Rijksmuseum on a Budget: Prices and Free Days
Rijksmuseum on a Budget: EUR 25 and Who Gets In Free
An adult ticket to the Rijksmuseum costs EUR 25 in 2026, booked online only through rijksmuseum.nl’s official ticket page , with no walk-up ticket sales at the door. That’s the one number to plan around, but the real budget win is that everyone under 18 gets in free, which makes the Rijksmuseum the best-value family museum stop in the city center. There’s no separate paid fast-track line to worry about either: the timed-entry system means every ticket already comes with a set entry slot, so you aren’t paying extra to skip a queue that doesn’t exist.
| Detail | What to know |
|---|---|
| Adult price (2026) | EUR 25 |
| Under 18 | Free |
| Hours | Daily, 09:00 to 17:00, last entry 16:30 |
| Booking lead | Book online at least a few days ahead; weekends sell out |
| Time needed | 2 hours minimum for the Gallery of Honour and Night Watch |
| Getting there | Trams 2 and 12 to Museumplein/Rijksmuseum stop |
Is EUR 25 worth it for one museum?
For the Rijksmuseum specifically, yes. The ticket covers the entire collection for the day, including the Gallery of Honour, The Night Watch, Vermeer’s The Milkmaid, the Asian Pavilion, and the 17th-century dollhouses, with no additional paid sections inside. Compare that to paying separately for two or three smaller Amsterdam museums, and one well-planned Rijksmuseum morning is the better use of a museum budget.
Does the free-under-18 rule actually cover teenagers?
Yes, admission is free for everyone 0 to 17, not just young children, which matters for families traveling with teenagers who’d otherwise pay near-adult pricing elsewhere in the city. Only the adult ticket-holder needs to book and pay; minors still need a timed-entry slot reserved alongside the paying adult, since the whole museum runs on timed online entry.
Is there a cheaper way to skip the crowds without paying more?
Book the 09:00 opening slot. It costs the same EUR 25 as any other time, but it clears the Gallery of Honour and The Night Watch before tour groups arrive, which is the only genuinely free upgrade available on this ticket. The free Rijksmuseum app also replaces the EUR 5 in-museum audio guide device, if you bring your own headphones.
Book directly through rijksmuseum.nl rather than a third-party reseller marking up an already-fixed price, and check iamsterdam.com for combined museum-day planning. The museum sits on the edge of the Amsterdam canal ring , so a free walk back into the ring afterward costs nothing beyond the ticket you already paid.
Book the 09:00 slot, bring your own headphones for the free app, and skip the EUR 5 audio device rental.