Amsterdam Marathon 2027 : course, race week and travel

Amsterdam is a single loop from the Olympic Stadium and back, and the shape of it is simple to hold in your head: out through the Vondelpark and the Rijksmuseum, a long middle along both banks of the Amstel, a swing east through the polders, and home along the canal ring and the same park. The whole race lies between 3.9 m below and 3.2 m above NAP, the zero every Dutch height is read from. It is flat. It is not straight: the course turns 56 times, and no straight on it reaches a mile. Plan your race around the corners and the river, not around hills.

Km 0 to 5: the stadium, the park and the museum

The start is split. Start Area A is on the field inside the Olympic Stadium, Start Area B on Stadionweg just outside it, and the two streams merge after about a kilometre. From Area A you leave the track through the marathon gate and Stadionplein, then run north on Amstelveenseweg to km 1.7. The Vondelpark follows, nearly two kilometres of park path to km 3.7, and part of it is below sea level.

At the park’s far end the course takes Stadhouderskade and turns into Museumstraat, the cycle passage that runs through the middle of the Rijksmuseum. From km 4.02 to 4.10 the building is over your head. Hobbemastraat and Hobbemakade bring you back south to km 5.3.

Km 5 to 13.5: the Zuidas loop and the long straights

Stadionweg and Beethovenstraat take the course south into the Zuidas business district, where a loop on Gustav Mahlerlaan, Parnassusweg and De Boelelaan turns it round at about km 8. Back north on Beethovenstraat comes one of the longest straights, 1.31 km, then Stadionweg again, Apollolaan and Muzenplein. Churchill-laan, from km 10.5 to 11.8, is the longest straight on the course at 1.32 km. Rijnstraat, President Kennedylaan and De Mirandalaan lead to the river at km 13.5.

This first third repeats itself more than it looks on a map. A quarter of the race, 11.2 km, is run within 40 m of a stretch already run: the park, the stadium approach, and Stadionweg and Beethovenstraat out to the Zuidas and back.

Km 13.5 to 25: the Amstel

The middle of the race is the river. From km 13.5 the course follows the Amstel’s west bank south on the Amsteldijk, under the A10 ring road and out of the city to Ouderkerk aan de Amstel. This is the stretch that follows part of the 1928 Olympic marathon route. At Ouderkerk the course loops round and crosses the river on the bascule bridge at km 19.7; the sharpest corner of the race, 122 degrees, comes in that loop at km 19.8.

Then back north on the east bank, on Binnenweg and the Ouderkerkerdijk, to km 25.0. Halfway, km 21.1, falls on the east bank with the city ahead of you. It is 11.6 km within 100 m of the river, open and flat, one bank out and the other back.

Km 25 to 34: Overamstel and the Watergraafsmeer

Jan Vroegopsingel and Joan Muyskenweg, a 1.28 km straight beside the A2 motorway, take the course east. On Van der Madeweg it reaches its highest point, which is not a hill but the embankment beside the railway at Duivendrecht, 3.2 m above NAP at km 29.0.

From there it drops into the Watergraafsmeer, a drained lake that is now a polder. The steepest half-kilometre of the whole course falls 0.49% on the way down. The stretch from km 30.2 to 33.9, on Rozenburglaan, Kruislaan, Maxwellstraat, Hugo de Vrieslaan and Galileiplantsoen, is the longest of the seven below sea level, and the lowest point of the race, 3.9 m below NAP, is on Rozenburglaan at km 31.2. Archimedesweg and Molukkenstraat lead north.

Km 34 to the finish: the canal ring and the park again

The turns onto and off Borneostraat at km 34 are among the sharpest on the course, and they come when the legs are tired. Zeeburgerdijk and Mauritskade take you west towards the canal ring, and at km 36.8 the course crosses the Amstel a second time, on the Torontobrug. Stadhouderskade runs past the front of the Rijksmuseum at km 38.3.

From km 38.6 to 40.6 you run the same Vondelpark path as in the first five kilometres, westward this time. Amstelveenseweg brings you south to km 41.7, the marathon gate takes you back into the stadium, and the race ends on its track.

Entry

Amsterdam has no ballot. Entries are sold in the order they arrive until a distance is full, and registration for the 2027 race opens on Saturday 19 December 2026. The organiser has not given a time of day or a 2027 price yet; the 2026 marathon opened at 12:00, cost 145 euro and sold out at 32,000 places. It sells fast: in 2023 the race was sold out more than three months before the start. There is no late registration and no waiting list with the organiser. The one sanctioned resale is the Atleta platform, which in 2026 ran until Wednesday 14 October.

The expo and your bib

Every runner collects their bib at the International Marathon Expo in RAI Amsterdam. In 2026 it was open Thursday 13:00 to 20:00, Friday 10:00 to 20:00 and Saturday 09:00 to 19:00. It is closed on Sunday and there is no bib pick-up on race day, so arrive by Saturday evening at the latest. Bibs are not posted, including to runners abroad.

Bring the personal QR code that comes by email in early October and sits in the official app; it also covers anything you ordered in advance. Someone else may collect for you with it. There is no cash machine at the expo, and most stands take cards.

The rest of the weekend

Saturday carries the smaller races: a 7.5 km run from Stadionweg through Amsterdam-Zuid and the Vondelpark into the stadium (14:15 in 2026, one-hour limit), kids’ runs and a morning city run. The International Pasta Party runs on Saturday evening in the VIP tent at the Olympic Stadium, in two sittings, 18:00 to 19:15 and 19:30 to 21:00 in 2026. The half marathon is on Sunday afternoon, from Stadionweg at 13:20, and joins the marathon course after Churchill-laan, Rijnstraat and the Utrechtse Brug.

In 2027 race day is also the morning the clocks change: summer time ends on the last Sunday of October, and 31 October 2027 is that Sunday. The clocks go back an hour overnight, so check your watch and alarm on Saturday night.

Race morning

The 2027 start times are not out yet. In 2026 the marathon went in six waves from both start areas at once, chosen by your expected finish time and shown by the colour on your bib: white (invited runners and up to 2:40) at 09:00, yellow (2:40 to 3:15) at 09:02, pink (3:15 to 3:45) at 09:11, orange (3:45 to 4:00) at 09:24, green (4:00 to 4:30) at 09:34 and blue (4:30 to 6:00) at 09:43, with the last runners over the line by about 09:50. You may start in a later wave than your colour, never an earlier one. An email tells you your start area and time.

Start Area A has an Athletes Only Zone in the stadium that opened at 07:00, with toilets, water and room to warm up; you show your bib to enter, and you can enter only once. Its corrals opened at 07:45, and runners in waves 1 and 2 had to be on the field by 08:50. The Area B pens on Stadionweg opened at 08:00.

Clothing storage is free and in tents: in the Athletes Only Zone for Area A (from 07:30) and at the IJsbaanpad for Area B (from 07:45), both until 17:00. There are no lockers, loose clothing may not be taken into the stadium, and the organiser takes no responsibility for lost items.

The cut-off

The limit is six hours. In 2026 a sweeper vehicle ran to a published table: 10:31 at 5 km, 11:13 at 10 km, 11:55 at 15 km, 12:36 at 20 km and 13:18 at 25 km, and the finish closed at 17:00. Runners it catches are asked to leave the race and get no medal. The table moves about 42 minutes for every 5 km. If you cross the start at 09:50, the back of the last wave, you have 41 minutes to reach 5 km, so the opening kilometres are where a slow runner has the least room.