Chefs in het Bos opens 2026 pre-sale with tickets at €15

The organizers of Chefs in het Bos have opened pre-sale ticket sales for the 2026 edition of the Amsterdam food festival, offering early tickets at €15 instead of the regular €28.50, a discount of more than 40%, according to promotional material sent Thursday.

The event is scheduled to run from July 31 through August 9 at the Arena grounds in Amsterdamse Bos, a large park on the edge of Amsterdam. Organizers said the festival will take place over two weekends and will bring together 24 Michelin-starred chefs, with 12 chefs appearing each weekend in a rotating lineup.

Chefs in het Bos is presenting this year’s edition under the theme “Roots of 2050,” which organizers describe as a concept focused on nature, local ingredients and cooking techniques aimed at a more sustainable form of gastronomy. The festival says it wants to challenge leading chefs to imagine what future cuisine could look like while keeping environmental concerns at the center of the menu.

According to the announcement, each participating chef will operate an individual restaurant-style stand in the forest setting and serve between three and five dishes. Organizers said those offerings will include one or two signature dishes in limited quantities. Visitors will be able to build their own tasting progression by ordering plates from different chefs. Dish prices are set to start at €10.

The event is also positioning itself as a wine and beverage destination. Organizers said drinks will range from accessible wines to rare cellar bottles, though they did not provide further details on producers, regions or pricing. The program is expected to combine food service with live entertainment, including daytime jazz sessions and evening dance music.

The festival’s promotional material says this year’s lineup will include chefs from across the Netherlands, including representatives from Zeeland, eastern parts of the country and Amsterdam, along with two international chefs invited to present their interpretation of the 2050 theme. The names of the chefs were not included in the announcement released Thursday.

Chefs in het Bos said it would donate 1% of its revenue to Amsterdamse Bos as part of a partnership tied to urban health and green space. Organizers framed that contribution as part of a broader effort to link high-end dining with environmental responsibility.

The pre-sale is being marketed as limited in volume, with organizers urging early booking before standard pricing takes effect. The event is returning this summer with a larger format than in previous editions, according to the announcement, though attendance projections and total ticket inventory were not disclosed.

The concept reflects a broader trend in European food festivals toward immersive outdoor dining experiences that mix fine dining, music and sustainability messaging. In this case, organizers are using the wooded setting of Amsterdamse Bos as both backdrop and theme, placing Michelin-level cooking in a temporary open-air format rather than in traditional restaurant dining rooms.

For Amsterdam’s hospitality scene, the event adds another high-profile summer attraction aimed at diners willing to travel for chef-driven experiences outside the city center. By concentrating 24 Michelin-starred chefs across two weekends, Chefs in het Bos is seeking to turn a park venue into a temporary showcase for Dutch fine dining and its international connections.

Ticket sales are now underway through the festival’s pre-sale campaign. Organizers said only a limited number of discounted tickets will be available before prices rise to the standard rate.