Holland Pass
Amsterdam Holland Pass or just Holland Pass for short, offers free tickets and discounts on admission to over 100 museum and tourist attractions in Amsterdam and major cities of the Netherlands. You may purchase the Amsterdam Holland Pass via their website. Upon the purchase of the card, you receive a guide to Amsterdam and the Netherlands and several free tickets to major museums and attractions. As some of these attractions are rather expensive, Amsterdam Holland Pass is an attractive possibility of making savings especially if you are in Amsterdam only for a short visit and you plan to visit major museums as the Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum or Stedelijk Museum.
Free tickets to major museums
Holland Pass is available in three price categories – Small (with three tickets) costs €40, Medium (with four tickets) — €55, and Large (with six tickets) — €75. At first, the system seems complicated as the tickets giving you free admission bear different icons and not all tickets are exchangeable into all attractions of your choice. Nevertheless, in reality it is all very simple: with the Holland Pass comes a nice full colour handy guide of Amsterdam and the Netherlands, where each page brings information about a museum or a major attraction marked with an icon, which has to match the icon on your free ticket. But be careful — only one clearly marked Gold Ticket coming with each Holland Pass is valid at the Rijksmuseum. Do not use it at another attraction.
Real savings
As always with discount cards, you may quickly notice that you do not need so much rebate, as you are not going to visit hundred museums. However, when you observe that one Holland Pass free ticket gives you free admission to the Rijksmuseum (adult admission is €17,50) or Madame Tussauds (adult admission is €23,50) even without counting, you may realize that Holland Pass offers its holder some real savings.
The pass and free tickets are valid for several months with a big flexibility of deciding how and when you will use them. You may not use your free tickets for admission of more than one person – each benefiting person should be the Amsterdam Holland Pass holder.
Hop On Hop Off Bus and Canal Cruise
Holland Pass assures you free Hop On Hop Off Bus (during 24 hours, value €18) or Amsterdam Canal Cruise (one trip, value €19,50). You may choose only one of these attractions. The bus is a red double decker London style vehicle which starts its tour at Damrak 34, 1012 LK Amsterdam and leaves every 15 minutes, but you may board it on any of its 12 stops in the city while it follows its route along the most attractive spots in Amsterdam. You may exchange your Holland Pass ticket on the bus.
Canal Boat Cruise in Amsterdam is an attractive way of seeing the city from the water. The Holland Pass ticket may be redeemed at See-Amsterdam Shop, Leliegracht 51, 1016 GT Amsterdam; located directly behind the block of houses where Anne Frank House is or at several other companies which addresses you will find in the Holland Pass guide.
More discount
Have you used all your free admission tickets? When your free tickets are gone, Amsterdam Holland Pass still offers you between 10 and 50 % on admission to all more important museums and tourist attractions.
Our advice
Holland Pass gives a visitor a real advantage. This is not some block solution forcing you to consume. You may buy your Holland Pass on-line, collect the card at the airport terminal upon landing and directly use it for a free transfer to Amsterdam. In the days after, you may visit several museums skipping the long lines of people waiting for tickets. You may also visit Den Haag with its splendid Mauritshuis or if you travel with kids, go to Madurodam. You might visit Haarlem and see Frans Hals Museum. A unique place to visit is Keukenhof in Lisse – a park open uniquely in spring with more than seven million flowers blossoming (until May 17).
If you arrive to Amsterdam for a short stay of couple of days, we recommend the pass with 6 free tickets. Your intention will be to see as much as possible and even if you will not have time to use some of the free tickets, only the free admission to a few major museums will bring you some real savings. Depending on the type of Holland Pass card, you will save between 30% and 50% on costs of your stay. Read carefully the guide to decide what is the most interesting plan for your visit. There is a whole wealth of possibilities in this printed with tiny letters book. Holland Pass App (you will find the QR code in the guide on page 8), which may be of some help.
Other cards
Especially for visiting museums in Amsterdam and in all the Netherlands, there are two other cards available: The Museum Card and I Amsterdam Card which also gives several other discounts for Amsterdam visitors.