The Van Gogh Museum

• Van Gogh Museum is one of the most popular places to visit in Amsterdam. It has quite long queues, especially during high season (April-May, July-August). All year round you can avoid the waiting line and be in the priority lane if you book tickets online.

• If buying tickets online is not an option - try weekday in the morning or Friday extended hours (until 22:00). The museum is overcrowded from 11:00-13:00. If you arrive at the opening time - you’ll have enough time to see everything before the museum gets packed with loud tourist groups. An average visit to the museum lasts approximately 75 minutes.

• Coming after 15:00 on weekdays is also a good idea to avoid crowds.

• Weekends are the busiest days, waiting lines can take an hour of your time. If you arrive just for a weekend and don’t have a choice - the best option would be to visit the museum on Friday night (check the official website to know if extended Friday hours are applicable on the dates of your visit).

• Choose a sunny day for your visit. In Amsterdam waiting lines to museums tend to double in length when it’s raining.

• There are a number of museum cards and passes in Amsterdam (IAmsterdamCity, Rembrandtkaart, Museumkaart, Hollandpass). Most of them will give you free and immediate access to the Van Gogh Museum. IAmsterdamCity is the one that is used by tourists the most often, but we have to say it’s not the most advantageous. The cheapest IAmsterdamCity card costs €57 (valid for 24 hours). We advise you to pay attention to Museumkaart which gives you unlimited free entry to almost 400 museums in the Netherlands (including 35 museums in Amsterdam) for a whole year and costs €59,90.

Some periods attract more tourists. Try to avoid the following dates:

• Queen’s Day and Liberation Day week (from the last weekend of April to first weekend of May)
• August
• New Year period

Photo credits to alcuin lai via Flickr

This page will give you many tips to avoid crowds in Amsterdam as well as crowd schedules for top tourist attractions in order to plan your visits.