Rijksmuseum
Rembrandt's Night Watch and Vermeer's Milkmaid, in a brick palace.
Duration
2 hrs 30 min – 4 hrs
Best time
At opening
Open
Every day
Entry price
25 EUR
The museum reopened in 2013 after ten years of works, and its Gallery of Honour leads in a straight line to Rembrandt's Night Watch — a deliberate piece of staging, and one that dates from the original 1885 building.
The Night Watch is not a night scene: oxidised varnish had darkened it, and the title stuck. It was also trimmed on all four sides in 1715 to fit a room in the town hall. Vermeer, Hals and the Dutch interiors fill the neighbouring rooms, and they deserve the same time.
Getting there
Museumplein, tram 2 or 12, Rijksmuseum stop. Entry is through the vaulted passage that runs under the building.
What the price covers
adult entry; free under 18 and with the Amsterdam City Card.
What to bring
- Headlamp
Rules on site
The ticket is timed and bought online; morning slots go first. The central passage carries a very busy cycle lane: do not stop in it to take photographs.
Checked on 29 August 2026 at Rijksmuseum — hours and rates
Other places in Amsterdam
- The canal ringFour concentric canals dug in the seventeenth century, fifteen hundred bridges and leaning houses.
- Anne Frank HouseThe annexe behind the swinging bookcase, left bare.
- The JordaanThe old working-class quarter turned into the pleasantest: hidden courtyards, markets and brown cafés.
- VondelparkForty-seven hectares in the middle of the city, where Amsterdam runs, eats and plays.