Amsterdam · Museumstraat 1 · Dutch art and history
Rijksmuseum: tickets, hours and how to visit
The Night Watch, Vermeer's The Milkmaid and 800 years of Dutch art in a red-brick palace. Pick your start time, check the hours and plan your visit.
In short
- The Rijksmuseum is open every day of the year from 9:00 to 17:00, public holidays included. Everyone needs a ticket with a start time, and once inside you can stay until closing.
- You can choose general admission, a 2-hour guided tour, a small-group tour with up to 15 visitors, or an entry ticket with a canal cruise.
- Handbags up to A4 size can go inside. Backpacks and larger bags go to the free cloakroom, so travel light. Photos are allowed without flash.
- The Night Watch by Rembrandt and The Milkmaid by Vermeer are two of the best-known paintings in the collection. With only an hour, you can still see the highlights.
The Night Watch and the Gallery of Honour
The Gallery of Honour gathers Rembrandt, Vermeer and Frans Hals. Rembrandt's The Night Watch (1642) is the museum's most famous painting: a militia company led by Captain Frans Banninck Cocq, marching out of the shadows.
The museum holds more than 8,000 works of Dutch art and history, and four paintings by Vincent van Gogh, among them his famous self-portrait.
Vermeer's Milkmaid, small and still
After the drama of the Night Watch, The Milkmaid feels like a pause. Vermeer painted a maid pouring milk from a jug in the late 1650s, with bread on the table in front of her.
It is worth taking your time in front of it.
A palace built for art
Pierre Cuypers designed the building, which opened on 13 July 1885. In December 2003 the main building closed for a renovation by the Spanish architects Cruz y Ortiz. It reopened on 13 April 2013, after almost ten years.
Outside there is a garden you can visit for free.
Which ticket for the Rijksmuseum?
Short on time? General admission is enough. Want help finding the great paintings in a museum this big? Take the 2-hour guided tour, or the small-group tour for up to 15 visitors. Planning a day in the centre? The ticket with a 75-minute canal cruise covers both.