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Museumkaart

Annual pass for Netherland museums

The Museumkaart or Museum card is an annual pass that gains you access, mostly free, into a large collection of museums across the Netherlands. For Amsterdam there are 50 museums included in the Museumkaart.

Previously, the Museumkaart was also known as the Museumjaarkaart, which related to its yearly pass origins. In 2023, they cut the name down for simplicity.

One of the keys here for the visitor to Amsterdam is that this Museum Pass is designed primarily for residents of the Netherlands, but there are some options available to the visitor.

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Temporary Museumkaart

As mentioned above the annual Museumkaart or Museum Card is aimed squarley at Netherlands residents. There are over 1 million registered users of this museum pass in the Netherlands.

As such the Museumkaart is not easily accessible (but not impossible) to buy for a visitor. There is however a temporary museumkaart option which some visitors might find beneficial.

Before deciding on the temporary museumkaart you should also look at the specific tourist passes designed for the visitor to Amsterdam.

I Amsterdam City Card

Go City Amsterdam Pass

These include lots of other attractions (other than museums), public transport options and various discounts for food and drink etc. They also run for shorter time periods, usually 1-5 days.

However, if you are in Amsterdam specifically for museums, then it is worth understanding how the temporary Museumkaart might benefit you.

How does temporary museumkaart work

You can only buy the Dutch temporary museumkaart in specific museums (not online). The temporary museum pass will work for 5 museum visits which must be taken within 31 days of purchase. This shouldn’t be a problem to a visitor in Amsterdam for 4 days or more, but if you are only in the city for a couple of days then this card is probably not going to give you the best value unless you are going to rush through your five museums in the time you have.

When purchasing the card over the counter at a qualifying museum, this will also count as your first museum visit (leaving you 4 museum visits left on the card), so do make sure the museum you buy the museumkaart temporary pass from is actually one you want to visit.

You can use the Temporary Museumkaart in almost 50 museums across Amsterdam, but only some of these actually sell the temporary Museumkaart. You are probably starting to see now why this pass is aimed more at residents of the Netherlands than visitors. But it can be worth perservering.

How much does the temporary museumkaart cost?

As mentioned earlier, if you are museum focussed, perhaps having visited Amsterdam before or regularly, then the temporary museum card could save you some money. Entrance to some museums now is over €20 for a standard ticket, so visiting five museums of this price point would set you back over €100. The Temporary Museumkaart costs €75 so that is a €25 saving.

Obviously all museums have different price points, so some of the smaller ones will be cheaper and your savings will decrease or vanish entirely if those are the ones you want to visit.

Where can I buy the Temporary Museumkaart in Amsterdam

There are a selection of museums in Amsterdam that sell the Museumkaart. To avoid disappointment, aim to go to one of the more well-known museums to buy the temporary museum pass.

 Museumkaart Amsterdam List

The following museums in and close to Amsterdam accept entry with the Museumkaart. You may need to book online in advance with some of the museums and use their Museumkaart holder option when booking.

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Amsterdam Museum Pass 2023

Museumkaart is not really a tourist pass. It’s designed for residents of Holland to have an annual pass and save money on visting multiple museums, multiple times in that year.

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Museumkaart price

To further illustrate why this pass is not specifically designed for the visitor you can look at the price.

Museumkaart Price: €75

Temporary Museumkaart: €75

So, you pay the same price as someone who can gain a years access to the same museums, whilst you can only visit 5 in a 31-day period.

But, even with the temporary museumkaart card, you can still save money, if the five museums normal ticket cost adds up to over €75, which it often does.

Museumkaart and the EU

If you have a temporary museumkaart, you can actually apply to have it turned into the full annual pass (if you can prove you have a residence in Netherlands). Not much use if you are not coming back within 12 months, but this could be beneficial for regular visitors to the Netherlands who have a home base.

We have also spotted in the terms of purchase and registration guide on the Museumkaart website that you can apply for the Museumkaart and give your home address if it is an EU member state. Does this mean EU citizens can access the full annual Museumkaart, if they are organised enough (it is posted to you) to do so well in advance? It would seem so:

‘When purchasing or registering via the Website, the Cardholder must enter initial(s), last name and date of birth, upload a profile photo and provide a home address in the Netherlands or one of the other member states of the European Union’.

This would no doubt prove very useful for someone from the EU travelling around the Netherlands intending to visit lots of different areas and museums. Or, if you were on a longer trip to Amsterdam with a focus on the above museums.

If you qualify you can Buy your Museumkaart online here.

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Museumkaart worth it

The Museumkaart is a good annual card that gives the holder access to over 500 museums across the Netherlands.

As a Netherlands resident interested in culture, it offers excellent value for money. As a short term visitor to the country or Amsterdam, the value is harder to squeeze out of it.

The I Amsterdam City Card and Go City Amsterdam Pass have mostly the same museums included plus discounts and other non museum attractions included too. The I Amsterdam card also includes public transport.

These tourist passes are designed for the short-term visitor to Amsterdam and have more flexibility and value than the temporary Museumkaart.

Having said all that, the Temporary Museumkaart does have a place in a visitors consideration if they are only interested in certain museums and want to save a little bit of money.

If you are an EU resident, then it appears you can buy the full annual Museumkaart, which would be useful and very good value if you visited the Netherlands regularly, were touring the country or planning to stay in Amsterdam for longer.