Advanced tickets for Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh

Why not get the Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh tickets now? Why wait? Just plan to get them for the morning and afternoon of the same day, or on different days. That still leaves two whole days' worth of opportunities for the Anne Frank House. And the Van Gogh is basically next door to the Rijksmuseum so you can plan to move between them in a short amount of time. There are a bunch of food vendors in the Museumplein so you can have a little lunch between--or visit the cafes in the Rijksmuseum if you want something more substantial or to sit down. The Van Gogh museum is much smaller--plan maximum two hours unless you are a huge fan and want to spend more time. The Rijksmuseum is one of the world's greatest, pretty much on par with the Louvre and the Met, (but I think it's a bit more lively and diverse, like the Met) so you can spend an indefinite amount of time there. All up to you.

Have you visited the Rembrandthuis website? Because the answers you seek are there: it reopens March 18. https://www.rembrandthuis.nl/en/renovation/

The Van Gogh museum is already pretty booked up. I wouldn't wait any longer to lock that in.

You can buy tickets to Anne Frank 6 weeks before the visit. That is enough time. If you are going the last week of June mark your calendar for around the week of May 7.

We did Amsterdam in August and spent three hours in both the Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh museum. The museums are located near each other, probably a 5-10 minute walk.

We booked the Anne Frank House as soon as we could and it was times were selling quickly.

I just want to confirm what Jazz+travels already stated. Tickets for the Anne Frank house go on sale every Tuesday at 10am CET for a visits up to six weeks later.
Six weeks ahead is plenty of time to buy tickets for the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh museum, especially because at the end of June the Vermeer exhibit will already be closed.

@Dutch_traveler I just checked a few random dates in late June for the Van Gogh museum and found that most time slots were down to single tickets only. Early and late-day slots were still available, though. @Donna should buy those ASAP and plan the rest of their itinerary around them.

My real time experience buying Anne Frank Huis tickets today - they sell out fast. If you have a particular date and time that you want/need tickets for, definitely set an alarm for the Tuesday morning 6 weeks before the week that you would like to go.

I wanted tickets for a very particular date and time for the second week in April. I needed to factor in how very busy Amsterdam will be during our visit - spring school breaks, the week after Easter, tulip season and the Vermeer exhibit. So, I didn’t want to mess around. I started checking in, watching the availability trends on the site for a few weeks before my week became available (I’m retired, this is entertainment). Based on what I was seeing, I decided that I would probably get something within an hour or so of what I wanted if I waited to log in to the ticket portal when I woke up this morning (Tuesday) at 7:00 am PST (4:00 pm CET). But, I decided that I really wanted those 9:00 am tickets, so I woke up at 1:00 am and snagged them as soon as they were available. I checked again at 8:00 am this morning just to see if my prediction was correct and my exact time was sold out, but there was limited availability within an hour of that time. Checking back at 1:30 PST (10:30 pm CET), ~12 hours after sales opened, there are zero pairs of tickets available for that morning.

@JenS ... thanks for the real time update, I get to do this next Tues at 3am.

@DQ, The buying process was easy, however, since I knew I wouldn’t be at my sharpest at 1:00 am, I did familiarize myself with the website in advance. I made “dummy” selections that I didn’t complete so that I would know what to expect in my sleepy state. Good luck next week!

@Donna, maybe keep an eye on the Van Gogh Museum tickets for your dates, if you see that they are selling out around your visit, then buy as soon as you can. I would recommend going as early in the day as possible. The last time I was at the Van Gogh (2019) we had an afternoon entry time (ugh, waited too long to buy) and I felt overwhelmed by the shoulder to shoulder crowds in the permanent exhibit.

I did familiarize myself with the website in advance. I made “dummy” selections that I didn’t complete

And here I thought I was the only one that did that :-)

Thanks for all the suggestions. I did book the Rijksmuseum for morning and I'll book the Van Gogh for morning. That gives me 3 afternoons to hopefully get my Anne Frank house tickets. I'm glad I booked the Rijks like you all suggested because the tour at the Rijks only takes 15 people at a time, so who knows if I would have waited.

Anybody ever take the early evening dinner boat ride in the canals in Amsterdam? Sounds like it might be a way to have dinner
and see the canals all at the same time. But no idea on how the food would be or if we're too busy eating to see the sights. LOL What do you all think?

One more question: How far is the Rembrandt house from the Riks or Van Gogh museums? And should I do the Rembrandt and Riks in the same day?

@Donna

The Rijksmuseum is a world-class comprehensive museum, on par with the Met or the Louvre. You could spend as long as you want--days. If you're a big art fan, allow a whole day. If you just want to see the highlights, look up a self-guided tour either on their site or from another source, and allow half a day.

the Rijksmuseum is about a 20-30 minute walk from the Rembrandtshuis.

I just bought my ticket for the Anne Frank house for April 15th this past Tuesday, February 28th, the day it became available. I live in the Eastern time zone so I got up at 4am to do so. Like others I spent some time on the website before, looking at ticket options, times etc. I bought the ticket with the 30-minute program in English. It went very smoothly. I received my confirmation email at 4:06am. At 4:09 there were only two tickets left for my time slot and a few time slots were already sold out. However, tickets for the visit without the program were still available at all times but by the morning (normal 8am morning!) they were starting to sell out too.

On RS Belgium/Holland tour…..we go to Rijksmuseum with RS group in morning….for those who have been on this tour… we have free time after……I’m wondering how to time tickets for Van Gogh Museum following the Rijksmuseum.

@Chris. It all depends on how long you want to spend in the Rijksmuseum. It's a big, comprehensive one, so you could spend a day or more there if you are a hardcore art/history fan. The Van Gogh museum is a 1.5-2-hour visit. It's all up to you.

@ Chris - I'd give yourselves time to sit for a few minutes and to perhaps get something to eat before you hit the Van Gogh. On the itinerary this is listed as happening on your last tour day so you'll have the farewell dinner that night. I'd probably book a 2PM entry time for Van Gogh. That will give you 1.5-2 hours after your guided tour of the Rijks. IF you think you will want to remain in the Rijks for a while longer, then push off Van Gogh until 3. That will still give you 2 hours and then an hour to an hour and a half to get back to your hotel and freshen up before dinner.

BTW, if you just want to grab stuff for a picnic on the MuseumPlein, from the Rijks, walk toward the Van Gogh, pass it by and walk to the street. Before you get to the street there is an Albert Heijn grocery store. It's underground so all you see is the entrance to the escalators going down, lol.

Another suggestion for the Van Gogh is to start on the 3rd floor where all the good stuff is located and work your way down. That way if you get fatigued you'll have seen the major works.

Thank you so much Pam and Astorienne…this helps me to plan my day.