Save on Museum Tickets in Amsterdam and The Netherlands with a Dutch Museumkaart Pass

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Use the Dutch Museum Pass (Museumkaart) for free admission to almost all museums in Holland and the other provinces and cities of the Netherlands.

The Dutch Museum Pass (Museumkaart) gives free admission to almost all museums in Holland and the other provinces and cities of the Netherlands.

The Museumkaart (Museum Card) is a wonderful savings pass for visitors to Amsterdam, Holland, and the rest of The Netherlands. This museum pass gives skip-the-line priority admission to almost all Dutch museums. The museum card can pay for itself in four museum visits making it a bargain even on short visits. The pass is valid for a year and gives unlimited admission to over 400 museums in The Netherlands including almost all major museums such as the Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum, and Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, the Mauritshuis in The Hague, Het Prinsenhof in Delft, and the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo. The museumkaart can be bought at most major museums in The Netherlands. In Amsterdam, the GVB public transportation multi-day ticket is a great way to save on buses, trams, and the metro.

NOTE: New rules allow only five museum visits on the 31-day temporary card!

Buy Amsterdam GVB Multi-Day Public Transportation Tickets Online from Get Your Guide

Museumkaart (Dutch Museum Pass)

Oorlogsmuseum Overloon in The Netherlands

The museumkaart (museum card) is valid for unlimited entries into almost all museums in The Netherlands. The pass is valid for a year from first use and gives access to practically any of 400 museums in Amsterdam, Holland, and the rest of The Netherlands.

The museumkaart costs €65 for adults and €33 for children under 19 years, as either a child pass (up to 12 years) or a youth pass (younger than 19). State museums are mostly free to children under 18 but many private museums charge admission.

The Museumkaart is available online (for Dutch residents only) or a temporary 31-day card may be bought from most museums. The temporary card should be registered online with a photo during this period to change it into a regular, one-year card.

IMPORTANT: A change in rules means that the temporary card is now valid for five museum visits only, of which the museum where the card is purchased always counts as the first museum visit! The museumkaart may be converted into an annual card for travelers with a Dutch or EU postal address — it could be sent to a temporary address but it is still not possible to order the first card online without a Dutch address or having a temporary card already.

Save with the Museumkaart Pass in the Netherlands

The museumkaart (Museum Pass) is valid at the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam in the Netherlands.

The museumkaart allows for spectacular savings for visitors to and residents of The Netherlands interested in culture and museums. Even on fairly short visits, the museumkaart can be much better value than for example the I Amsterdam city card or the Holland Pass, which usually works best for travelers interested in less high-culture experiences.

On a short visit to Amsterdam, entry into the Rijksmuseum (€20), Het Scheepvaartmuseum (€17.50), Van Gogh Museum (€19), Jewish Cultural Quarter (€17), and the Anne Frank House (€14) will see travelers well ahead. It is possible to make time-slot reservations before actually having a museumkaart in hand.

The calculations for the child pass are more complicated as some major museums such as the Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam are free while others have different levels before admission is payable. Some charge full fare for over 6, others different fares for children under 12 or under 16. On the whole, the older the child, the bigger the saving.

Using the Dutch Museum Card in the Netherlands

marquette of Gouda

The museumkaart is personal. The permanent annual card needs a photo and can be ordered online. The temporary 31-day card needs the entry of the bearer’s name in ink and may be registered online with a photo to convert it into a year card. Proof of identification may be requested.

The procedure for using the museumkaart varies from museum to museum. At many museums, the museum pass is simply presented at the ticket counter and free tickets are issued for the museum. (A surcharge is possible, but rare, for special temporary exhibitions.)

At many museums, including the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, it is possible to skip the ticket counters and go straight to the entrance to the collections. This is increasingly the norm at larger museums and museums where time-slot reservations are possible online.

At museums selling timed-admission tickets online, museumkaart users can usually obtain for free a timed-admission ticket online too. This is usually the best option to gain speedy admission to the applicable museum.

An increasing number of museums require time-slot reservations and for many this requirement will be implemented permanently. The Van Gogh Museum and Anne Frank House for example do not sell any tickets all at the museum itself. All tickets and reservations must be made online — on the spot is still possible on quiet days — but no ticket windows are in operation on-site at all.

The museumkaart is mainly aimed at Dutch citizens and residents but anybody may buy one. All museums participating in the museum pass are listed on the Museumkaart website, which is currently available in Dutch, English, and German.

Top Museums in The Netherlands

European Traveler reviews of some museums in The Netherlands where the museumkaart is valid:

Gelderland

Noord-Holland (North-Holland) including Amsterdam

Noord-Brabant (North Brabant)

Utrecht

Zuid-Holland (South-Holland) including The Hague

  • Museum Gouda – local history museum
  • Kunstmuseum Den Haag — including the largest collection of Piet Mondrian paintings in the world.
  • Louwman Museum in The Hague — one of the largest collections of veteran and classic cars in the world.
  • Mauritshuis in The Hague — Dutch Golden Age painting including Vermeer’s Girl with the Pearl Earring and a dozen Rembrandts.
Henk Bekker in armor

About the author:

Henk Bekker

Henk Bekker is a freelance travel writer with over 20 years of experience writing online. He is particularly interested in history, art, and culture. He has lived most of his adult life in Germany, Switzerland, and Denmark. In addition to European-Traveler.com, he also owns a travel website on the Lake Geneva region of Switzerland and maintains statistical websites on car sales and classic car auction prices. Henk holds an MBA from Edinburgh Business School and an MSc in Development Finance from the University of London.

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