Unofficial visitor guide · Amsterdam
Official audio guide · English Yes · 11 languages · Free
The Rijksmuseum offers free audio tours in eleven languages on your own phone. For any label the tours don't cover, or in a language they don't offer, here is what helps.
Independent guide by the makers of Tales of Museums. Not affiliated with the Rijksmuseum.
Checked on 14 October 2026 from the sources linked above. Museums change their guides and rules; confirm on the official Rijksmuseum website before you go.
Checked on 14 October 2026 from the sources linked above. Museums change their guides and rules; confirm on the official Rijksmuseum website before you go.
Swipe for the works and stories worth knowing before you go.
By 1972 the 1947 varnish on The Night Watch had grown so brittle that even dusting it was difficult. According to the Rijksmuseum, a sample went to the lab logged under the name of a lesser painting, to keep the worry quiet. The cleaning kept being put off, until a visitor slashed the canvas twelve times on 14 September 1975.
rijksmuseum.nl: Brittle varnish · rijksmuseum.nl: 10 things about The Night Watch
A girl leans on a window ledge above two dead peacocks, one beside a pool of blood. On 21 July 1942 it was sold, with two other paintings, for 800,000 guilders to Erhard Göpel, buying for the museum Hitler planned in Linz. Recovered after the war, it has belonged to the Rijksmuseum since 1960. See it in room 2.8.
The tunnel that cyclists ride through the middle of the building is no modern add-on. According to the Rijksmuseum, a route through the museum was required in the original commission, linking the old town with the new districts to the south. The soft ground meant 8,000 piles had to be driven in to hold it all up.
Never a toy, this cabinet was built to show off its owner's wealth and taste. According to the Rijksmuseum, it had a kitchen with running water, a working fountain and 83 leather-bound books, and was valued at 20,000 to 30,000 florins, about the price of a canal house. The only doll left is a swaddled baby with a wax face.
rijksmuseum.nl: 10 things about Petronella's dolls' house · rijksmuseum.nl: Dolls' house of Petronella Oortman
Look low, beneath the marching feet, for a small barking dog. In research published in 2025, art historian Anne Lenders showed it closely resembles a dog Adriaen van de Venne drew for a book by the poet Jacob Cats, which Rembrandt reworked to suit his scene. Nearby, a girl has a dead chicken tied at her waist.
rijksmuseum.nl: Did Rembrandt steal a dog? · rijksmuseum.nl: The Night Watch
In the left foreground, among the skaters, sleighs and kolf players, crows and a dog are feeding on a horse that froze to death. X-ray and infrared research shows Avercamp painted the sky and ice first, then added the figures, moving some as he went. Deaf and unable to speak from birth, he was known as 'de Stom'. Room 2.6.
When the painting moved to the town hall on Dam Square in 1715, four pieces were cut off so it would fit between two doors, the biggest from the left. According to the Rijksmuseum, they have never been found. And it is not the museum's own: it has been on loan from the City of Amsterdam since 1808.
rijksmuseum.nl: 10 things about The Night Watch · rijksmuseum.nl: The Night Watch
On 11 June 1800 this became the first work bought for the new national art gallery, forerunner of the Rijksmuseum, for 100 guilders. Old inscriptions name the swan the Grand Pensionary, the egg Holland and the dog the enemy of the state; the swan was read as the murdered statesman Johan de Witt. Gallery of Honour.
rijksmuseum.nl: The Threatened Swan · rijksmuseum.nl: History
According to the Rijksmuseum, Cuypers, a prominent Catholic, quietly reworked his approved design to make it more Catholic, swapping Renaissance touches for Gothic ones. King William III stayed away from the opening and sent the Prince and Princess of Wied instead. Critics found the result too medieval and too Catholic.
rijksmuseum.nl: 10 things about Cuypers' building · rijksmuseum.nl: History
In the Cuypers Library the pillars narrow at top and bottom so they look taller. Cuypers left some real iron rivets showing in the ceiling arches, then painted a row of fake ones beside them to improve the rhythm. It is still the largest art history library in the Netherlands; look down into it from the balcony in room 2.16.
rijksmuseum.nl: 10 things about Cuypers' library · rijksmuseum.nl: The Cuypers Library
Tales of Museums reads the label in front of you aloud in your language, for any work you can photograph. The museum's free Wi-Fi means you can usually do without mobile data.
Coming soon to the App Store for iPhone
The free audio tours are in eleven languages: Dutch, Dutch Sign Language, English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Ukrainian, Japanese, Russian and Mandarin Chinese. rijksmuseum.nl
Type the object's number into the search in the museum's digital guide, even outside a tour. rijksmuseum.nl
Yes, without flash. Photography is not allowed in the exhibition wing or the Cuypers Library. rijksmuseum.nl · museum: filming and photographing
Yes, the museum provides free Wi-Fi. rijksmuseum.nl
Yes: everyone must book a start time, Museumkaart holders included; only Friends of the Rijksmuseum and ICOM or ICOMOS pass holders can come without booking. It is usually quieter before 11 am, after 3:30 pm, and on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. rijksmuseum.nl: FAQ · rijksmuseum.nl: visit · museum: opening hours and prices
Adults pay €25, and visitors aged 18 and under get in free. Museumkaart and I amsterdam City Card holders also enter free but still book a start time. Paid tickets cannot be refunded, though you can ask to change your time slot. rijksmuseum.nl: FAQ · rijksmuseum.nl: visit
From Amsterdam Centraal, take metro line 52 to Vijzelgracht, a walk of under 10 minutes. Tram 7 stops at Spiegelgracht. The address is Museumstraat 1, on Museumplein next to the Van Gogh Museum. rijksmuseum.nl: address and directions · rijksmuseum.nl: visit
There is a free, supervised cloakroom for bags, umbrellas and daypacks, but it does not take large bags, travel luggage, folding bikes or musical instruments. For suitcases, use the Lockerpoint lockers on Museumplein. rijksmuseum.nl: FAQ
The Rijksmuseum has no time limit: you can stay as long as you like until the museum closes at 5 pm, but you cannot go outside and come back in. If you are short on time, the museum says you can see its highlights in just an hour. rijksmuseum.nl: frequently asked questions · rijksmuseum.nl: Visit the Rijksmuseum (tips for your visit)
Yes. At the Rijksmuseum, pick up a Family Route booklet at the information desk, or book the Family Quest with your tickets: a puzzle game for children aged 8 and up that takes about an hour and a half and costs €2.50 per person, played on devices from the multimedia desk in the Atrium. Strollers are welcome (backpack carriers are not), you can borrow a buggy free of charge while stocks last, and you can ask at the information desk for the nursing room. If you bring your own food, eat it in the Atrium or, at weekends, in the Picnic area. rijksmuseum.nl: Families and children · rijksmuseum.nl: practical information for families · rijksmuseum.nl: The Family Quest
Yes. The Rijksmuseum's Café in the Atrium serves coffee, pastries and a lunch menu, including a kids' menu, and is open from 9 am to 6 pm; from 5 to 6 pm you can go in without a museum ticket. Espresso bars at the foot of the monumental staircase to the Gallery of Honour and on the ground floor of the Philips Wing serve coffee and snacks, and in summer the garden house by the fountain on the Museumplein side is open without a ticket. RIJKS, the museum's Michelin-starred restaurant at Museumstraat 2, takes bookings. rijksmuseum.nl: The Café · rijksmuseum.nl: frequently asked questions (shop, café and garden hours) · rijksmuseum.nl: RIJKS restaurant · rijksmuseum.nl: practical information for families (kids' menu)
Yes. Vincent van Gogh's Self-portrait of 1887, which he painted in Paris, is on display in gallery 1.18 of the Rijksmuseum. rijksmuseum.nl: Self-portrait, Vincent van Gogh
Yes. The Rijksmuseum's free app has an interactive floor plan and a navigation tool that guides you from one gallery to the next, and you can search it for a work to see where it hangs. At the information desk you can also ask for the accessibility map, which shows lifts, benches and accessible toilets. rijksmuseum.nl: app · rijksmuseum.nl: accessibility
Yes: the whole Rijksmuseum is accessible by wheelchair and mobility scooter, with lifts to every floor, and the entrance with a lift is on the left as you stand with your back to Museumplein, where a security guard will help you with the lift. Wheelchairs, walking frames, walking sticks, strollers and folding chairs can be borrowed at the information desk. If you cannot get around the museum on your own, a companion enters free with a free timed ticket booked in advance and collected at the ticket counter. rijksmuseum.nl: accessibility, practical information · rijksmuseum.nl: mobility aids and wheelchairs · rijksmuseum.nl: accessibility
The Rijksmuseum's entrances are in the Passage at Museumstraat 1, where the Atrium has its entrance. Two have stairs and one has a lift: with your back to Museumplein, the lift entrance is on the left, and a security guard operates the lift. Groups of 12 or more register at the entrance on the side of the Café for fast lane access. Visitors with an invisible disability who cannot stand in a queue for a long time can show the museum's signed fast lane declaration to enter at once. Tram 7 stops at Spiegelgracht, and from metro 52 at Vijzelgracht the museum is less than a 10-minute walk. rijksmuseum.nl: The Passage · rijksmuseum.nl: accessibility, practical information · rijksmuseum.nl: group visits · rijksmuseum.nl: Fast Lane Declaration (PDF) · rijksmuseum.nl: address and directions
At the Rijksmuseum, start on level 2 in the Great Hall, then walk the Gallery of Honour (The Milkmaid, The Jewish Bride) to The Night Watch. Next see rooms 2.6 (Avercamp) and 2.8 (Rembrandt's Still Life with Peacocks), then the Cuypers Library balcony in room 2.16 and the dolls' house in room 2.20. Go down to room 1.18 for Van Gogh's self-portrait, then to room 0.4 for the Burgundian weepers, and end with the Shiva Nataraja in the Asian Pavilion. As a plan, this takes about 2.5 hours. rijksmuseum.nl: Gallery of Honour · rijksmuseum.nl: The Night Watch · rijksmuseum.nl: Winter Landscape with Ice Skaters (2.6) · rijksmuseum.nl: Still Life with Peacocks (2.8) · rijksmuseum.nl: The Cuypers Library (2.16) · rijksmuseum.nl: Dolls' house of Petronella Oortman (2.20) · rijksmuseum.nl: Self-portrait, Vincent van Gogh (1.18) · rijksmuseum.nl: Isabella of Bourbon and weepers (0.4) · rijksmuseum.nl: Shiva Nataraja (AP-1)
The queue at the Rijksmuseum is shortest at the quieter times the museum names: before 11:00 and after 15:30, and on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Everyone except Friends of the Rijksmuseum needs a booked start time, Museumkaart holders included; book online, because tickets at the entrance are sold only while available. If you miss your start time, the museum cannot help on the day. Inside, the Gallery of Honour and the 17th-century and 19th-century galleries are the busiest parts, while the 18th-century galleries, the Special Collections and the 20th-century galleries are usually less crowded. rijksmuseum.nl: FAQ (less crowded times, reservation) · rijksmuseum.nl: Visit (tickets at the door) · rijksmuseum.nl: ticket info (running late) · rijksmuseum.nl: tips for a quieter museum visit
Tales of Museums is an independent app and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to the Rijksmuseum. Translations, narration and the extra facts use AI and can contain mistakes, so for anything important, check the museum's official information and the linked sources. Please follow the museum's photography rules.