Stedelijk Museum

What it is

Amsterdam's museum of modern and contemporary art and design on the Museumplein, in a nineteenth-century building joined to a large white extension completed in 2012.

Why travelers go

For twentieth-century and contemporary work seen in comfort, and for a collection that includes design and applied art alongside painting. It is the counterweight to the Golden Age and Van Gogh story the other two tell.

What is genuinely good

Noticeably quieter than its neighbours, slightly cheaper at 22,50 euros, free under 19 and 12,50 for students and CJP holders. Sharing the Museumplein with the Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh Museum means no travel between them.

Downsides and tourist traps

If you can only do one Museumplein museum, this is not it, and the museum competes directly with two more famous neighbours. No entry after 5.45pm despite a 6pm close. The extension is genuinely divisive architecture.

Best for

Visitors staying long enough to do more than one museum, anyone interested in modern design as well as art, students on the 12,50 rate and families given free under-19 entry.

Consider skipping if

You have one museum slot in Amsterdam. Take the Rijksmuseum, or the Van Gogh Museum if he is the draw. The Stedelijk is the third visit, not the first.

Practical advice

Arrive before 5.45pm or you will not get in regardless of the 6pm closing time. Pair it with the Rijksmuseum or Van Gogh Museum on the same square, ideally with this one second when the others have worn you out and you want somewhere calm.

Tickets and reservations

Adults pay 22,50 euros and students and CJP holders pay 12,50 euros. Visitors under 19 go free, as do Stedelijk members. Open daily 10am to 6pm with no entry after 5.45pm.

Getting there

Tram 2 or 12 to Rijksmuseum, or tram 5 to Museumplein, both on the same square. Roughly twenty-five minutes on foot from Amsterdam Centraal.

Where it sits

Museumplein 10 in Amsterdam Zuid, on the same square as the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum and the Concertgebouw, in a quiet and well-off part of the city away from the canal-belt crowds.

How long to allow

Ninety minutes to two hours. It is comfortably done in an afternoon alongside one of its neighbours.

Accessibility

The museum is served by lifts across both buildings and publishes accessibility information for visitors with reduced mobility.

The RuinMyTrip verdict

The Museumplein museum people skip and should not, provided it is your second or third rather than your only one. Go late in the day for the quiet, but be through the door before 5.45pm.

Sources

Every figure above was checked against these before publication. If one has since changed, tell us and we will correct it.

• Adults pay 22,50 euros and students pay 12,50 euros. source
• Visitors under 19 go free. source
• The museum is open Monday to Sunday 10am to 6pm. source

Nearby

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