Anne Frank Museum: tickets, tours, tips...

The Anne Frank Museum in Amsterdam is a great place to visit: discover the attractions of this piece of Dutch history, and how to get inside Anne Frank's hiding place.

Ana Caballero

Ana Caballero

10 min read

Anne Frank Museum: tickets, tours, tips...

Anne Frank House, Amsterdam, | ©Charles

The Anne Frank House Museum in Amsterdam was created in collaboration with Otto Frank, the father of the girl whose story travelled the world. The organisation that runs the museum tells Anne Frank 's story to the world, and opens the hiding place where her family lived during the Holocaust for you to see. Read on to find out how to visit.

How much do tickets to the Anne Frank Museum cost?

Queue to enter Anne Frank's house| ©mattmangum
Queue to enter Anne Frank's house| ©mattmangum

Tickets to the Anne Frank Museum cost around 16 euros for adults, 7 euros for children aged 10-17, and 1 euro for children aged 0-9.

If you also want to book the introductory programme, you will have to pay an extra 7 euros. The programme is available for visitors aged 10 and over.

The Anne Frank guided tour, which will give you an insight into the story of the Jewish girl's exile as you walk through the streets of her neighbourhood, costs approximately €28.

Book the Anne Frank tour of Amsterdam

How to get tickets for the Anne Frank Museum?

Exterior of the Anne Frank House| ©Daryl Mitchell
Exterior of the Anne Frank House| ©Daryl Mitchell

Tickets to the Anne Frank Museum can only be purchased online on the museum 's official website. You can buy them at a pre-set timetable, which you can choose from among the options offered by the museum. This is true for the general public as well as for children's tickets and Anne Frank Museum discount card tickets.

Tickets for one month go on sale on the first Tuesday of the month, so be aware that if they are sold out, you will not be able to buy them.

If you don't make it in time and can't get tickets for the museum, you can sign up for the Anne Frank tour of Amsterdam's Jewish Quarter. In fact, this activity will give you the opportunity to learn more about the history and the environment where the German girl and her family hid, thanks to the explanations given by an expert guide.

Book the Anne Frank tour of Amsterdam

The best way to complete your visit: the Anne Frank tour of the Jewish Quarter

Streets of Jodenbuurt| ©maduarte
Streets of Jodenbuurt| ©maduarte

Another way to learn about Anne Frank's life, if you prefer to have an expert guide tell you the details of her life, is to take the Anne Frank tour of Amsterdam's Jewish Quarter.

This two-hour tour will take you to the places where the family had to hide to escape Nazi persecution, giving you an overview of the harshness of life in the city during the Holocaust.

You'll walk through Jodenbuurt, Amsterdam's Jewish quarter, the Jordaan district, where the "Secret Annex" is located, and the area around the Jewish Historical Museum, among other places. A whole district full of tributes to the Jewish community and which tries to recover its memory.

Book the Anne Frank tour of Amsterdam

Are there guided tours of the Anne Frank Museum and is it worth it?

Museum entrance| ©Chan K
Museum entrance| ©Chan K

At the Anne Frank Museum you have the option of buying a ticket with an introductory programme, which will help you to get acquainted with the museum. However, the museum does not offer guided tours.

However, my recommendation is to visit the Anne Frank Museum and, earlier in the day, take an Anne Frank tour of Amsterdam's Jewish quarter, which is where the museum is located. On these tours, the focus will be on the young Anne, so you'll arrive at the Anne Frank House with a different kind of motivation.

This tour lasts two hours, and is a great way to get to know the Jewish Quarter before entering the museum. It is ideal for 20th century history buffs. The guided tour can be booked in the language of your choice, so you won't miss any details about the history of the Holocaust.

During the tour, you'll walk the stretch between the Jewish Quarter and Anne Frank's House, and learn about one of the darkest episodes in world history.

Book the Anne Frank tour of Amsterdam

Opening hours of the Anne Frank Museum

Anne Frank Room| ©Jil D
Anne Frank Room| ©Jil D

You can visit the Anne Frank Museum from Monday to Thursday from 9:00 to 17:00, or, if you decide to go on a day between Friday and Sunday, from 9:00 to 19:00.

Please note that tickets must be purchased in advance, and you must choose a time slot within this range before you buy your ticket. Tickets cannot be purchased without defining which time slot you will be attending.

In the case of the Anne Frank tour of Amsterdam's Jewish Quarter, you can choose between two times to take the tour, either at 10:00 or 14:00, which you must also select when you make your booking, and the tour lasts 2 hours.

Book an Anne Frank tour of Amsterdam

How to get to the Anne Frank Museum

Directions to the Anne Frank House| ©Talya Price
Directions to the Anne Frank House| ©Talya Price

The Anne Frank House in Amsterdam is located in the city centre. It is located at 263-267 Prinsengracht Street. However, the entrance to the house is just around the corner, at Westermarkt 20.

You should know that it is about a twenty-minute walk from the Central Station. You can also take tram 13 or 17 and get off at the "Westermarkt" stop.

You can also take buses 170, 171 and 172. Don't forget to always have Google Maps and a good internet signal at hand, so you can avoid getting lost and move around the city as if you've always known it.

Is it advisable to book the introductory programme to visit the Anne Frank Museum?

Inside the house| ©Chan K
Inside the house| ©Chan K

The introductory programme is a 30-minute talk that introduces you to the experience of visiting the museum. Whether or not you should book this programme depends on whether or not you know Dutch or English, which are the languages in which the programme is offered. If the answer is yes, then it would definitely be a good idea to book it.

The introductory programme to the Anne Frank Museum lasts half an hour. Afterwards, you can visit the museum. It's a great way to get some context before taking a walk through the house of the girl who moved the whole world with her diary of teenage memories.

With the introductory programme, you will get information to help supplement the information you already have with you, so that you are more in tune with the context you will be entering. Among other things, you will receive information about Anne's history, about the Second World War. In addition, you will learn all about how the museum is organised and the organisation that governs it.

Are tickets to the Anne Frank Museum included in any Amsterdam sightseeing pass?

Amsterdam Pass| ©HappyW
Amsterdam Pass| ©HappyW

The Amsterdam Pass does not include admission to the Anne Frank Museum. However, there is no other Amsterdam City Pass that includes it in the package. For example, the I Amsterdam City Card does not.

However, if you book one of the best Amsterdam tours, you will see that some of them do have this stop, so you can visit the Anne Frank Museum and walk around Amsterdam at the same time.

Even if you have the Dutch Museum Card, you will have to get tickets. In this case, you will only pay the reservation fee, but if you don't buy a ticket, you won't be able to visit the museum.

Book an Anne Frank tour of Amsterdam

Is it advisable to go to the Anne Frank Museum with children?

Statue commemorating Anne Frank| ©jack_g
Statue commemorating Anne Frank| ©jack_g

First of all, you should know that the museum itself has tickets for children from the youngest age upwards. This is because there is definitely nothing in the museum that makes it inadvisable to go with children. However, I think it's a decision you should make personally.

Here's how I see the advantages and disadvantages of going to the Anne Frank Museum with children.

Advantages:

  • If you're on holiday, you don't have to lose your mind about where to leave them.
  • If you like to educate your children to respect diversity, you will definitely find it very educational.
  • Tickets for children and teenagers are really affordable.

Disadvantages:

  • If your kids cry or scream a lot, you might be cut off from the weather.
  • Not much else: take them!

If you've decided to travel to Amsterdam, don't hesitate to check out our 10 tips for travelling to Amsterdam!

Book an Anne Frank tour of Amsterdam

Top things you can't miss at the Anne Frank Museum

Anne Frank's hiding place| ©Dennis Jarvis
Anne Frank's hiding place| ©Dennis Jarvis

The Anne Frank Museum in Amsterdam, as you know, takes the physical space where Anne Frank lived before she was found, and recreates the space so that you can enter fully into her tragic story. Here's a summary of the best things to see in this museum:

The Secret Annex

Wondering what the Secret Annex is? Well, it's the house where Anne Frank and her family hid from the Nazis who were invading their town. The employees who were in charge of the hiding place were able to save some of Anne Frank' s belongings after she was arrested, but most of them were lost.

The rooms you will see as you walk through this part of the museum will be different from the rooms that Anne Frank actually had available to her to survive the war. However, you can recreate them with photos, signs, posters and your own impressions from Anne Frank's diary. Now do you agree with me that it's best to read it first?

Anne Frank's diaries

Another thing you definitely can't forget is to pay attention when you are on your way to the ground floor. You'll see a room with many objects on display, and inside it, yes: Anne Frank's original diaries. You'll be separated by glass from being able to touch them, but you'll definitely be able to see them.

Without a doubt, one of the most exciting elements of the Anne Frank Museum: being able to see up close those old notes that once rested under Anne Frank's pen.

Free2choose Room

Finally, we recommend a visit to the Free2choose room, which is an educational space where you can learn and test your convictions about freedoms and racism at the same time. You will be able to get to know yourself better and measure your tolerance of differences.

You will discover that the Anne Frank Museum is not just a place for tourists: it is a room of resistance, where people take action to change the course of things.

How much time you need to visit the Anne Frank Museum

Photos of Anne Frank inside the Museum| ©Jil D
Photos of Anne Frank inside the Museum| ©Jil D

Although there is no time limit for your visit to the Anne Frank Museum, it is useful to know that you can visit the museum in about an hour.

Then, if you want to spend more time touring the museum, having a drink in the café or browsing in the Anne Frank Museum shop, you are free to do as you please.

If you book a timed admission ticket to the Anne Frank House, you will be given a predefined time to enter the museum. The time of departure is up to you.

Where to eat near the Anne Frank Museum

Café at the Anne Frank Museum| ©Cris Toala Olivares
Café at the Anne Frank Museum| ©Cris Toala Olivares

You'll love this. You can have a coffee not only near, but also inside the Anne Frank Museum. The museum itself offers you its own café, overlooking the Prinsengracht. In the café at the Anne Frank Museum, you can choose between hot and cold drinks.

You can also order snacks at the café at the Anne Frank Museum in Amsterdam, and you can even choose to have lunch there.

You can only enter the café if you visit the Anne Frank House, and inside you can only pay by credit card. Just getting to know this café with its incredible view is definitely reason enough to go to the museum, and it's not even the most interesting reason.

Is it important to have read the Diary of Anne Frank before visiting the museum?

Rest of the Diary of Anne Frank| ©Heather Cowper
Rest of the Diary of Anne Frank| ©Heather Cowper

This is not an answer I can give you, because I think it really depends on each person's criteria. In my case, having read it, I can say that I think that the more tools we have to get into spaces like this, the more we'll get out of them.

It's not that you won't understand what's going on if you don't read the diary, of course not. However, I suppose you re-signify in other ways the things you observe by having read young Anne's account in the first person.

By the way, I think it's a must-read even if you don't intend to visit the Anne Frank Museum in Amsterdam. The writing of the hidden teenage girl, with her everyday, mundane problems, as everything collapses around her, is definitely a fascinating and moving experience.

However, I must tell you that if you haven't read the Diary of Anne Frank and don't plan to do so before travelling to Amsterdam, you can still buy it from the Anne Frank Museum shop itself. There's no escaping it, is there?

Book an Anne Frank tour of Amsterdam