King Willem-Alexander and his family celebrate his birthday in Dordrecht on Monday, in the first of a new style approach to King’s Day.

The festivities for the royals began with a trip through the canals with a parade of old and new boats, past the city’s main landmarks.

The family are then attending a concert as part of the Bach Festival, followed by a visit to the Scheffersplein, where local entrepreneurs will show off their products. The tour will end on the Statenplein with a party.

Some 200,000 people are expected in Amsterdam, where the city turns into an enormous flea market. By 11.00 hours, NS said it had already brought 45,000 people to the capital by train.

As well as the massive market, 160 events are taking place in the capital, including 12 major dance parties. Parts of the city have been closed to traffic and there are no trams in the city centre.

The big festivals which are expected to attract 140,000 people in total are outside the city centre, which is helping to spread the crowds, news agency ANP said.

Trains

Some 40,000 people are attending the second edition of the 538 Koningsdag event and in Alkmaar 25,000 tickets have been sold for the Slam! Koningsdag party.

Dutch railway NS is running a different timetable with longer trains on some routes. Travellers are being warned to expect different departure times and to check routes carefully. Alcohol is banned on all trains and in stations.

Despite earlier forecasts of rain and strong winds, the weather is expected to remain dry all day and there is plenty of sunshine in the west, central and northern parts of the country. The temperature is expected to reach no more than 13 Celsius in sheltered parts.