ARTIS Amsterdam Royal Zoo: Tickets, Hours and What to See

ARTIS opened in 1838 and is the oldest zoo in the Netherlands — a walled park of monumental buildings and old trees ten minutes from Waterlooplein, with an aquarium and a planetarium included in the ticket. From €29,49, rated 4.7 out of 5 by more than seventeen hundred visitors. Half a day, easily.

What ARTIS is

The full name is Natura Artis Magistra — nature is the teacher of art — and it was founded by three Amsterdammers in 1838 as a society for the study of nature. That origin still shows. ARTIS is a national monument as much as a zoo: the Plantage was built around it, the aquarium of 1882 is a listed building, and the park is planted like a nineteenth-century arboretum, with labelled trees older than most of the animals.

It is also, by modern zoo standards, compact. Roughly fourteen hectares in the middle of a city, which means smaller enclosures than a safari park and a very different atmosphere: this is a place people walk through on a Sunday, not a day out you drive to.

	ARTIS Amsterdam Royal Zoo
Address	Plantage Kerklaan 38-40, 1018 CZ Amsterdam
Opening hours	Zoo daily 9:00–18:00. The Groote Museum and Micropia 10:00–17:00
Price	From €29,49 online. Children 3–12 pay less; under-threes are free
Rating	4.7 out of 5, from more than 1,700 reviews
Included	The zoo, the Aquarium, the Planetarium and the butterfly pavilion
Not included	Micropia and the ARTIS-Groote Museum, which are separate tickets next door
How long	Three to four hours for the park; a full day with the museums
Getting there	Tram 14 to Artis, at the gate. Metro 51/53/54 to Waterlooplein, about ten minutes on foot
Founded	1838 — the oldest zoo in the country

Check availability and book ARTIS tickets

What there is to see

The park is a loop, and you can walk it in either direction. These are the parts people come back for:

• The Aquarium — an 1882 building with a cross-section of an Amsterdam canal, complete with the bicycle on the bottom. Included in your ticket, and worth timing for a rainy hour.
• The Planetarium — short shows about the night sky, also included. Check the board at the entrance for the times and the language.
• The Butterfly Pavilion — hot, humid and full of free-flying butterflies. Small children tend to stay in it far longer than you planned.
• The elephants, giraffes and big cats — the classic zoo circuit, in enclosures built into a historic park rather than around it.
• The savannah — zebra, wildebeest and antelope sharing one long open field, the closest ARTIS gets to a wide view.
• The park itself — nineteenth-century pavilions, a rose garden and labelled monumental trees. Plenty of people buy a ticket mostly for this.

How long you need

Three to four hours covers the park at a reasonable pace, including the aquarium and one planetarium show. Families with small children should assume four, because the butterfly pavilion and the playground each absorb far more time than they look like they will.

Micropia — a museum of microbes, and genuinely unlike anything else in the city — and the ARTIS-Groote Museum are both at the same entrance but need their own tickets. If you want all three, you are committing to a full day and should start when the gates open at nine.

The quietest hours are the first two after opening and the last hour before closing. Weekend afternoons in spring are the busiest, and the paths near the elephants get genuinely crowded.

Practical points

• ARTIS is open every day of the year, including public holidays.
• The zoo closes at 18:00, but the last entry is earlier in winter — check the calendar when you book.
• There is a self-service restaurant and several kiosks; you are also allowed to bring your own food and there are picnic spots.
• Paths are paved and largely flat, so it works well with a pushchair or a wheelchair. Pushchairs can be hired at the entrance.
• It is a fifteen-minute walk from the old centre and a short tram ride from anywhere in the canal belt, so it fits into a half-day without much planning.
• Dogs are not allowed, with the usual exception for assistance dogs.

Looking for other things to do with children in the centre? THIS IS HOLLAND is the indoor alternative on a wet day, and the full list is on the Amsterdam attractions page.

Frequently asked questions