Free Things to Do at the Rijksmuseum (2026): Gardens, Shop, Library & More

The Rijksmuseum costs €25 for adult entry, which is enough to make people wonder what’s available without spending. The answer is quite a lot — especially if you’re under 18, visiting in summer, willing to time your visit for the end of the day, or interested in exploring the collection online. This guide covers everything you can see, do, and experience at the Rijksmuseum without paying for an entry ticket.

Who Gets Free Entry to the Rijksmuseum?

Who’s free and who isn’t

Important note: A free entry doesn’t eliminate the booking requirement. You still need a timed 15-minute entry slot booked in advance on rijksmuseum.nl, even if your ticket costs €0.

Students and adult residents

The Rijksmuseum doesn’t offer a general adult student discount. Your best path if you’re 18-29 and want reduced entry is the EYCA card (€11.25), or if you’re a Dutch resident, the Museumkaart (€75/year, gives free access to 400+ Dutch museums including the Rijksmuseum). For under-40s who want evening access, see the NEXT membership in our Evening Hours guide.

1. The Rijksmuseum Gardens (Free, Summer Only)

The gardens are the single best free thing at the Rijksmuseum. Designed by the museum’s original architect Pierre Cuypers in 1901, they function as an outdoor extension of the museum — a genuine sculpture garden rather than just a lawn.

What you’ll find in the gardens

• Permanent sculpture collection — works from the museum’s sculpture holdings, displayed outdoors
• Seasonal sculpture exhibition — each summer brings a temporary installation of major 20th/21st-century works. Past exhibitions have included Joan Miró, Giuseppe Penone, and others. Check the current programme at rijksmuseum.nl
• Formal gardens — hedges, flowerbeds, topiary, and the 1901 Cuypers garden design
• Fountain feature — shallow water feature popular for photos
• Oversized chess board — giant chess pieces you can actually move
• Greenhouse — small glasshouse open in good weather
• Benches and green space — genuinely used as a quiet park by Amsterdammers

Summer garden access

• Open 9 AM to 6 PM daily during summer months
• Free entry, no ticket required
• Photography freely allowed (see Photography Rules)
• Accessible to wheelchairs and strollers
• Gardens close in winter — typically from late September through late April, the gardens are closed to public access

Practical uses

• A calm green space on Museumplein for 30 minutes between museum visits
• A free picnic spot (outside food allowed; benches available)
• Somewhere for kids to run around after a museum visit
• A photo location — the Rijksmuseum facade from the garden side is one of the best photo angles of the building

2. The Shop and The Café (After 5 PM)

The main Rijksmuseum Shop and The Café in the atrium are open from 9 AM to 6 PM daily. A museum ticket is required until 5 PM, but between 5 PM and 6 PM the shop and café are open to the public without a ticket.

Use this hour to:

• Browse the shop’s Delftware, art books, jewellery, and children’s merchandise
• Have a casual lunch, coffee, or a late-afternoon snack at The Café
• Sit in the atrium — one of the most beautiful glass-roofed interior spaces in Amsterdam

See Rijksmuseum Gift Shop and Restaurants & Cafés for full details.

3. The Teekenschool Shop (All Day, No Ticket)

The smaller satellite shop in the Teekenschool building adjacent to the Rijksmuseum is open all day during museum opening hours with no ticket required. Stocks the best-sellers from the main shop — Delftware, prints, children’s gifts, books. A good option if you want to pick up a Rijksmuseum gift without visiting the museum, or if you’ve already left the museum and forgot to stop at the shop.

4. The Research Library

The Rijksmuseum Research Library is the largest public art-history research library in the Netherlands, with over 500,000 books, journals, documents, photographs, and archival materials on Dutch art and history.

Free to visit — but with conditions:

• Free entry with advance registration — you need to request access via the museum’s website
• ID required — bring a valid passport or national ID card on arrival
• Dedicated reading room access with separate rules from the main museum
• No photography of specific materials without permission
• Food and drink not allowed in the library
• Your own books cannot be brought in — you work with the library’s materials in the reading room

Opening hours: 10 AM to 5 PM Monday to Saturday. Reading Room: Tuesday to Saturday.

The library is primarily intended for researchers, academics, and serious students of Dutch art, but anyone with a genuine research interest can register and use it for free. Access is via signs reading “Bibliotheek” in the museum — the library is on Floor 1, adjacent to Waterloo Room and the Cuypers Library viewing gallery.

Note: the Research Library is distinct from the Cuypers Library (Room 1.13), which is the beautiful multi-storey historical library visible from a viewing gallery. The Cuypers Library itself is reserved for researchers; the viewing gallery is open to anyone with a museum ticket.

5. Rijksstudio — The Free Online Collection

If you can’t visit, or want to prepare for a visit, Rijksstudio at rijksmuseum.nl/en/rijksstudio is one of the best open-access museum collections in the world:

• 750,000+ digitised objects fully searchable
• High-resolution downloads free for any use including commercial reuse
• Create your own collection by saving and organising works you like
• Virtual tour of the Gallery of Honour — walk through the central gallery online, with close-up views of each masterpiece
• Zoom deep into paintings — images are so high-resolution you can see individual brushstrokes

Rijksstudio is a genuine alternative to visiting for people who can’t travel, want to prepare thoroughly before a visit, or want to keep engaging with the collection after they leave.

6. Free Guided Tours for Specific Groups

The Rijksmuseum offers free guided tours for several specific visitor groups. These are in addition to — and separate from — the paid commercial tours offered by operators on platforms like authorised reseller.

For blind and visually impaired visitors

• First Wednesday of each month — free tactile tour of the current temporary exhibition
• Third Sunday of each month — free tactile tour of the permanent collection
• Participants can touch selected objects, experience scents, and hear rich verbal descriptions
• Book by emailing access@rijksmuseum.nl

For visitors with dementia

• Second Tuesday of every month — free themed tour for visitors with dementia and their loved ones
• Different theme each month
• Light folding stool provided for each participant
• Book by emailing access@rijksmuseum.nl

Sensory-friendly evenings

• Selected Saturday evenings throughout the year are opened exclusively for visitors with sensory sensitivities and their families
• Reduced crowd, adjusted lighting, lower ambient noise
• Check rijksmuseum.nl for upcoming dates

See Rijksmuseum Accessibility for full details on these programmes.

7. The Museum’s Free App

The free Rijksmuseum app (iOS and Android) is genuinely useful and one of the better museum audio apps in Europe:

• Multimedia audio tours in 10+ languages
• Interactive floor plan with search for specific works
• SnapGuide for kids — narrated by Dutch YouTubers and musicians, in English and Dutch
• Dedicated route for blind and visually impaired visitors with audio description
• Works offline once downloaded — don’t rely on museum Wi-Fi for an audio tour

Download before you arrive. You’ll need headphones to use the audio features. The physical rental audio guide (€6.50 at the Information Desk) uses the same content but is useful if you don’t have a smartphone.

8. Free Educational and Public Programming

The museum runs occasional free events open to the public:

• Public lectures in the auditorium — some are ticketed, some free; check rijksmuseum.nl/en/whats-on
• Free exhibition openings for members and for specific invited groups
• Cultural celebration days — the museum participates in nationwide free-access events (typically Dutch Museum Week, some weekends per year)

9. Museum Night (Annual Event)

Museum Night (Museumnacht) is Amsterdam’s annual nighttime museum festival, held once a year in early November. It’s not free — tickets cost roughly €25-30 for the full night — but the museum’s gardens and selected public areas sometimes participate with free outdoor programming. Not a reliable free option, but worth checking if you’re in Amsterdam on the specific date.

10. Walking Past the Building

Worth mentioning, because the Rijksmuseum is genuinely impressive from outside. Pierre Cuypers’ 1885 facade is one of Amsterdam’s finest 19th-century buildings, with neo-Gothic and neo-Renaissance elements, sculptures, stained glass, and detailed brickwork. The facade is best viewed:

• From Museumplein — the open green space to the south
• From Stadhouderskade — the street on the north side
• From The Passage — the arcade running beneath the building, which cyclists use as a through-route

No ticket needed for any of this. The Passage is particularly interesting — it’s a public road that cuts through the museum, one of the few places in the world where a public thoroughfare runs under a major museum building.

Summary: What’s Free vs What Costs

Free, year-round:

• The Teekenschool shop (all day)
• The main shop and The Café (5 PM – 6 PM only)
• Rijksstudio (online)
• The Rijksmuseum app and audio tours
• Viewing the building exterior
• Specific group tours (visually impaired, dementia) by appointment
• Research Library (with advance registration)

Free in summer only:

• The Rijksmuseum Gardens (May – September, 9 AM – 6 PM)

Free with qualifying status:

• Museum entry for under-18s, Museumkaart, I Amsterdam City Card, ICOM/ICOMOS members, Friends, specific Dutch cultural-pass holders

Still requires paid entry:

• The permanent collection (€25 adults)
• Special exhibitions (free for ticket holders but need separate slot booking)
• The Gallery of Honour, Night Watch Room, Vermeers
• The Cuypers Library viewing gallery
• The Asian Pavilion
• All the galleries, in other words — the museum itself still costs €25 for adults