Pride Enschede runs from 2 to 11 October 2026. Our event listing carries the dates and who is behind it. This is what the ten days consist of, as the programme stands.
The opening is a rainbow breakfast in the Burgerzaal of Enschede city hall on Friday 2 October, from 08:00 to 10:30. That evening the exhibition Through the Lens of Queer-expressions opens at the CBE at 19:00 and then runs on the following days from 10:00 to 18:00. It is made from work by queer artists in Enschede. Also on the Friday, the Wilminktheater has the stand-up debut Zwak Geslacht by Marlies Verschueren at 20:30, about identity, gender and life as a new woman.
Saturday 3 October is the fullest day. A workshop on queer signifiers in fashion runs from 12:00 to 17:00 and covers upcycling and sewing basics. Slayyy!, an evening on queer style, follows from 19:00 to 22:00, and at 19:30 there is a talk on drag as gender expression and activism in the Netherlands. The night ends with Find Your QRUSH at Stonewall, from 22:00 to 02:00.
On Sunday 4 October the Queer Shorts competition screens regional queer short films at Filmhuis Concordia, 16:00 to 18:00. Monday 5 October has a university panel, Queer Academy: Belonging Beyond Campus, from 15:00 to 17:00, and the Twents gay choir Soorten & Maten sings at the De Eschpoort care home at 19:15.
The second week is thinner and sits mostly at the theatre. The Coming Out Comedy Club on Thursday 8 October at 20:30 puts younger performers from the LGBTQ+ community on stage, Gavin Reijnders and Celine Schrama among them. Night of Pride closes the ten days on Saturday 10 October in De Grote Kerk on the Oude Markt, doors at 21:00 and finish at 01:30, with a headline act, DJs, a drag performer and dancers. Tickets are 7.50 euro in advance and 10 euro at the door. On Sunday 11 October the theatre has MONOMAAN by Reinier van Harten at 14:30.
The name is new and the old one has not quite gone. What ran for years as the Regenboogdagen Enschede is now Pride Enschede, and the ticket page for the closing party still calls it the closing of the Regenboogdagen 2026. The festival homepage greets visitors in Twents, "Mooi daj d'r bint".
Enschede is in Twente, on the German border. We list no LGBTQ+ venues in the city itself, so the programme venues are where the ten days happen: the city hall, the CBE, Filmhuis Concordia, the Wilminktheater and De Grote Kerk, all in or near the centre.
The Netherlands scores 63.82 out of 100 on ILGA-Europe's Rainbow Index, behind Malta and Spain. Our Netherlands country page has the legal detail.
October is busy elsewhere in the country. Ede Pride falls on the same opening day, 2 October, 86 km away, and the Utrecht Queer Culture Festival runs the same ten days, 122 km west. Closer, Coming In Week Arnhem starts on 11 October, 72 km south. Out! Oldambt in Winschoten is on 9 October, 103 km north, and Pride Almere on 7 October, 115 km west.