after a day on the quays watching the Canal Parade

Pride Amsterdam fills the city with events, street parties and music, and the Canal Parade is its centrepiece: decorated boats travel along the Prinsengracht and the Amstel while spectators pack the quays, the bridges and the windows above. Visitors who come for the week often spend the parade day standing in one spot for hours, with little shade and few places to sit, then move on to a party in one of the squares.

A peak date, with a deposit for every booking

Pride is one of the house's peak dates, and on those dates every booking is secured with half the fee in advance, whoever makes it and however long it runs. That includes a returning guest asking for a same-day hour, which on an ordinary day would be paid at the door. The figure itself does not change: an hour during Pride costs exactly what it costs in a quiet week. The deposit entry explains how the advance is paid.

Getting to your door when the canals are closed

On parade day trams are diverted, many streets near the route are closed to traffic, and the bridges stay crowded until well into the evening. She still arrives forty to sixty minutes after confirmation, but the last part of her journey may be on foot through the crowd, so give the exact entrance to your building rather than just the street: the side door, the code, the name on the bell. If your room overlooks the route, it can be simpler to ask for an hour after the boats have passed and the quays have started to clear.

Planning a massage in Amsterdam during Pride week

Book early in the week rather than on the day. Diaries fill during Pride, and a request for the parade evening written days in advance gives you a wider choice of names on the therapists page. Ask for an hour that leaves time to get back through the crowds and shower; a day of standing in the sun calls for both. If you would rather avoid the busiest evening altogether, a quieter night earlier in the week is easier to arrange and no different in fee.

After the parade

When the last boat has passed, the crowd does not vanish; it moves to the squares and the side streets, and the party carries on into the night. If you are heading back to the room rather than on to a party, leave the quays by the side streets rather than along the water, where people stay packed together for hours. Drink water through the day as well. A guest who comes back the worse for a long afternoon in the sun is not the guest an evening in needs, and drink that can no longer be hidden is one of the reasons a visit can be ended.