Explore the North Festival 2025 takes place on 21, 22, and 23 November 2025. The festival weekend of Explore the North is a three-day journey of discovery filled with stories in many forms. At beautiful locations throughout the historic city centre of Leeuwarden, musicians, theatre makers, writers, and poets invite you into unconventional stories, performances, concerts, and more.
Tickets
You can purchase your tickets for the festival weekend via our webshop. The full festival experience is included with a weekend ticket, which gives you access to our entire festival programme for all three days. Day tickets are also available, giving you access to the full programme on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. For children up to 12 years old, we offer a special child ticket, and for young people up to 25 years old we offer an extra affordable youth ticket. We do not sell tickets for individual programme items.
Weekend Tickets
- Weekend tickets: €56
- Youth tickets: €22.50 (ages 13–25 and students)*
- Child tickets: €11.00
Day Tickets
- Friday 21 November: €28.50
- Saturday 22 November: €33.50
- Sunday 23 November: €28.50
*Please bring your student ID or proof of identity when collecting your festival wristband.
Note: The programme, times, and locations are subject to change.
Festival Wristbands
To gain access to all festival locations, you must exchange your ticket for a wristband. You can collect your festival wristband at our festival hub Podium Explore (Bagijnestraat 59) during the festival weekend.
Food & Drinks in our Festival Hub / Stadshart
On 21, 22, and 23 November, you can visit Het Stadshart (the festival hub in Podium Explore, Bagijnestraat 59) from 12:00 for food and drinks. Our café-restaurant serves dinner from 18:00 to 20:00, and lunch from 12:00 to 15:00. You can also enjoy drinks at other Explore locations during the festival weekend.
Het Stadshart is located on the first floor of Podium Explore.
Accessibility
Leeuwarden is easily accessible by public transport. From Leeuwarden Station it is about a 10-minute walk to the city centre and most festival locations. You can park in the Oldehoofsterkerkhof or Zaailand parking garages. Travelling with Arriva from another station? Then you can make use of a discounted day ticket.
Wheelchair Accessibility
Almost all Explore locations are accessible by wheelchair, except for Beatriks and Restaurant Baylings. We do our best to make locations such as Podium Explore as accessible as possible: it helps us greatly if you let us know in advance via info@explore-the-north.nl
Please Note: Some Doors Close at Starting Time
More and more programmes at Explore the North are best experienced from beginning to end.
Therefore, in the timetable (and on our website per programme item), we indicate which events will close their doors at the starting time.
Language No Problem
Don’t speak Dutch? There is plenty of music to enjoy at the festival, and several performances where language is not an obstacle, such as Ivgy & Greben with Not Yet, Juersson Hermanus – Languo Stories, and Nik Rajsek with KINK. There are also several English-language programmes, such as URLAND with Before the Story Starts and the conversation with Édouard Louis.
Expeditions / “Kruipdoorsluipdoor” Programme on Saturday and Sunday
This year, the expeditions at Explore the North work slightly differently than in previous years. This programme on Saturday and Sunday consists of 30-minute performances. You can visit the programme independently, but you can also join a guided route—during which you’ll also hear stories about Leeuwarden. Registration for the start of the three guided routes (RED, GREEN, and BLUE) on Saturday and Sunday is now full. However, after the first programme on each route, you can still join on site. You may also create your own route and visit the small-location programme independently. More info.
Registration
For some programme items, you must reserve a spot separately. These include:
22 and 23 Nov: Children’s programme
21, 22, 23 Nov: Flood the zone with shit
23 Nov: Katerbrunch (Tickets cost €10)