{"id":14613,"date":"2026-05-20T22:25:36","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T22:25:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/14613\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T22:25:36","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T22:25:36","slug":"18-best-museums-in-amsterdam-according-to-locals-updated-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/14613\/","title":{"rendered":"18 Best Museums in Amsterdam, According To Locals (Updated 2026)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Amsterdam\u2019s<\/a> museum scene continues to evolve well beyond the city\u2019s traditional \u201cOld Masters\u201d reputation; with major institutions expanding their programming and exhibitions increasingly tackling subjects such as colonial history, identity, climate, and digital art, the Dutch capital feels more culturally dynamic than ever in 2026. Visitors are truly spoiled for choice, but outside the unmissable \u2013 Anne Frank House, the Rijksmuseum, and the Van Gogh Museum \u2013 there\u2019s a new wave of exciting, forward-thinking spaces that reward the curious.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Noord has become one of the city\u2019s most exciting cultural districts, with the Eye Filmmuseum, STRAAT Museum, NXT Museum, and the wider NDSM Wharf area drawing visitors away from the crowded canal belt and to former industrial spaces now filled with contemporary art, film, music and creative studios. At the same time, smaller museums such as Museum Ons\u2019 Lieve Heer op Solder and the Rembrandt House Museum continue to offer deeply atmospheric alternatives to the city\u2019s busiest attractions.<\/p>\n

All this results in a museum landscape that balances world-famous masterpieces with immersive contemporary experiences, hidden historical spaces, and constantly changing exhibition programmes. No wonder Amsterdam is currently one of Europe\u2019s most rewarding cities for culture lovers.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udccd RECOMMENDED:\u00a0Ultimate guide to\u00a0what to do in Amsterdam<\/a><\/p>\n

What museums in Amsterdam are free?<\/p>\n

The short answer to this is: not a lot of them\u00a0\u2013 especially if you\u2019re thinking of the big names. Amsterdam\u2019s \u2018big three\u2019 come with a hefty price, and most of the others you\u2019ll see on this list have at least a small entry fee.\u00a0You do, however, have options: tour Amsterdam\u2019s street murals, see\u00a0a sculpture exhibition at Rijksmuseum Gardens, check out some of the city\u2019s independent art galleries<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 and go to the Cheese Museum, which is free to visit (even if you end up buying a load of cheese afterwards). Oh, and if you\u2019re here on the first Sunday of the month, you might just be in luck for another one of them. More on that below.<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udfe0 Ready to book? Here\u2019s where to stay in Amsterdam<\/a>\u00a0and its best hotels<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The best museums in Amsterdam, at a glance<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc76\u00a0Best for kids: NEMO Science Museum<\/a>
\ud83d\udea2\u00a0Best for Dutch history: Nederlands Scheepvaartmuseum<\/a>
\ud83c\udfa8\u00a0Best for art:\u00a0Van Gogh Museum<\/a>
\u2728\u00a0Most unique: Electric Ladyland<\/a>
\ud83e\uddc0\u00a0Cheesiest: Amsterdam Cheese Museum<\/a><\/p>\n

Callum Booth<\/a>\u00a0is a writer based in Amsterdam.\u00a0At Time Out, all of our\u00a0travel guides<\/a>\u00a0are written by local writers who know their cities inside out. For more about how we curate, see our\u00a0editorial guidelines<\/a>.\u00a0This guide includes\u00a0affiliate links, which have no influence on our editorial content. For more information, see our\u00a0affiliate guidelines<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Amsterdam\u2019s museum scene continues to evolve well beyond the city\u2019s traditional \u201cOld Masters\u201d reputation; with major institutions expanding…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14614,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[23,12100,4255],"class_list":["post-14613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-amsterdam","tag-amsterdam","tag-categories-museums","tag-museums"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14613"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14613\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}