Warning to “Go-with-the-flow” tourists: please book your Amsterdam museum visits asap. My family laugh at my pre-planning, but yesterday, six weeks in advance, I looked at booking my Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh tickets. The Rijksmuseum is booked out for the next three weeks, and on my chosen date and time for Van Gogh there were only 6 tickets left! I had been warned by a friend in Paris last week who missed out on The Louvre as it was booked out, so this may be a wider issue.
Posted by
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, USA
14719 posts
Interesting that Rijksmuseum is booked out! Van Gogh is almost always completely booked so it’s definitely good to do that well ahead.
Louvre was variable when I was there in April. You needed to book a few days to a week ahead. In looking at the official Louvre website it looks like there are tickets available for the 17th so that’s 2 days away.
Be sure you book directly with the official museum website. I’m on my phone so googled Louvre and the darn Viator website was the first one that came up. Had to scroll down for the official Louvre website.
And now I’m wondering where you booked your Rijksmuseum tickets? I see plenty of openings for tomorrow the 16th.
Do be sure to download the Rijksmuseum app. You can also book thru the app.
Have a wonderful time!
Posted by
OP
28 posts
I wanted the tour so that might have been the issue…..
Posted by
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, USA
14719 posts
Oh yes, I’m sure that was the difference! It’s good to have a tour thru there. This last time with a guide I found an elevator I didn’t know about, lol!!!
Posted by
Last Frontier aka Alaska 🏔️
3560 posts
Pam, I wanted to get the Rijk museum app, but not sure which is the official one? Maybe you could WhatsApp me a picture? We are going next month.
Posted by
The Netherlands
1587 posts
The symbol of the official Rijksmuseum app is a white capital R set against a black background. The name of the developer of the app is “Rijksmuseum Amsterdam”.
With regards to tickets that need to be booked well in advance, the most important one has not yet been mentioned; the Anne Frank house. The house is relatively small, but hugely popular which leads to tickets being sold out well in advance. Every first Tuesday of the month, tickets go on sale for the next month. So on the first Tuesday of July, tickets for the entire month of August become available.
The Rijksmuseum doesn’t require booking well in advance. If you use their excellent app and guide yourself, you can usually buy tickets for the same day. There are still plenty of tickets available for today for instance.
Posted by
Birmingham, AL
104 posts
Also wanted to say that for the Rijksmuseum, if you can schedule to go early, do it. We got there at 10 and most of the individual rooms were relatively empty. By 10:45 it was beginning to get crowded. Unfortunately we wandered without paying attention what paintings were where, so by the time we got to the center salon with the Nightwatch, it was pretty crowded. If we had gone there first we could have avoided those crowds. I think it opens at 9 but we don’t normally get going that early unless forced to . I think the crowds thin out late in the day also.
Posted by
Southeastern US
2607 posts
davidfox, thank you for those tips. I'm going in September and have made a note to head straight to The Night Watch.
Posted by
SF Bay Area, CA, USA
508 posts
Thanks for the info! When I was there last week, you could book the Rijksmuseum the same day and Van Gogh a few days out. The Anne Frank House was booked several weeks in advance.
Posted by
The Netherlands
1587 posts
“ When I was there last week, you could book the Rijksmuseum the same day and Van Gogh a few days out. The Anne Frank House was booked several weeks in advance.”
This is still the case. The Rijksmuseum usually has same day tickets available. It’s the guided tours in English that are booked for the next weeks. The Van Gogh museum is usually sold out a couple of days in advance. The most popular time slots early in the day sell out first. So if you want those, you need to buy your tickets early.
The Anne Frank house is the only one that needs to be booked well in advance. It’s a hugely popular sight and relatively small in size, so it sells out really fast.