Amsterdam Tickets

Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands and one of the most famous cities in the world, especially for its broad concept of freedom and the spirit of fun that permeates all its attractions, but also because it is the epicentre of Dutch art and culture and home to some of the most famous museums in Europe.

Among the activities you can do to get to know every corner of Amsterdam are visiting the popular Van Gogh Museum, experiencing the Heineken Experience, visiting the Royal Palace and taking a walk along the Amstel River. In this guide, I'll tell you about the best tickets so you can enjoy the main activities.

Vincent van Gogh is the most famous artist in the Netherlands, and the museum dedicated to his work is one of the most popular in Amsterdam. This exhibition has the largest collection of the artist's works and alsohouses works by other contemporary impressionist and post-impressionist painters such as Gauguin and Monet. The best way to enjoy this museum is to book your tickets for the Van Gogh Museum in advance, which also includes a canal cruise.

During your tour of the museum, you will discover the history of this unique artist, his relationship with his brother Theo and the influence his work had on later generations of painters. Among the most striking works on display at the Van Gogh Museum are Self-Portrait with Grey Felt Hat, Skull with Cigarette and Almond Blossom.

• Price: from £23

Heineken is one of the best-known companies in the Netherlands, and in Amsterdam you can book tickets for the Heineken Experience, where you can tour the factory and enjoy a sensory experience, learning about the beer's fermentation and storage areas. You can also learn about the history of the factory and its most famous owner, the inimitable Freddy Heineken.

At the end of the tour, you can enjoy tastings in the bar, where you will have free time to relax in a former warehouse of this 18th-century factory.

• Price: from £22

The Rijksmuseum is Amsterdam's most important museum and the largest in the Netherlands, where you can find paintings by Francisco de Goya, Vincent Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Vermeer and Pieter Brueghel the Elder, on a tour that will take you through many of the most representative works of the Dutch Golden Age. To avoid crowds and get to know the museum in depth, book a guided tour of the Rijksmuseum.

The entire tour will take between 2 hours and among the exhibitions you will also find collections of Asian and Egyptian art and audiovisual rooms where you can understand the development of the country from the 1970s onwards, when a definitive revaluation of Dutch art began. This is a place you cannot miss during your trip to Amsterdam.

• Price: from £61

If you want to discover one of the most iconic buildings in Dutch history, you need to book tickets to visit the Royal Palace, which is the epicentre of royal and state events and stands out for its majestic marble halls, sculptures and frescoes from the Dutch Golden Age, as well as the galleries containing the Crown's art collections.

During your tour, you will discover every corner of the Royal Palace, which, although not currently the official home of the Dutch royal family, is where they carry out their public activities, where royal and state banquets, New Year's meetings and award ceremonies sponsored by the Dutch kings are held.

• Price: from £13

Amsterdam has historically had a very deep relationship with the Amstel, the river that crosses the city and divides it in two. For centuries, it has been the epicentre of Dutch international trade, leading to the country being considered one of the great representatives of maritime power in the 17th century.

During your trip, you can make the most of the Amstel with tickets for a canal cruise. There are several options available:

• Cruise through the highlights of Amsterdam, from £15
• Open boat cruise through the canals of Amsterdam, from £18
• Guided cruise through the canals of Amsterdam, from £19
• Panoramic cruise through Amsterdam's canals, from £19
• Pizza cruise on Amsterdam's canals, from £36
• Historic cruise through Amsterdam's canals, from £23
• Cruise with appetisers and drinks on the canals of Amsterdam, from £53

Among the sites you can discover from the river during the tour are the Anne Frank House, now a museum and the place where the young girl was hidden during World War II, and the Magere Brug bridge, which is also one of the most famous in the Dutch capital.

Save money by combining the cruise with the following tickets

• If you enjoy a good drink, you can combine your cruise with tickets for a tasting at the ice bar.
• If you prefer a more traditional experience, don't miss a cruise that includes tickets to Madame Tussauds.
• Enjoy a truly Dutch experience with a cruise that combines the tour with tickets to the Van Gogh Museum. Or a cruise with tickets to the Rijksmuseum.
• Enjoy two of Amsterdam's most famous activities with a cruise that includes admission to the Heineken Experience.

The Red Light District is one of Amsterdam's greatest enigmas, so if you want to discover all its mysteries, you need to book tickets for the Red Light Secrets museum, located in a former medieval brothel. There you can learn about the history of the neighbourhood and prostitution from its beginnings in the 16th century to its legalisation in the 2000s.

During your tour, you will hear stories of the city's sex workers, learn about the myths of the neighbourhood, visit a workroom and understand the legislative changes that led Amsterdam from being a white slave trade centre to one of the safest places for sex work.

• Price: from £15

Without the fame of the Van Gogh Museum or the collection of the Rijksmuseum, the Stedelijk exhibition is one of Amsterdam's main attractions and a must-see, especially if you are a fan of modern art and design. You will find everything from paintings by Kandinsky, Matisse, Mondrian, Warhol and Picasso to themed exhibitions on the Bauhaus, abstract expressionism and conceptual art.

Book your tickets to visit the Stedelijk Museum and discover more than 700 pieces, audiovisual exhibition rooms and a wide range of interactive activities. You can explore the museum in depth with a two-hour audio guide, available in several languages.

• Price: from £22

Do you enjoy curiosities and eccentricities? Then don't miss out on booking your tickets to visit the Ripley Museum, a universe of the incredible and the impossible, of natural, scientific, artistic and human oddities, and some of the most striking objects, such as the 7-metre-tall robot on display, right next to the world's smallest car and the shrunken heads of Amazonian tribes.

In this museum, which will test your capacity for amazement, you will also find a realistic sculpture of Robert Wadlow, who is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the tallest man in history, a clipping of the longest fingernails in the world and an interactive 5D room where you can take part in games and challenges from the Believe It or Not programme.

• Price: from £16

If you want to visit an attraction that combines a tribute to the world of Instagram with optical illusions and modern art installations, then you can't miss The Upside Down Museum, an eclectic museum for the whole family. You can take selfies and photos in the mirrors and sets and explore more than 20 rooms with discos, amusement parks and surreal settings.

One of the most striking experiences is in the Infinity Room, an exhibition consisting of a life-size, moving digital projection of life below sea level, allowing you to enjoy an immersive activity that you won't find in any other exhibition. A must-see if you're planning to visit Amsterdam with your family or children.

• Price: from £19

Madame Tussauds is the most famous wax museum in the world, and at its Amsterdam location , you can see more than 250 figures, including artists, singers, politicians, royalty, and athletes. There, you can also interact with the most famous figures and take some of the most entertaining photos of your trip.

Although the Amsterdam museum is not the largest in Europe, it is one of the ones with the most figures on display. As the floors are very well organised, you can see everything in less than two hours. With tickets to Madame Tussauds, you can also take part in a virtual reality experience, where you can play a football match with the stars of the sport and then watch the footage.

• Price: from £21

If you want to learn about anatomy in a fun and interactive way, book tickets for the Body Worlds museum, where you can discover all the details of the human body in an exhibition that features representations, but also more than 200 real human bodies with all their unique features.

This exhibition is suitable for adults and children alike, and in each of the rooms you will find different parts of the body, from bones to muscles, vital organs, brain functions and the lesser-known functions of the human systems. Throughout the tour, you will be able to distinguish the strengths and weaknesses of the body and its most striking curiosities.

• Price: from £16

Not only is it a recreational art museum, but it is also the epicentre of one of the most interesting immersive experiences in Amsterdam. If you book tickets for the WONDR Experience, you can combine artistic activities with entertainment and explore the decorated rooms, photography galleries and the main courtyard of the complex, where you can take part in activities such as sugar cloud baths.

This immersive experience is ideal for families with children, but it will also stimulate the senses and imagination of adults, making it an ideal attraction to escape the hustle and bustle of traditional Amsterdam activities and combine it with other cultural activities.

• Price: from £23

If you dream of flying and using your gift to discover Amsterdam from the air, then you can take part in the 5D experience at This is Holland, a unique and different journey in which you can see all the cities of the Netherlands without leaving your seat, thanks to footage filmed from the air that recreates the country's landscapes and picturesque canals.

What's more, thanks to the attraction's special effects, you'll feel the wind on your face, get wet from the fog, smell the aromas of the places you visit and feel your hands and feet dangling below you, as the 5D flight simulator includes a feature that makes you feel like you're in the air.

• Price: from £21

Banksy is one of the world's most famous street artists and, with the enigma he has built around himself, he has also become one of the global representatives of contemporary art. If you visit Amsterdam, you can learn about much of his history and see a meticulous recreation of his work with tickets to the MOCO Museum of Modern Contemporary Art.

Among Banksy's most famous works in the museum are Laugh is the Air, Barcode and the famous Girl With Balloon, as well as works by other artists, mostly European, who have addressed the different aspects of contemporary art in recent times.

• Price: from £18

If you're the kind of person who doesn't want to miss the best scientific exhibitions when visiting a city, don't miss the NEMO Science Museum, which will surprise you with its interactive experiments. You'll also love the spaces designed for the whole family, which cover chemistry, physics, biology and engineering.

Among the most entertaining activities you can do if you book your tickets to the NEMO Science Museum are touching Tesla balls, blowing bubbles and getting inside them, discovering the elements of the laboratory on your own and participating in science competitions where you will have enough time to develop your own inventions.

• Price: from £20

Like all major European cities, Amsterdam also has an outstanding zoo where you can see penguins, zebras, elephants, giraffes, lions, a planetarium, a botanical garden and a museum with ancient artefacts. If you book tickets for the Artis Royal Zoo, you can also visit the art collection in the main building of the Artis Royal Zoo.

The zoo also has its own planetarium, where you can watch space projections and learn about the history of the planets, making it one of the best activities for families with young children, as they won't get bored and can learn while having fun.

• Price: from £27

If you want to enjoy a different experience in Amsterdam and get away from the hustle and bustle of the city, you can visit the popular Ice Bar Xtracold, an ice bar at -10 degrees Celsius where you can enjoy drinks in ice glasses, take some of the most striking photos of your trip inside and enjoy the music.

In this bar, which is sculpted in detail from over 60 tonnes of natural ice, you will find that absolutely everything, from the bars and chairs to the glasses, is made of ice. What's more, with your ticket for a tasting at the ice bar, you will also be provided with gloves and coats to help you cope with the low temperatures and enjoy the experience.

• Price: from £22

Amsterdam is famous for its wide range of cultural attractions and its museums' collections of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art, but it also has a rich history associated with the conquest of the seas and overseas territories. You can discover all this and more with your tickets to the History Museum, which has more than 70,000 objects on display, including paintings, ceramics, sculptures, drawings, plans and models.

In the museum's more than 20 rooms, you will find historical references to help you understand how a small medieval settlement on the banks of the Amstel River evolved into a maritime power and then a prosperous and modern city. In addition, from the third floor of the building, you can enjoy one of the best views of the city skyline.

If you don't want to miss a thing and want to save money, you can buy the Amsterdam All Inclusive Pass, a tourist card that gives you access to more than 25 major attractions, including admission to most museums, cruises on the Amstel River and bike rental, which is a very popular activity in Amsterdam.

You can choose between 1, 2, 3 and 5-day passes, which are activated upon first use and allow you to save up to 50% on the main attractions during your visit. In any case, remember that it is best to plan your itinerary before arriving in the country to make the most of your time.

• Price: from £72