netherlands trip

They both need a timed entry ticket.

https://www.mauritshuis.nl/bezoek/

https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/tickets/options

indeed! I didn't go deep enough into the ticketing page. thanks for the heads up!

You're welcome! I'm looking forward to visiting both in September.

While the other two you mentioned come first, I note that the very large (and Art Deco landmark exterior) Kunstmuseum Den Haag is a nice visit. Its wide-ranging collection includes a number of respected American modern artists, as well as European artists. I have only been there briefly, once, but Rick's favorite of Haarlem is not one of my favorites in the Netherlands. Do you have time for the museum of musical automata, in Utrecht? I'm not saying it's worth a special detour, but Rick once observed how proud Leiden is of their little Greek temple, inside a museum. (Much smaller than the Met Museum's Roman Temple of Dendur in NYC.)

While I liked Delft fine, you might want to plan it as half a day with Den Haag, in case you agree with me that it's not mystically magnificent.

@tim: thanks for your input! actually, delft and haarlem are names i am familiar with from history and art books, but not much else. clearly, i need to do a bit more 'research'. your on-the-ground experience is exactly what i was looking for. my main interest is paintings first and architecture 2nd. in the netherlands i am also curious about tulip fields and willing to 'attack' a windmill or two!

Unfortunately, tulip season is over for this year (March/April).

@roubrat: oh well, more time for me to chase windmills then!

Yep! Those are always in season. If you have time to report back on your trip when you get back, that'd be great! I'm impatiently counting down the days until my Netherlands trip.

I suggest you download the official apps for both the Rijksmuseum and the Mauritshuis. You can buy entry tickets thru both apps and then they are both very helpful in the museum as well.

I just checked the Mauritshuis website and it does not appear that you can book tickets more than one month out. We will be traveling in mid-September. Has anyone else had this experience with reserving tickets? I already booked tickets for the Riksmuseum about 2 months ago. The recommendation is to go early in the day, in the 10-10:45 time slots to avoid crowding. Even in late April the ticket times were limited.

I'm going in September too and haven't bought the Mauritshuis tickets yet because it looks like they're only available through the end of August.

The Mauritshuis very rarely sells out. For today for instance, all the time slots still show availability. If you really want to, you can buy your tickets a few days in advance, but there is no need. And I certainly wouldn’t buy them more than a month in advance.
The only museum in the Netherlands that absolutely requires tickets to be bought in advance is the Anne Frank house, and to a lesser extent the Van Gogh museum. Tickets for the Anne Frank house for the following month become available on the first Tuesday of the month. So tickets for August became available last Tuesday July 5. Tickets for September will go on sale on August 2 etc etc.

hello all,
thank you very much for all your responses! I am not going to visit the ann frank house nor the van gogh museum. i am set for the rijksmuseum. i am meeting up with some family from germany to go to den haag to see an alphonse mucha exibit at kunstmusem. i'll try to fit the mauritshuis on the same day or another day of my 4-day visit.