Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Vermeer, Mondriaan, Frans Hals. The list of famous Dutch painters goes on and on. If you would like to see some of their work, The Netherlands is the place to be. Amsterdam alone has 90 museums including art museums, a tulip museum, canal houses, the Anne Frank House, a science museum, a maritime museum and a microbe museum just to name a few.
Visiting them can be expensive but this is where the Museumkaart comes in. It is an annual pass that, once bought, gives you unlimited free entrance to 400 museums in the country including 39 in Amsterdam. With the card, entrance will be free but some museums may charge a small supplement for special exhibitions.
You have to be a resident in The Netherlands or the EU to be able to enjoy all the benefits of the card. This is because you need to register the card online which is only possible if you are a Dutch or other EU country resident.
Costs
The card costs €64,90 for adults and €32,45 for children between 13-18 years. There is a special Museum Kids card (up to 12 years of age) which also costs €32,45 per year. Cards are strictly personal and can only be used by the person whose name and picture is on it.
How to buy the card
You can buy the card either online or at a museum.
1. Online
If you buy the card online, it will be registered and personalized with your name and picture. You can buy the Museumkaart at www.museumkaart.nl. Sadly, the website is in Dutch only so if you do not read Dutch, you will need a friend to help you out. The site contains quite a lot of information on the card and museums.
Payments are made via Ideal. It looks as though it is not possible to buy the card online if you do not have access to Ideal. In which case you would have to buy a Museumkaart at a museum and register it online afterwards (see below for details).
The card should be delivered within 5 working days if you live in The Netherlands.
2. At a museum
At certain museums including the Hermitage, Van Gogh Museum, Stedelijk Museum, the Rijksmuseum, the Jewish Historical Museum and the Anne Frank House, you can buy the Museumkaart at the cash register.
If you buy the card at a museum, you will be able to use it immediately but it is a temporary card valid for 31 days only for a maximum of 5 visits. This means that you will have to register your card online within 31 days of your purchase. The Museumkaart website states that if you buy the card at a museum that will count as a visit, even if you do not enter the museum at that time. So afterwards, you will have only 4 visits left within the 31 days before your card expires.
Apparently you can still register the temporary card after the 31 days but you then have to wait to receive your registered personalized card in the mail before you can visit a museum while using the card. Please check the Museumkaart website for details or call customer service. Their website is not all that clear to me on this subject.
If you are not a Dutch resident but are an EU resident, there is an English language page that allows you to register your temporary card. In this case, there is a one time administrative fee of €3,25 to be paid via IBAN/BIC.
What to do if you lose the card?
If you lose the card, you can call 0900-4040-910 during work days between 09:00h and 17:00h. The lost card will be blocked. A new card can be sent to you within one working day (in the NL) for €4,95.
Please note that not all museums accept the Museumkaart. Madame Tussaud's and the Beurs van Berlage museum do not accept it for example. Also, the Hortus Botanicus botanical gardens and Artis zoo in Amsterdam currently do not accept the card. Neither of these are museums but the botanical garden in Leiden does accept the card so the notion of "museum" is largely interpreted it seems.
If the card is not accepted, you will have to pay for a ticket. You can go to www.museumkaart.nl to check the list of museums that accept the card.
Some museums like the Anne Frank House and the Van Gogh Museum for example, give you free entrance with the card but still require you to reserve an online time slot to be able to enter the museum. There may be a small service fee to reserve the time slot.
It is a good idea to check the museum's website before your visit to find out if you need to reserve a time slot and/or whether the museum accepts the card.
If you are not an EU resident, it seems that you still have the option to buy a temporary Museumkaart. The card is valid for one month and can be used for maximum 5 museum visits. Depending on the ticket prices of the museums you want to visit, this may still be worth it. However, other tourist cards may be a better option.
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