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Tickets for the Berlin State Museums and Galleries

by in Berlin, Germany

Tickets for the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin are reasonably cheap with good combination deals — buy museum tickets and reserve online to save even more.

Tickets for the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin are reasonably cheap with good combination deals -- buy museum tickets and reserve online to save even more.
Altes Museum on Museumsinsel in Berlin © visitBerlin | Scholvien

Tickets for the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (State Museums) are very reasonably priced for the quality and quantity of artworks and cultural objects on display. The most expensive museum is €14 but most are cheaper and many combination deals are available — €19 includes all Museum Island venues for the day. Tickets are sold for individual museums (or special temporary exhibitions) but the area combination tickets are especially good value for money and always a great savings deal when seeing more than one museum on a single day. These national museums are included on the Berlin Museums Pass and some Berlin Welcome Cards. Buy tickets online from GetYourGuide and make free time-slot reservations where required.

All Berlin state museums are open in 2023. Time-slot reservations are essential only for the Alte Nationalgalerie, Gemäldegalerie, Neue Nationalgalerie, Neues Museum, Pergamon Museum (closed from October 2023 to 2027!), and Das Panorama. Timeslots are currently released only around four weeks in advance. Buy tickets and make reservations online at GetYourGuide or at SMB. Online tickets for museums without timeslot reservations are skip-the-line — go directly to the entrance to scan the ticket. Many multiple-museum tickets and passes are again accepted. The 3-day Berlin Museum Pass is excellent value.

See Update for Opening Hours of the Berlin State Museums (2023) for the latest information.

Ticket Options for the Berlin State Museums

Tickets for the Berlin State Museums are at first glance fairly complicated. Several combination tickets are sold and the museums are also included in tourist museum passes.

Tickets are generally available for special temporary exhibitions, for an individual museum, for the whole area the museum is in, and for all museums.

The area tickets are generally good value and are only marginally more expensive than a single museum ticket. The museum ticket almost always includes admission to temporary exhibitions, although sometimes it is extra, or a separate cheaper ticket is available for the temporary exhibition only.

Admission to the Berlin State Museums is free for children up to 18 years old but they need a ticket too so include children when buying tickets or making time-slot reservations. Students usually pay the reduced (ermäßigt) half-price rate.

All state museums, as well as most other museums in Berlin, are free on the first Sunday of the month. Timeslot reservations may still be needed for the top museums and exhibitions.

All visitors may buy tickets online from the museums but this option requires registration or a surprising amount of personal data. Buying from GetYourGuide is a lot simpler, the same price, valid as a mobile phone ticket, and has better cancelation conditions. Go directly to the gallery entrance to scan the QR or bar codes. The online reservation system for free time-slot tickets where required may also be used for child tickets and annual pass holders.

Note that day tickets are valid for the calendar day, irrespective of the time of purchase. It is, therefore, best to buy museum tickets early morning and avoid Mondays when only the Humboldt Forum museums are open. (The Pergamonmuseum and Neues Museum are currently not open on Mondays.)

See Update for Opening Hours of the Berlin State Museums — free time-slot ticket reservations are essential only for the most popular museums but sensible for any museum that offers this skip-the-line option.

GetYourGuide

Area Tickets for the Berlin State Museums and Galleries

See Updated Opening Hours of the Berlin State Museums. Time-slot reservations are essential only for the Alte Nationalgalerie, Neue Nationalgalerie, Neues Museum, Pergamon Museum, and Das Panorama. (Also for the Gemäldegalerie when particularly popular exhibitions are staged.)

Note: Area Tickets are again sold in 2023. The three-day Berlin Museum Pass remains available and is excellent value while the Museum Island and Welcome card are again on sale.

James Simon Galerie Berlin

Museumsinsel Berlin / Museum Island

The area day ticket for all museums on Museum Island is €19. Many museums require time-slot admissions, if not included in the ticket, e.g. Museum Pass users or under 18s, make free reservations online at SMB Shop.

Ticket prices for the individual museums are as follows — special exhibitions may add a small surcharge:

James-Simon-Galerie — depends on the special exhibition.

Admission to the Friedrichwerdersche Kirche with its display of 19th-century sculptures is free and no tickets required.

Humboldt Forum (Berliner Schloss)

Prices for the museums and exhibitions in the Humboldt Forum (Berlin Schloss) are set individually and are not included in the Museuminsel Area Ticket but usually are covered by the Berlin Museum Pass.

Entry into the courtyards of the building is free as is admission to some of the exhibitions. Admission to the Etnologisches Museum / Ethnological Museum and Museum fĂĽr Asiatische Kunst / Museum for Asian Art is currently still free and not requiring time-slot reservations.

Kulturforum / Cultural Forum

The area day ticket for all museums in the Kulturforum is €18. Admission is sometimes charged for temporary exhibitions in the library and Kupferstichkabinett.

  • €8 – Gemäldegalerie / Paintings Gallery (Old Masters) (buy from Tiqets). Sometimes surcharges apply for top temporary exhibitions. (Usually €10 but parts of the museum are closed until late 2023.)
  • €8 – Kunstgewerbemuseum / Museum of Decorative Arts (buy from Tiqets).
  • €6 (depending on the exhibition) – Kupferstichkabinett / Museum of Prints and Drawings.
  • €6 (depending on the exhibition) – Kunstbibliothek / Art Library (buy from Tiqets).
  • €14 — Neue Nationalgalerie / New National Gallery — tickets available from Get Your Guide, surcharges are sometimes added for special exhibitions.
  • €6 – Musikinstrumenten-Museum / Musical Instruments (not part of the SMK but included in the Kulturforum ticket).

Other Berlin State Museums

Tickets for the other Berlin State Museums are sold mostly individually but the Berlin Museum Pass is valid at all of these museums:

  • Around €14 (depending on the temporary exhibitions) – to the Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum fĂĽr Gegenwart – Berlin / Museum of Contemporary Art in the Hamburg Station in Berlin (buy from Get Your Guide). Some temporary exhibitions may be seen individually for less.
  • €8 – Museum Europäischer Kulturen / Museum of European Cultures in Dahlem (buy from Tiqets).
  • €10 – Sammlung Scharf-Gerstenburg near Schloss Charlottenburg (buy from Tiqets). (The Museum Berggruen is closed until 2025.)
  • €10 – admission to the Museum fĂĽr Fotografie / Photography Museum behind the Zoologischer Garten station (buy from Tiqets).
  • €6 – Schloss Köpenick Palace.

The Museum Pass and Welcome Card Berlin

The Museum Pass Berlin is sold by Visit Berlin â€“ the tourist information office for €29 and is valid for entry into more than 30 museums in Berlin on three consecutive days. These museums include all Berlin State Museums, the German History Museum (closed until at least 2024), and Technology Museum but unfortunately not the popular Haus am Checkpoint Charlie or DDR museums. The pass is available from any participating museum, tourist office, and some hotels.

The Berlin Welcome Card Museum Island pass is a further option sold by the tourist office. This 72-h pass includes public transportation, free admission to the permanent collections of the Museum Island museums, and further discounts at other attractions. It currently costs €53 in the AB transportation region version – the ABC version that includes Potsdam, Schönefeld Airport and Oranienburg is hardly more expensive.

Annual Passes for the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Annual member passes (Jahreskarten) are good options for residents of Berlin or frequent visitors. It comes in three versions:

  • €100 – Classic Plus: valid for all museum and temporary exhibitions at all times, priority admission even without time-slot reservations.
  • €50 – Classic: valid for all permanent exhibitions at all times. Major temporary exhibitions may have a surcharge. Free time-slot reservations.
  • €25 – Basic: valid for all permanent exhibitions at off-peak times, i.e. enter after 4 pm (3 pm at Dahlem and Schloss Köpenick) on weekdays and between 11 am and 1 pm on weekends and vacation days. Major temporary exhibitions have a surcharge. Free time-slot reservations.

These annual passes may only be bought at the following museums: Altes Museum, Kulturforum central ticket desk, Hamburger Bahnhof, Museum für Fotografie, Museum Berggruen, Dahlem Museums, Neues Museum, and Schloss Köpenick.

More on the Berlin State Museums (Staatliche Museen zu Berlin):

GetYourGuide

Note: Most Berlin museums and similar sights are open in 2023. Timeslot reservations are essential for only the Alte Nationalgalerie, Gemäldegalerie, Neue Nationalgalerie, Neues Museum, Pergamon Museum (closed from 23 Oct 2023 until 2027!), and Das Panorama. Timeslots are released only around four weeks in advance. Tickets are available from GetYourGuide that seem to have timeslots available when SMB has already sold out — many passes or multi-museum tickets are again available. Individual museum ticket prices range from €6 to €14 (€20 for special exhibitions). Online tickets are skip-the-line — go directly to the gallery entrance to scan the code.

For more general information on the Berlin State Museums:

News & Temporary Exhibitions:

More Museum Reviews and Museum-Specific Information:

Previous Temporary Exhibitions:

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