HAPPENING 26 SEP '26 | Burendag returns to Rotterdam on Saturday 26 September 2026, giving neighbours across the city a reason to meet, share food, organise activities or improve their street together. Whether you want to join something nearby or organise your own gathering, here is what you need to know about the Dutch tradition known as Neighbours’ Day.
Image: Burendag. Photo: Jeanette Scholten
When is Burendag in Rotterdam?
Burendag 2026 takes place on Saturday 26 September. Activities can also be organised on Friday 25 or Sunday 27 September as part of the official Burendag weekend.
Burendag takes place across the Netherlands, which means there is no single central Rotterdam programme. Instead, activities are organised at neighbourhood level in streets, apartment buildings, courtyards, community spaces and other places where neighbours can come together.
The official Burendag website includes an activity map where you can search by location or postcode to see what has been registered close to you.
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What is Burendag?
Burendag, which translates simply as Neighbours’ Day, is an annual initiative organised by Douwe Egberts and the Oranje Fonds.
The idea is deliberately simple: create an opportunity to meet the people who live around you.
That might be a cup of coffee outside your building, a shared lunch, a barbecue, games for children, a neighbourhood clean-up or an afternoon spent improving a shared garden. An activity does not need to be large or professionally organised. A few tables, some coffee and an invitation to the neighbours can be enough.
For a city such as Rotterdam, where apartment buildings, residential streets and neighbourhoods can each have very different communities, Burendag offers an easy reason to turn familiar faces into actual acquaintances.
What is happening in Rotterdam for Burendag 2026?
Most Burendag activities are organised locally, so the programme can stretch across dozens of Rotterdam neighbourhoods rather than concentrating in one part of the city.
One of the larger initiatives in 2026 sees several Rotterdam hotels inviting their neighbours inside on Saturday 26 September. The Usual Rotterdam is hosting a barista workshop, Ibis Styles Rotterdam Ahoy an Italian cooking workshop and The Social Hub Rotterdam an informal drinks gathering. Other participating hotels are opening their doors for coffee and a chance to have a look around.
RotterdamStyle has a separate guide to the participating hotels and their Burendag activities.
You can also use the official Burendag activity map to check whether something has been organised in your own street or neighbourhood. Because many activities are added by individual residents and small neighbourhood organisations, checking by postcode is often more useful than looking for one citywide Rotterdam programme.
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Organising your own Burendag in Rotterdam
You can organise a Burendag activity yourself, together with neighbours or through a local association or foundation. A neighbourhood event does not have to become a miniature festival. Some of the easiest ideas are also the ones that make it easiest to actually talk to each other.
You could organise coffee and cake outside your building, a shared breakfast or dinner, a children's games afternoon, a neighbourhood quiz or bingo, a small street clean-up, gardening in a shared space or drinks at the end of the afternoon.
If your building has a courtyard, communal garden or other shared space, Burendag can also be a useful opportunity to finally do something with it together.
Register your Burendag activity
If you are organising something yourself, you can officially register your activity through Mijn Oranje Fonds:
Register your Burendag activity at Mijn Oranje Fonds
You will need to log in or create a Mijn Oranje Fonds account first. Once inside, choose Burendag and follow the steps to register your activity.
Registering puts your activity on the official Burendag map, making it easier for neighbours to discover what is happening nearby.
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Funding and the Burendag package
Each year, the Oranje Fonds normally opens a funding round ahead of Burendag. Eligible activities can apply for a contribution of up to €350, subject to the conditions and available budget.
For Burendag 2026, the funding budget has now been fully allocated, so new financial applications are no longer possible.
You can still register a 2026 Burendag activity and, while supplies remain available, request the Burendag package provided by the organisers.
If you are reading this article ahead of a future edition, check the official Burendag website early in the year. Registration and funding usually open several months before September, and the available budget can run out before Burendag itself.
Finding your neighbourhood in Rotterdam
Rotterdam also has a network of municipal wijkhubs, or neighbourhood hubs, spread across the city. These are local places where residents can speak to municipal staff about neighbourhood questions, ideas and problems, or simply get in touch with people working in their area.
They can be useful throughout the year if Burendag gives you and your neighbours an idea that you would like to take further, whether that means improving a public space, discussing something happening in the street or finding out which local organisations are already active nearby.
Burendag itself lasts a weekend. Getting to know the people living around you hopefully lasts a little longer.
