I Amsterdam City Card 2024

Is the I amsterdam City Card worth it?

This is probably the most asked question about tourist passes anywhere. The answer completely depends upon you.

By this we mean, if you are a visitor who is looking to visit as many attractions as possible in the time you are in Amsterdam, then yes the Amsterdam tourist pass is definitely great value for money. However, if you are a more relaxed traveller who perhaps wants to focus on a couple of attractions and not feel they need to rush to the next, to make sure the amount spent for the card is worth it, then you have to think a bit more carefully.

The Amsterdam city card is a time pass not a day pass

The passes are broken down into times not days. So, 24 hour passes start from the first activation and last through to the same time the following day. This can, with a bit of planning be looked at as a 2-day pass.

Let us give you an example:

If you first used the pass at 9am on Monday morning, you’d have till 9am Tuesday before it runs out. But, the problem lies with various opening and closing times of museums. Once the museums and attractions are closed you are limited in what you can do. So imagine going to Rijksmuseum at 9am, then Moco Museum at 1pm after a spot of lunch, you might find you have one hour left to use the card for afterwards before the other museums close at 5pm. Then if the other museum you want to see the following day opens at 10am you miss out. 

If, however, you started to use your pass at around 11.30pm at the Rijksmuseum, you could visit two museums before closing, then the following morning you could squeeze in two more. The pass works right up until the time it was activated. So you could go to the fourth museum at 11.25am on Tuesday and the card gets you free entry.

So to get the best value from the card, plan ahead and don’t use it as a day pass, use it as much as possible for the 24 hours you have it through clever planning. A lot of museums now have extended opening hours, so it is worth checking the opening/closing times of the venues you are interested in before committing.

Notable exceptions to the city card

There are two notable exceptions to what you can see with the I Amsterdam City Card. And this is Anne Frank House and since June 2022, Van Gogh Museum. These are undoubtedly two of the most popular and must-see attractions in Amsterdam and you cannot use the tourist pass to gain entrance.

However, other big museum attractions, namely Rijksmuseum,  Rembrandt House, Moco Museum and more are included with the pass. Unfortunately you cannot have it all.

The only other key point to mention is that the city card does not give you direct access into Amsterdam from Schiphol Airport. Learn more about transferring from Schiphol Airport.

Additional benefits to this Amsterdam tourist pass

Not only do you gain ‘free’ entry to over 70 museums and attractions, you also get canal cruise and various discounts that the card lets you access. These include things like discounted bike hire, discounted restaurants and discounted entry to some attractions and concerts. The city card also allows you to use the GVB public transport in Amsterdam, which includes trams, buses, ferry and metro, making it super simple to get from one attraction to the next. You just use your card like a ticket, tapping it on the reader as you enter and leave your transport of choice.

Simple comparison of costs of 24 hour Amsterdam city card

Imagine you arrive in Amsterdam and want to see two of the biggest museums in your one night stay here. The Rijksmuseum and Moco Museum. You look online at the ticket costs and discover:

Rijksmuseum adult entry fee: €20

Moco Museum entry fee: €15.95

You then need to get around Amsterdam, so you look at the 24-hr ticket on GVB at a cost of €9.

Your total costs are: €44.95

The cost of a 24-hour I Amsterdam City Card is €60. The saving by booking tickets to each attraction and your public transport ticket yourself is €15.05.

Now look at the additional extras you get with an Amsterdam city card, specifically the canal cruise. This is one of the, if not the, most popular thing to do in Amsterdam and costs in the region of €16 per adult.

So, if you, like most visitors, take a canal cruise, suddenly you are breaking even with the card, plus if you have the time, you can go and see a host of other attractions completely free. The big question here though is “if you have time?”

In our opinion though, the I Amsterdam City Card easily proves its value, even in the short time frame of 24-hrs. If you start your card as described earlier at lunchtime, then you can easily fit in three big attractions and maybe more if you do not hang around too long at each one. This makes the card pay for itself many times over.

The benefits only improve as the time length of the city card increases. If you are organised, plan ahead and work out the best times to visit the attractions you really want to, then the city card really is a great way to make visiting Amsterdam as easy and cost effective as possible.

Booking timeslots with I amsterdam City Card

Before the pandemic, owners of the city card could, in most circumstances, just turn up at the door, show their card, swipe in and enter the attraction. This is one of the key benefits of the city card. You can be spontaneous and explore Amsterdam, often just walking by an attraction, seeing it is included in the iamsterdam card and popping in to visit.

This changed during the pandemic which forced all Amsterdam attractions to only offer pre-booked tickets online. This allowed them to offer limited tickets within each time slot available and keep visitors numbers to a safe number. What this meant for visitors was that booking ahead was not just good planning, but absolutely essential.

Although we are not exactly post-pandemic, we are closer to normal operations now in 2023, but we are seeing that pre-booking has stuck around for a lot of the bigger venues.

We feel that as it is proven to work in the hardest of times, many attractions will adopt this for the long term future, to perhaps offer less busy environments for visitors to explore. Only time will tell, but we are already seeing some places that have less footfall being more flexible again for walk-ins. But we really do recommend checking in advance and booking in advance to avoid disappointment and to better plan your use of the card to get the best value from it.

Using your city card is easy for this as you will find the option to use your card on the booking page and can just reserve your timeslots using the code on your card.

What attractions are included with the I amsterdam City Card

Tourist cards offer access to most of the biggest and well known attractions as well as lesser known niche areas of interest. Having the card actually encourages you to explore more as there are many places you might not at first consider, but find yourself visiting just because it is included with the card. This is good for smaller businesses and good for you, as you never know what new thing you might discover.

The card also includes various discounts for restaurants so you can save on eating out as well as use it for public transport and canal cruising. If you look at the entire list, you’d never manage everything, so it really is a case of focussing on what interests you most and finding the odd bonus as you move around Amsterdam.

Remember too, that currently a lot of attractions need to be booked online in advance (which does take away a little of the spontaneity).

The headline attractions included with the City card are:

• Stedelijk Museum
• Rijksmuseum
• A’DAM Lookout
• Nemo Science Museum
• Artis Royal Zoo
• Rembrandt House
• Zaanse Schans Windmills
• National Maritime Museum
• Tropenmuseum
• Amsterdam Museum
• De Nieuwe Kerk
• Diamant Museum
• Gassan Diamonds
• Foam (photography museum)
• Eye Film Museum
• Huis Marseille (photography museum)
• Johan Cruijff ArenA
• This is Holland
• Fort Pampus (historic fort)

How I amsterdam City Card works

Activating your city card

The city card comes with two components – one is for the attractions and one is for the public transport GVB system. Both are activated separately and each one lasts for the length of time on your card from first activation. This means your public transport part of the card could run out before your attractions part of the card and vice versa, depending on when you first use them – something worth remembering when planning your day.

When you first get on a GVB tram for example, you will tap your card in and activate it, then tap out at the end of your journey. The public transport part of your card is now active. Learn more about using public transport in Amsterdam.

When you tap in at the first attraction the other part of the card is activated and your time length on the card begins. Do make a note of the exact time you first check in as this can be useful if you want to use the card the following day. If you first use it at 11am, it will still be active till 11am the following day. If you enter a museum at 10.45 on day two you can stay as long as you like and it’ll be included. Just don’t arrive at 11.05am and expect free entry.

Amsterdam visitors pass pick-up locations

Your card can be picked up at various locations across Amsterdam, the supplier will give you details of how to get your card at the time of purchase. You will receive a confirmation code at the time of booking, so that if you want to pre-plan and then pre-book your tickets you can use this code to book with a city card when you visit each attractions ticket page on their website.

As currently numbers are limited in each timeslot, it does pay to pre-book early if at all possible. This might not be so essential for the smaller attractions. Just think ‘the bigger the attraction, the earlier you need to book in advance’ and the smaller less well known attractions you book to fit around your main plans.

Free gifts with the Amsterdam City Card

You can get free gifts and compliments such as a free coffee from some cafes in museums and attractions. You’ll also find discounts are available for entry to some attractions, most notably the Heineken Experience. There is a very useful map you can use to help plan your trip included too with all the city card attractions shown.

So, is the I amsterdam City Card worth it?

Absolutely yes. With a little pre-planning you can save money and see the best of Amsterdam all on one ticket. And having just one ticket for public transport and attraction entry makes any travel trip feel so much easier.