Museums in Amsterdam, am I being overly ambitious ?

If you want to see two large museums and a canal tour all by lunchtime, then yes, you are nuts (I don't even know if this is logistically possible, but it's certainly not a good idea to even attempt). If you want to see two large museums and a canal tour in one full day, then you may be tired and suffer from art exhaustion, but this can certainly be done.

I would do the canal hopper tour, right outside the Rijksmuseum. You can sign up for a time; small boats with about 13 persons and able to get into canals that the larger, more impersonal boats cannot. I would skip the Van Gogh especially on a Sunday in June. It will be most likely very crowded.

Yes, you are being overly ambitious. You might cram a museum and a canal tour in one morning, but not a second museum.

Jebb1959,

Its like going to Paris and seeing what you can in 1 day.

Yes, you can do it, but you wont have alot of time in each. The restriction you will have is the Canal tour. Its not like you can say, "stop the boat and let me off now". In the museums you can leave anytime you feel like it.

So, what you may want to consider is to do the canal tour first (or skip it) and then do the museums after that way anytime you have left over you can divvy up between the two or the one. i havent done any of the canal tours, but if you decide to do them, look where there start/stop/in between stops and maybe one maybe close to the museum district. Also, both museums are within walking distance.

happy trails.

At 15 euros per museum, I would prefer to give each one a full morning or afternoon. I believe that I did spend about 4 hours in the Rijksmuseum last fall.

I would do it all. The Van Gogh is my first stop for a museum-- intimate, wonderful. The Rijkmuseum-- go for a couple of hours max-- look at the museum map and decide what you'd like to focus on, with the idea of seeing more of it another time-- no reason you need to see it all, like any large museum. And like someone else said, there is a boat you can jump on and off, just ride on as long or as little as you want. Make sure you spend enough time walking around the Centrum area, with the major canals, smaller canals, tall houses-- just sit on a bench, lean over a bridge and take it all in.

On a side note....it seems the Van Gogh museum does kind of a cocktail party on Friday nights during the summer.

Are these worthwhile to attend, or are there too many people? Should we visit the museum early on Saturday morning? We arrive Friday morning from the USA and will be in Amsterdam through Sunday.

"...The Van Gogh is my first stop for a museum-- intimate, wonderful..."

It's a wonderful museum but I wouldn't call it intimate:) While it's collection will obviously by smaller than the Rijksmseum, it will be packed to the rafters with visitors like it's neighbor.

What you can do is visit The Hall of Fame only, where the most well-known masterpieces are exhibited in The Rijksmuseum first, can take something like an hour. Next walk to the nearby Van Gogh museum and enjoy the collection for a few hours there. Buy the ticket’s online for skipping the lines at the entrance and to be noticed is that a visit to the cloakroom can be necessary. If time left you can fit in a canal tour if still possible.
Other sequence, first Van Gogh then Rijks and make there the decision to stay or doing a canal tour, matter of priority.

We went to the Van Gogh museum on a Friday night this past fall under the impression that there were fewer people there at that time and that they had live music playing...well, there may have been fewer people than at some times - it was still very crowded- but the music was incredibly loud and permeated the museum. Even with the audioguide headphones on, the music still penetrated. And once the live music ended ,recorded music took over, also at loud volume. So be forewarned! The Van Gogh museum was clearly a happening place for the 20-30 something's in Amsterdam!
That said, it is an amazing place! Don't miss it. OR the Rijksmuseum- even if only to see the hall of honor where all the most famous pieces reside. So many wonderful museums to see in Amsterdam!