The canal district has more museums per square kilometre than anywhere else in the Netherlands. Four of the biggest stand on one square, the Museumplein; the rest are canal houses that were turned into museums without being taken apart. Tickets run from about € 16.50 to € 25, everyone under 18 gets in free at the two largest, and every one of them now works with timed entry.
Start here: the Museum of the Canals
If you are going to visit one museum in this district, make it the one that explains the district. The Museum of the Canals sits in a seventeenth-century canal house at Herengracht 386, on the stretch of water it is about, and it answers the question every visitor eventually asks: why is this city built like this?
The answer turns out to be a piece of civil engineering rather than romance. Around 1600 Amsterdam ran out of room, and the city dug three concentric canals through wet peat in one planned expansion — the ring that is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The museum tells that story with holograms, scale models, period doll houses and film, and then carries it into the present: the Pride canal parade, skating on the ice in a hard winter. An hour here makes everything you see afterwards, from a gable stone to a canal cruise, read differently.
- Herengracht 386, in a canal house from the seventeenth century
- Audio guide in ten languages, including English, German, French and Dutch
- Open Tuesday to Sunday 10.00–17.00, Mondays from 12.00, last entry 30 minutes before closing
- Free lockers included
- Ten minutes on foot from Dam Square, five from the Nine Streets
Check availability and book the Museum of the Canals, or read the full guide on our Museum of the Canals page.
The museums, and where they are
| Museum | Where | Adult ticket | Tickets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Museum of the Canals | Herengracht | — | Check |
| The Rijksmuseum | Museumplein | € 25.00 | Book |
| The Van Gogh Museum | Museumplein | € 25.00 | Book |
| The Stedelijk Museum | Museumplein | € 22.50 | Book |
| The Moco Museum | Museumplein | Varies by time slot | Book |
| The Anne Frank House | Prinsengracht | € 16.50 | Book |
| The Houseboat Museum | Prinsengracht | From € 10.00 | Book |
| Red Light Secrets | De Wallen | From € 14.50 | Book |
| The Rembrandt House | Jodenbreestraat | From € 23.50 | Book |
| The Amsterdam Museum | Kalverstraat — closed | Reopens 2028 | — |
The one booking rule that matters
The Anne Frank House is not like the others. There are no tickets at the door — online only — and they are released every Tuesday at 10:00 Amsterdam time for a visit exactly six weeks later. Miss that Tuesday and the slot is gone. An adult ticket is € 16.50 including the € 1.00 booking fee, € 7.00 for ages 10 to 17 and € 1.00 for under-10s. Everything else on this page can be booked a day or two ahead in most seasons.
Which museum is in which neighbourhood
| Neighbourhood | What you find there |
|---|---|
| The Red Light District | The oldest part of the city, built around two canals, five minutes from Centraal Station |
| The Nine Streets | Nine short streets crossing four canals: independent shops, cafes and 140 listed buildings |
| The Jordaan | The former workers’ quarter west of the Prinsengracht, with markets and hidden courtyards |
| Museumplein | The museum square: Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh, Stedelijk, Moco and the Concertgebouw |
| The Kalverstraat | The main shopping street, from Dam Square to the Munttoren |
Getting there
| Route | What it does |
|---|---|
| Tram line 2 | Centraal Station to the Museumplein across the canal belt in fifteen minutes |
| Metro line 52 | The blue line, under the old city from Noord to Zuid, with a free archaeological display at Rokin |
| Map of the canal district | How the four canals, the neighbourhoods and the tram routes fit together |
Tickets
Three or more museums in a few days and a city card is usually cheaper than separate tickets. Below that, buy singles.
- I amsterdam City Card — most museums on this page plus unlimited GVB transport.
- Go City Amsterdam — bundles museums with a canal cruise and the bigger attractions.
- Rijksmuseum tickets — timed entry, € 25.00.
- Van Gogh Museum tickets — the first to sell out, € 25.00.
More than a dozen are within walking distance of the canals, from the Rijksmuseum with eight hundred years of Dutch art down to the Houseboat Museum, which is one boat. Four of the largest — the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum, the Stedelijk and the Moco — stand on the Museumplein within three minutes of each other.
Only online, never at the door. All tickets for a given date are released six weeks in advance, every Tuesday at 10:00 Amsterdam time. An adult ticket is €16.50 including the booking fee, €7.00 for ages 10 to 17 and €1.00 for children under 10.
The Rijksmuseum, for the Night Watch, the Vermeers and the building itself. If you care more about one artist than about a national collection, choose the Van Gogh Museum instead — but book it first, because it sells out earliest.
From about three museums in a few days, yes. The I amsterdam City Card covers most museums on this page plus unlimited GVB tram, bus and metro. For one or two museums, separate tickets are cheaper.
Not at its Kalverstraat address. That building is being renovated and is expected to reopen in 2028. In the meantime the collection is shown at the H’ART Museum on the Amstel and at the Willet-Holthuysen house on the Herengracht.
More to do
- Attractions — the towers, the wax museum and the lookouts.
- Canal cruises — the open-air version of a museum day.
- Everything to do — the full index.
