A Comprehensive Guide to the Museums in Amsterdam

Choosing which museums to visit on your trip to Amsterdam can be overwhelming and quite stressful. But don’t worry, you are at the right place. This guide to the museums in Amsterdam will help you choose the right museum to visit in Amsterdam, based on your interests, your travel company, and of course your budget.

Visiting a large city like Amsterdam is always stressful when it comes to what museum to visit. Should you go to the most famous museums or should you visit the off-the-beaten-path ones. My advice will be: start with the must-sees and walk your way down to the less popular, but always stay true to your interests! I hope this guide will help you choose your Amsterdam attraction to visit.

To help you decide which Amsterdam museum to visit, I have organized the content in various ways. There are 41 museums altogether in this guide. From the Table of Contents you can choose based on whether a museum is popular, or free, or quirky, whether it’s a church or a house. There are also a filter based on interests (art, history, photography, etc.) and kids friendliness, and last but not least you can choose based on the map.

I hope you will find here your favorite museum in Amsterdam. Mine is Van Gogh Museum. Which is yours?

DISCLOSURE: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase via one of those links, I will earn a commission at no extra cost for you.

Amsterdam museums map

Here I’ve mapped all Amsterdam museums. You can use ti to plan you trip to Amsterdam in advance in terms of the logistics, for example visit as many as possible museums that are at one place, let’s say at Museum Square. Or you can choose to visit last minute a museum depending on your location in the city. Either way, I suggest that you save this map to your Google Maps.

Major museums in Amsterdam

In this section you will find all major museums in Amsterdam like Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum, NEMO, Amsterdam Museum, The Royal Palace, and many more. These are also the must-see museums in Amsterdam.

Tip: If you are interested in art museums, check this post for a complete list of all art museums and art spaces in Amsterdam. It includes some museums mentioned in this post, but also various exhibition spaces and art galleries.

1. Rijksmuseum

The Rijksmuseum is undoubtedly the most famous museum not only in Amsterdam, but in the whole country. Not only has the museum an amazing collection, but also the building itself is an architectural chef-d’oevre. Designed by the famous Dutch architect Pierre Cuypers, it’s an excellent example of Revival Architecture with Gothic and Renaissance elements.

The centerpiece of the Rijksmuseum is certainly the world-famous painting of Rembrandt – the Night Watch (De Nachtwacht). Other famous paintings exhibited in the Rijksmuseum include masterpieces of Rembrandt, like a few self-portraits and Isaac and Rebecca (The Jewish Bride), as well as masterpieces of Johannes Vermeer (The Milkmaid, Woman Reading a Letter, The Love Letter), Hendrik Averkamp, Frans Hals, Van Gogh, and many others.

The Rijksmuseum takes you on a journey through the ages. 800 years of Dutch history and art, from the Middle Ages to Mondrian, is told in 8000 objects, displayed in 80 galleries. The collection of the Rijksmuseum is simply stunning and this is one of the reasons why it’s a world-class museum.

2. Van Gogh Museum

Dedicated to the life and work of the greatest Dutch artist, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam is a must-see for all visitors of the city. There you can see the biggest collection of the artist’s works: more than 200 paintings, 500 drawings and almost all of his letters. In the museum you can admire his world-famous Sunflowers, Irises, The Bedroom, Almond Blossom, The Sower, and the list goes on.

The Van Gogh Museum, however, is not only about his paintings. There, you can also learn about the turbulent life of this remarkable Dutch artist. And to place everything into perspective, there’s also an exhibition of Van Gogh’s contemporaries like Toulouse-Lautrec, Monet and Pissarro.

The building where the Van Gogh Museum is housed is also a masterpiece. It was designed by the famous Dutch architect Gerrit Rietveld and in 2015 a new glass entrance foyer was added to the building.

3. Stedelijk Museum

Stedelijk Museum (the City Museum) is another art museum in Amsterdam located on the Museumplein (Museum Square). It is the place for modern and contemporary art and design in the Netherlands. Through the years (the museum was established in 1874) it has acquired a huge collection of art works, starting with the post-impressionists from the end of the 19th century and going through the 20th-century’s movements De Stijl, Bauhaus, CoBrA, pop art.

Some of the masterpieces of the Stedelijk (the way the Dutch call it with affection) include works of Jackson Pollock, Kazimir Malevich, Mondriaan, Picasso, Andy Warhol, Gerrit Rietveld, Kandinsky and Chagall. In the rotating permanent collection of the museum, which exhibits 700 pieces at a time, you can see some of these works. The museum works also with temporary exhibitions that showcase contemporary artists and designers.

4. NEMO Science Museum

NEMO Science Museum tells the secrets of technology and science through interactive exhibitions and workshops. Its historical collection of 19 500 artifacts around the topics: Lighting, Electrical Engineering, Energy generation and storage, and Technology at home, show the progress of mankind. This museum is interesting not only for those who have no idea what a Walkman is, but also for those who once had one.

The building of the museum is also an eye-catcher. It was designed by no other than the world-famous Italian architect Renzo Piano (Centre-Pompidou in Paris, The Shard in London). The green copper-clad building, which reminds of a ship, cast an anchor in Amsterdam’s eastern docklands, is one of the most photographed sites in the city.

5. Amsterdam Museum

Originally, the Amsterdam Museum was housed in the City Orphanage on Kalverstraat 92. In 2020 the museum started a complete overhaul of the building and the Amsterdam Museum was closed. The plans are that the new building will open in 2025.

Until then, the Amsterdam Museum is housed in one of the wings of the Hermitage Museum on Amstel 51 and is known as Amsterdam Museum on the Amstel.

At Amstel 51 you can see the impressive exhibition Portrait Gallery of the 17th Century, which puts together at one place 30 gigantic group paintings from the Golden Age, and the Panorama Amsterdam. City Time Lapse, which shows the history of the city as seen from the location of the building.

6. The Royal Palace of Amsterdam

Everybody has seen it and it is one of Amsterdam’s most iconic buildings, but not many know that you can actually visit the Royal Palace on Dam Square. The Royal Palace of Amsterdam (Koninklijk Paleis Amsterdam) is the official reception palace of the Dutch King Willem-Alexander. When the palace is not used by the king, it’s open for visitors.

The palace was originally built in the 17th century to serve as a town hall of the city of Amsterdam in the Dutch Golden Age, and it didn’t became a palace until the beginning of the 19th century. The grandeur of the Golden Age can still be seen in the Citizen’s Hall. There are also held various exhibitions connected with the history of the building.

7. MOCO Museum

The new kid on the block on Museumplein is the Modern Contemporary Museum Amsterdam, or MOCO Museum. Established in 2016 and housed in the beautiful Villa Alsberg, built in 1904, the museum already won a name in the modern and contemporary art circles with its exhibitions of Banksy, Yayoi Kusama, OSGEMEOS, Tracey Emin, and Andy Warhol among others.

8. FOAM Photo Museum

FOAM is “all about photography”. The photography museum in Amsterdam organizes exhibitions of both contemporary and historical works. Established photographers are exhibited side by side with emerging artists. The museum opened in 2001 and is housed in a beautiful house on Keizersgracht.

9. EYE Film Museum

The EYE Film Museum is housed in an impressive modern building designed by Delugan Meissl Associated Architects. At the permanent exhibition in the museum you can follow the complete history of motion picture. There are also temporary exhibitions that feature various filmmakers or trends, and a cinema.

10. National Maritime Museum

The National Maritime Museum (Het Scheepvaartmuseum) in Amsterdam has one of largest maritime collections in the world. You can see there ship models, navigation instruments and sea charts, as well as naval paintings depicting famous Dutch sailors and historical sea battles. 500 years of Dutch maritime history are shown in an interesting and intriguing way.

Just in front of the museum you can see a replica of the famous ship Amsterdam – an 18th-century cargo ship of the Dutch East India Company (VOC –Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie).

11. Allard Pierson

Allard Pierson Museum is one of the most interesting museums in Amsterdam. It shows 10 000 of cultural history through various exhibitions focusing on archaeology, history of books, cartography, graphic design, Jewish cultural history and zoology.

The museum actually is part of the University of Amsterdam and is housed in an imposing building which originally belonged to the Dutch Central Bank (DNB).

12. Tropenmuseum

As a colonial power until the mid-20th century, the Netherlands owned about 16 colonial territories starting from the beginning of the 17th century. The colonial inheritance of the Netherlands is exhibited in this quite unique museum in Amsterdam. The museum opens a discussion about the past and how it has shaped the world we are living in today.

The Tropenmuseum is an ethnographic museum and together with the Afrika Museum (Berg en Dal), Museum Volkenkunde (Leiden), and Wereldmuseum (Rotterdam) forms the National Museum of World Cultures in the Netherlands.

13. Micropia

Do you want to discover a world invisible to the naked eye? Then you should visit Micropia – world’s first museum that exhibits microbes – the organisms that are everywhere and that we still need a microscope to see.

The museum does not only appeal to children but to adults, as well. You’ll learn there that you’re hosting 1,5 kg of microorganism and what happens when you are kissing someone. Micropia is part of Artis – the oldest zoo in the Netherlands.

14. Our Lord in the Attic

You are already wondering what does Our Lord do in the attic… Well, in the 17th century after the Reformation in the Netherlands the Catholics were persecuted and couldn’t practice their religion openly. Our Lord in the Attic (Ons’ Lieve Heer op Solder) is a canal house which has been converted into a church in the 1660s. It was a clandestine church that occupied the top 3 floors of the canal house and didn’t look like a church at all.

Through a large collection of manuscripts, books, prints, paintings, liturgical objects and garments, and devotional objects the museum tells the story of 750 years of Catholicism in Amsterdam. Freedom of religion and freedom of conscience are the main topic of this unique museum in Amsterdam.

15. Jewish Museum

The Jewish Museum (Joods Museum) in Amsterdam is dedicated to history, culture and religion of the Jewish population in the Netherlands. Through paintings, ceremonial objects, films and 3D presentations the Jewish religion and culture are represented over the centuries.

The Jewish Museum opened in 1932 but soon after that need to close its doors following the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands during WWII. The museum reopened in 1955 and since 1987 is housed in 4 former synagogues.

You can visit the Jewish Museum and the Portuguese Synagogue with one ticket.

16. Portuguese Synagogue

The Portuguese Synagogue, together with the Jewish Museum, is part of the Jewish Cultural Quarter. It’s a functioning house of prayer of the Portuguese Jewish Community in Amsterdam. The most remarkable feature of the synagogue is that its interior hasn’t been changed and doesn’t reflect the modern world. There’s no electricity in the synagogue and it’s lit only by candles.

The synagogue is also home to the world’s oldest functioning Jewish library – Ets Haim Livraria Montezinos. Due to its great significance it’s been included on the UNESCO’s list of documentary heritage – Memory of the World.

You can visit the Portuguese Synagogue and the Jewish Museum with one ticket.

Museum Houses in Amsterdam

In this section you will find some of the best museums in Amsterdam – the Anne Franc House Museum and the Rembrandt House Museum, as well as lesser known museum like Museum Willet-Holthuysen and Museum of the Canals. All of these house-museums are basically located along the canals of Amsterdam, and some of them will show you the beauty and grandeur of the canal houses. The canals of Amsterdam are also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Read more: Read this post about the Canals of Amsterdam – a unique UNESCO World Heritage Site.

17. Anne Frank House Museum

After the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum, the Anne Frank House Museum (Anne Frank Huis) is the 3rd most visited museum in Amsterdam. This is the house where the Jewish girl Anne Frank hid from the Nazis during WW2.

While in hiding she kept a diary, which was published posthumously in 1947. The museum tells the story of Anne Frank and those who hid in the house during this time of persecution and discrimination.

Pro tip: In order to visit the Anne Frank House Museum you need to buy your ticket online. Tickets have time slots. No tickets are sold at the museum.

18. The Rembrandt House Museum

The Museum is currently closed for renovations and will re-open on 18 March 2023. This section reflects the ‘old’ museum before the renovation.

The house where the well-known Dutch master has lived from 1639 till 1658 is today the Rembrandt House Museum (Rembrandthuis). This is the best place to learn as much as possible about the artist and his art.

When you enter the house, you step back into the time of the Dutch Golden Age. Wander from one room to the other and discover how life was back in the 17th century and how Amsterdam looked like those days. Check out the studio of the artist and imagine how he would stand there sketching for the next big masterpiece.

The collection of the Rembrandt House Museum includes a few paintings of the artist, lots of drawings and almost all of his etchings. The museum also organizes temporary exhibitions.

19. Museum Willet-Holthuysen

Have you ever wondered what’s behind the walls of those beautiful houses alongside the canals in Amsterdam? The Amsterdam Museum has opened a subsidiary at the Willet-Holthuysen House (Huis Willet-Holthuysen) on Herengracht.

The beautiful period rooms in the house are in the style of Louis XVI and you can admire the personal collection of Abraham Willet and Louisa Holthuysen, who lived there at the end of the 19th century. The house comes with a beautifully manicured garden symmetrically designed as a French formal garden.

20. Museum Van Loon

Museum Van Loon is located in an imposing mansion on Keizersgracht. The house was built in 1672 and its interior shows the grandeur of the Dutch Golden Age. In 1884 the house was acquired by the prominent Van Loon family, who boasts co-founders of the VOC (Dutch East-India Company), a 17th-century mayor of Amsterdam, a few bankers, PM’s, and court-ladies among others.

Together with the private collection of the Van Loon family, the museum organizes also temporary exhibitions and shows occasionally contemporary art. The permanent collection consists of historical portraits and paintings, mostly of family members.

The museum has a beautiful garden with a lovely coffee corner. And all this in the heart of the city!

21. Huis Marseille – Museum for Photography

Huis Marseille is Amsterdam’s (and Netherlands’) first museum of photography. Housed in one of the most famous canal houses on Keizersgracht, the museum opened in 1999. At the museum you can see works of renowned photographers side-by-side with emerging artists.

Huis Marseille (or House Marseille in English) was built in 1665 for the French merchant Isaac Fouquier. On the facade of the house there is a map of the seaport in Marseille (France), hence the name. Many original details of the house have been kept, such as the opulent ceiling paintings, the stucco work, and a red period room in the style of Louis XIV.

22. Museum of the Canals

The Museum of the Canals (Grachtenmuseum) is housed in a beautiful 17th-century canal house on the Herengracht. It tells the story of the heart of the city – the canals. You will learn how from a small fisherman’s village Amsterdam developed into a megalopolis and became one of the most important cities in the world. All this thanks to the maze of waterworks and canals. This museum is must-visit, if you want to know why the canals of Amsterdam has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Read more: The Canals of Amsterdam – World Heritage Site

Churches Museums in Amsterdam

Most of the churches in Amsterdam have been turned into exhibition areas or culture venues for concerts and hardly serve anymore as houses of prayer. However, they remain quite beautiful from outside, and some of them you can still visit. The interior on the other hand is pretty much austere as the Reformation in the Netherlands swept out all the pomp and splendor out of them.

22. Nieuwe Kerk Amsterdam

This 14th-century church on the most famous square in Amsterdam – Dam Square, has been converted into an exhibitions centre and meetings venue. The New Church or De Nieuwe Kerk in Dutch is also the church, where the Royal coronations and weddings take place.

23. Oude Kerk

Oude Kerk (or the Old Church) is the oldest building in Amsterdam. Most probably it has been built in the second half of the 13th century. The church was consecrated in 1306.

Today, the church is a centre for contemporary art and they organize twice a year exhibitions of specially commissioned art works. The church is also a venue for concerts.

Quirky museums in Amsterdam

Well, what should I say about the most quirky museums in Amsterdam – you have to be particularly interested in the theme of those museums in order to visit them. Cats or dark tourism? Chose your own must-see in Amsterdam! I love the Cat Cabinet, but I don’t have the slightest intention to visit the Funeral Museum. That said, here they are the weirdest museums in Amsterdam!

24. Cat Cabinet

If you are a cat person, no visit to Amsterdam is complete without visiting the Cat Cabinet (KattenKabinet) – a museum dedicated to art depicting cats. It all started in 1990 when Bob Meijer created a memorial to his furry friend J.P. Morgan (1966-1983) – an orange tom cat.

The museum is housed in a building in the most prestigious part of Herengracht, the so-called Golden Bend (Gouden Bocht).

25. The Embassy of the Free Mind

This quirky museum in Amsterdam takes you on a journey through 2 000 years of collective wisdom, dedicated to the freedom of thought. This museum has emerged around the collection of the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica and features texts, books and images connected to great philosophers and freethinkers like Spinoza, Coornhert, Adriaan Koerbagh, and John Amos Comenius.

The museum is located in the emblematic House with the Heads (Huis met de Hoofden) on Keizergracht. This canal house was built in 1622 and on the facade there are six heads that most likely depict the six Roman gods: Apollo (the arts), Ceres (agriculture), Mercury (trade), Minerva (wisdom), Bacchus (wine), and Diana (hunt). Another legend says that 6 thieves tried to rob the house and the kitchen maid chopped off their heads… It’s up to you to decide which one is true…

26. Dutch Funeral Museum Tot Zover

The Dutch Funeral Museum ‘Tot Zover’ (Nederlands Uitvaart Museum Tot Zover) is quite suitable for those that are into dark tourism. The museum displays anything about death and showcases funeral practices. It focuses on four major themes: rituals, the body, mourning and remembrance, and memento mori.

The museum is located in De Nieuwe Ooster, a memorial park in Amsterdam that includes a cemetery and crematorium.

27. Museum Vrolik

Museum Vrolik is dedicated to the human body. The collection of the museum comprises of 25 000 objects of anatomical preparations, instruments and models, where as only 2000 of them are exhibited at the permanent collection. There’s also a section dedicated to anatomy in art. The museum is part of Amsterdam UMC (University Medical Center).

Museums to visit out of curiosity

Although these museums are widely advertised, they are not something you have to flock to. Just visit them out of curiosity if you are staying longer in Amsterdam.

28. Hash, Marihuana & Hemp Museum

This museum, as the name suggests it, is fully dedicated to the plant cannabis and anything related to it. It has on display artefacts related to all aspects of cannabis history and culture: from cultivation to consumption, to ancient rituals and modern medicine.

In the museum you can see old paintings and botanical prints, antique hemp tools and photos of hash making in various cultures, ancient and modern hemp textiles, pop culture paraphernalia, and bioplastic made of hemp fibre.

29. Torture Museum

This museum is another must-see if you are a fan of dark tourism. It exhibits over 40 instruments of punishment from all over Europe that were used from the Middle Ages to the French Revolution, together with their historical background.

Free museums in Amsterdam

30. Below the Surface

During the excavations for the North/South metro line in Amsterdam there were found about 700 000 archeological artifacts and other objects. About 9 500 of them are displayed at the Rokin metro station between the escalators at the south and north entrances to the platforms, showing Amsterdam’s urban history in an interesting way.

31. Amsterdam Oersoup

According to its authors, “This work is a journey through the history of Amsterdam, its main arteries, the canals. It is a crowd stopper, freezing a moment in time thanks to its elaborate craftsmanship and rich materials.” Amsterdam Oersoup is an amazing monumental artwork in the Beurspassage – an arcade in the heart of Amsterdam, and it’s absolutely free to visit.

450-square-meter of glass mosaic, Art deco mirrors and chandeliers made from recycled bicycle parts, and traditional Italian Terrazzo floors are the main features of this captivating art work of Arno Coenen and Iris Roskam. The artwork was accomplished in 2016.

Fun fact: Arno Coenen and Iris Roskam are the authors of Cornucopia in Markthal in Rotterdam.

32. Energetica Exhibition at NEMO

Energetica is an outdoor exhibition on the roof of NEMO Science Museum that can be visited for free. It is an interactive exhibition with sculptures and installations that you can play with and try to control yourself. Thus, you can learn about the elements and how renewable energy works. Why not even make your own rainbow!

From the rooftop of NEMO there’s an incredible view over Amsterdam. There’s also a cafe where you can have lunch or a cup of coffee enjoying the view.

36. Street Art Museum Amsterdam (SAMA)

This museum is actually an open-air museum. It’s located outside of the city centre. What started as a community project in the Nieuw-West Amsterdam neighbourhood grew into a museum with more than 300 art works, that shows the evolution of street art.

You go on a 3-km street art tour where you explore street art by artists like Bastardilla, Nafir, Suso33, Blub and many more.

33. NDSM Wharf

NDSM stands for Nederlandsche Dok en Scheepsbouw Maatschappij (Netherlands dock and shipbuilding company) and the NDSM wharf in Amsterdam used to be one of the biggest shipyards in the world until the 1980s when it closed. In the 2000s this post-industrial area has been redeveloped into an urban zone.

The NDSM Loods – a huge warehouse, has been transformed into an Art City (Kunststad) with more than 250 artists having their studios there. Exhibitions are organized throughout the year at the wharf, the warehouse or in NDSM Fuse. NDSM Fuse is the exhibition place of the wharf.

Other museums in Amsterdam

34. Amsterdam Centre for Architecture (ARCAM)

This museum is housed in a real architectural gem and one cannot expect something else from the Amsterdam’s Centre for Architecture. The beautiful glass building was designed by the contemporary architect René van Zuuk. There’s a permanent architectural exhibition in the centre and regularly there are organized temporary ones.

This museum used to have free access, but since the summer of 2022 there’s a fee for the exhibitions.

35. STRAAT Museum

STRAAT is a street art museum located in a former warehouse at the NDSM Wharf. It pretends to be the largest street art museum in the world and it opened its doors in October 2020. The collection of the museum includes more than 240 art objects: paintings, sculptures, and installations, however only a part of them are shown at a time in the museum. The gigantic murals are created at place.

At the STRAAT Gallery, which is the in-house gallery of the museum, there are changing exhibitions of contemporary urban art.

37. Nxt Museum

The emerging digital arts and multimedia installations have found their home in the first museum in the Netherlands for new media art – the Nxt Museum. It’s a brand new museum that opened its doors in 2020. They offer immersive, multi-sensory exhibitions that puzzle your mind. Large-scale installations, a result of the interdisciplinary collaboration of artists, designers, technologists, scientists and musicians, offer futuristic experience in a new art form.

The museum is located outside of the historical centre, in the up-and-coming neighbourhood Amsterdam North.

38. Diamond Museum Amsterdam

For a bit of stardust why not visit the Diamond Museum in Amsterdam? There you will learn everything about diamonds: how they are mined, polished and put into jewelry. The museum has also a collection of diamond encrusted crowns and other jewelry pieces.

The museum is located on Museumplein (Museum Square), next to the Amsterdam’s best museums: Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh Museum.

39. Molen van Sloten

This polder windmill is located actually just outside of Amsterdam in the village of Sloten, which is part of the Municipality of Amsterdam. The Mill of Sloten (Molen van Sloten) is a working one and can be visited daily.

Actually the original windmill of Sloten was the one that was moved to the banks of Amstel River – the Rieker Mill (De Riekermolen). The current Mill of Sloten was placed there in 1991. The Mill of Sloten is open for guided visits.

40. Resistance Museum

The Resistance Museum tells the story about the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands during WW2 and the life shortly after WW2 in the Netherlands, Indonesia, Suriname and the Caribbean. The museum has been completely renovated and opened its doors again for public at the beginning of December 2022.

40. Fashion for Good Museum

Fashion for Good Museum is one of the newest museums in Amsterdam. It has been born from the urge to use innovation to create sustainability in fashion. Besides a museum, it is also a platform for innovations for the stakeholders in the fashion business.

41. Madame Tussauds Amsterdam

Madame Tussauds Amsterdam is a wax museum in the tradition of the British Madame Tussauds museums around the world. The branch in Amsterdam was the first museum opened on the mainland Europe and the first foreign branch this British museum.

Besides your regular bunch of celebrities and movie stars, in Amsterdam you can see some prominent historical figures from the Dutch Golden Age and take a picture with King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima.

Prepare for your trip to Amsterdam:
❒ How to Use the Public Transport in the Netherlands
❒ Where to stay in Amsterdam – the Ultimate Guide
❒ Amsterdam in One Day – Best Things to See and Do
❒ The Best Amsterdam Walking Routes
❒ Art Museums in Amsterdam – the Ultimate Guide
❒ The Canals of Amsterdam – World Heritage Site

Do you need some extra help to plan your trip to the Netherlands? Join the dedicated Exploring the Netherlands Facebook Group, where you can get tips from other travellers and locals. Or perhaps you have questions or comments? Join the group and I’ll be happy to answer them.