Save with the I Amsterdam City Card on transportation, top sights and museums, tours, restaurants, adventures, and entertainment.
The I Amsterdam City Card is a travel pass sold by the official Amsterdam tourist information office that includes local public transportation and admission to most of the top sights in the Dutch capital. Free admission is included for many public museums such as the Rijksmuseum, Hermitage, and Nemo Science Museum. Free admission to experiences such as the A’Dam Lookout tower with swing and the Artis zoo offer fantastic deals while large discounts are offered for private museums such as Moco (Banksy) and Fabrique des Lumières (Klimt). Free canal cruises are included while discounts are given on entertainment and at restaurants. Buy the I Amsterdam Card online and use the digital version on a mobile phone.
Buy the I Amsterdam City Card
The I Amsterdam City Card is a typical European city travel card that gives travelers unlimited public transportation, free admission to top museums, canal cruises, and discounts on tours, adventures, entertainment, restaurants, and private museums or events.
The I Amsterdam City Card is available in five versions:
| 24 hours | 48 hours | 72 hours | 96 hours | 120 hours |
| €65 | €90 | €110 | €125 | €135 |
The simplest way to buy the iAmsterdam City Card is online — select “Digital card on smartphone” as the delivery method. This option allows the card to be used on a phone app with automatic activation on its first use on transportation or at a museum. (Booking a time-slot reservation does not activate the app!)
A physical card may also be selected but note that the voucher may only be exchanged at the I Amsterdam Store at the main Amsterdam Centraal train station (not particularly long opening hours). The only advantage of this option rather than buying a physical card at any tourist information venue, or from many hotels and souvenir shops, is that the voucher provides the necessary code for making time-slot reservations well in advance of travel (but that is still easier with the digital version).
Save with the I Amsterdam City Card
It is easy to save with the I Amsterdam City Card, especially on the multiple-day cards. While the 24-hours card requires around four uses, only two sights per day are required to make the 96-hour or 120-hour card worth the price. Ticket reservations are needed (and possible) at all major museums where such reservations are required of regular visitors. When buying the I Amsterdam City Card online, the voucher or mobile card number may be used to make such reservations well in advance of actually activating (and using) the card.
Top sights included with free admission on the I Amsterdam Card are amongst others:
- Amsterdam Rijksmuseum
- A’Dam Lookout — free admission (but add around €6 for a swing!)
- Artis Zoo
- Artis Micropia — first microbe museum in the world!
- Allard Pierson — the cultural history museum of the university
- Amsterdam Museum — local history museum at various locations including the Hermitage while the main building is being renovated.
- Cobra Museum of Modern Art in Amstelveen
- Diamond Museum
- Dutch Resistance Museum
- Eye Film Museum
- Foam Photography Museum
- Geelvinck Pianola Museum
- Hermitage Amsterdam
- Hortus Botanicus — botanical garden
- Houseboat Museum
- Jewish Cultural Quarter including museum and Portuguese Synagogue
- Johan Cruijff Arena tours — not on match days!
- Luther Museum
- Museum Het Schip — Amsterdam School Museum of art and architecture
- Museum Van Loon — a 17th-century canal house with an exquisite garden on Keizersgracht
- Museum Willet-Holthuysen — a 17th-century canal house with an exquisite garden on Herengracht
- Moco Museum (Banksy Exhibition)
- National Maritime Museum
- De Nieuwe Kerk (New Church) — changing exhibitions
- Nemo Science Museum
- Ons’ Lieve Heer op Solder — the hidden church of Our Lord in the Attic
- Oude Kerk (Old Church) — mostly modern art exhibitions
- Pipe Museum
- Rembrandt House Museum
- Stedelijk Museum – Museum of Modern Art
- Rijksmuseum
- This is Holland — 5D Flight Experience
- Tropenmuseum
- Tulip Museum
Top sights not included in the iAmsterdam City Card are the Van Gogh Museum and the Anne Frank House. It is essential to buy Van Gogh Museum and Anne Frank House tickets online in advance — tickets are NOT sold on site. (The Van Gogh Museum used to be included in the I Amsterdam City Card, so it is always worth checking if it has returned to fold!)
Sights Outside Amsterdam
Some of the sights included in the I Amsterdam Card are in the region of Amsterdam and although admission is included, transportation is mostly not covered on the buses (or trains) to these day-trip destinations:
- Amsterdam Muiderslot — one of the most famous medieval-look castles in the Netherlands
- Czar Peter House in Zaandam
- Fort Pampus (Muiden)
- Frans Hals Museum (Hal en Hof) in Haarlem
- Zaanse Schans — admission to open mills and museums
Discounts on the I Amsterdam City Card
Discounts are mostly given at privately run exhibitions — expect around 25% off regular admission prices:
- Amsterdam Dungeon
- Body Worlds
- Cat Cabinet (Kattenkabinet)
- Fabrique des Lumières — currently mostly Gustav Klimt and Friedensreich Hundertwasser
- Fashion for Good Museum
- Heineken Experience
- Holland Casino
- House of Bols Cocktail & Genever Experience
- Madame Tussauds Amsterdam
- Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ tours
- Nxt Museum — media art
- Our House — museum focusing on the genesis, culture, and subcultures of electronic music
- Red Lights Secrets tour
- Rembrandt’s Amsterdam Experience
- Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam tours
- Straat — world’s largest street art museum
- The Upside Down Amsterdam Instagram experience
Some of the largest savings are possible on booking entertainment and shows but these are harder to arrange. Small discounts or free drinks are also offered at various restaurants, bars, and pancake houses.
Transportation on the I Amsterdam City Card
The I Amsterdam City Card include public transportation on the GVB network of tram, bus, metro, and ferry lines in Amsterdam. These vehicles are marked with the GVB logo (usually in blue).
Note that this network does not include regular trains (other than the metro) nor buses to Schiphol Airport or nearby towns including Haarlem, Keukenhof, Aalsmeer (FloraHolland), Almere (Floriade), and Zaanse Schans. It does not include non-GVB buses such as Connexxion.
Bike rental from various shops is included in the I Amsterdam City Card.
The card also includes one free canal cruise in Amsterdam, Haarlem, or Zaanse Schans from a variety of tour companies. Discounts are available on further cruises, boat rentals, and pedal boats.
Is the I Amsterdam City Card Value for Money?
The I Amsterdam City Card can be excellent value for money and saves particularly in the multi-day versions. Visiting for example the Rijksmuseum (€20), Moco (Banksy) (€23.50), and Stedelijk Museum (€18.50) while using a transportation day ticket (€8.50) will require only a €2.50 further saving to make the 24-hour ticket work. Add an Amsterdam canal cruise or bike rental (around €15-€20 each) to be well ahead (even on the two-day card).
Another joy of the I Amsterdam City Card is that it basically costs nothing to pop into small museums for a quick peek (and leave quickly without regret if it is of no real interest). Visit the Museum Van Loon or Willet-Holthuysen to see posh canal houses with rare Amsterdam gardens, or the minuscule Geelvinck Pianola Museum, and what is that Pipe Museum all about?
It is also worth bearing in mind that the card must be valid at all times while using public transportation but needs only be valid at the moment of entry to a major site or when renting a bike. Entering a sight such as the Rijksmuseum at the 23rd hour can easily extend the 24-hour card by hours.
Other savings cards worth considering when traveling to Amsterdam are the Museumkaart (Dutch Museum Pass), although harder to make work without a Dutch address, or the regular Amsterdam public transportation passes: the Amsterdam GVB day travel ticket (which is included in the I Amsterdam City Card), or the Amsterdam & Region Travel Ticket that also cover trains and buses in the regions, e.g. to Schiphol Airport, Zaanse Schans, Haarlem, Muiden, and Keukenhof.