Westergasfabriek

Westergasfabriek is located in the Westerpark area of Amsterdam and generally is a site often used for food festivals during the summer months. It has indoor spaces as well as outdoor spaces that are used for exhibits as well as performances during all times of the year. There are a few permanent businesses located there, There’s a café that serves some food and drink and has beer and wine available. There’s also an ice cream stand. Being located within Westerpark it’s a nice respite after you’ve walked or cycled around the park or played sports on one of the nearby green spaces.

WesterGasfabriek is a former industrial terrain that’s creatively used to house many nice cafés, restaurants, a theater, a cinema and offices.
During summer it’s also an event venue for open air festivals like Pitch, Milkshake, or Buiten Westen. Here are some tipps and tricks that might be handy.
The festival tickets are quite expensive (€ 40 to € 50 per day ticket). If you decide to go spontaneously you can sometimes find relatively cheap ones on the trustworthy platform
.
Important to know: check the blokkenschema before you enter. Check all the stages. If one of your favourite act will be on stage in Gashouder, WesterUnie or any other closed room, make sure to be there about 1 hour before the concert is supposed to start. Seriously. Chance is high that security won’t let you in later because it’s full. Yes, it’s supposed to be an open air festival, but the organizers don’t always seem to know what act is going to attract the biggest audience.
TOP
+ mainly well-​organized
+ many stages with great acts
+ creative & great variety
+ good food choice
+ if you need to leave the terrain and want to come back you get a ribbon
FLOP
— the mentioned mis-​organization of putting big acts into rooms and refuse one part of the paying visitors to see the act as soon as it’s full
— you can’t buy single munten, only 5, 10, 15 etc. @ € 2,60 resp. € 2,70 per piece
— food and drinks are expensive, e.g. frites 2,5 munt
— water is 1,5 munt, beer 1 munt
— tiny drink units, e.g. for 1 munt you get 2dl of ice tea
Mental note for myself: stop playing the lottery, start making money by organizing festivals and rip-​off the visitors big time with over-​priced, non-​refundable munten.
BRING
+ if you’re a guy: at least one female friend because she’s got the basic handbag toolkit including hankies, wet wipes, maybe a lighter and that kinda useful stuff
+ sun protection (protection is never a bad idea)
+ plastic rain ponchos (unless you want to buy one for 1 munt)
+ ear plugs (unless you want to buy some for € 10)
+ an extra lid for plastic bottles