Hotels near Westergas and the Gashouder

The Westergasfabriek was built in 1885 as a coal gas plant for the Imperial Continental Gas Association, and Isaac Gosschalk designed most of its thirteen buildings in Dutch Neo-Renaissance brick. Gas production stopped in 1967, when natural gas from the Slochteren field made coal gas obsolete. Nineteen of the original buildings survive as national monuments. The site reopened as a culture park in 2003 and was renamed Westergas in 2018. The Gashouder, the round one, went up in 1902: a circular hall of 2,538 square metres, 53.8 metres across and 14.5 metres to the roof, licensed for up to 3,500 people at a concert.

Here is what 2026 does to it. The Gashouder shut in January 2025 for a renovation covering the sound system, insulation and crowd flow, and its formal reopening is scheduled for November 2026. Before that it runs an ADE Pre-Opening Week from 21 to 25 October: Armin van Buuren and Benwal on Wednesday 21 October, then Eric Prydz, I Hate Models, Job Jobse, Mochakk, Franky Rizardo, Josh Baker and Sammy Virji across the nights that follow, plus a Swan Lake Remixed programme on the opening night. The underground spaces are still building sites during festival week, so this is not the finished venue.

If you missed the tickets, and most people will, the park around it stays free and open with no gate. Klönneplein and Polonceaukade carry the bars and restaurants, and on ADE nights the terraces fill with people who also missed out. Better than standing at a sold-out door on the off chance.

Pro Tip: Bus 21 from Amsterdam Centraal station drops you at Van Hallstraat/Westergasfabriek, four minutes from the east gate. On a night you have no ticket for, be on a Polonceaukade terrace by 17:00; by 21:00 the tables are gone.