Visiting the Van Gogh Museum with Children

A family visit to the Van Gogh Museum requires slightly more planning than an adult visit, but it is very much doable. The museum’s collection — with its bright sunflowers, starry skies, and intense self-portraits — offers natural entry points for children who may not have been to an art museum before. With the right preparation, the Van Gogh Museum can be one of the most memorable experiences of an Amsterdam trip for families.

Ticket Prices for Children and Families

Under-18s enter the Van Gogh Museum completely free. However, every visitor — including children — must hold a timed-entry reservation with a start time. This applies to children of all ages, including infants. Free tickets for children must be reserved online in advance through the official museum website or an authorised reseller. There are no tickets available at the door.

Adult tickets cost €25. There is no specific family ticket — adults pay the standard rate and children under 18 are free. Students aged 18 and over pay €15 with a valid student card.

Is the Van Gogh Museum Suitable for Children?

The Van Gogh Museum is an art museum first and foremost — it is not a children’s museum or an interactive science centre. That said, several features make it more accessible for younger visitors than a typical fine art gallery:

• Van Gogh’s work is intensely visual and emotionally expressive. The sunflowers, the starry skies, the swirling fields — these are images that children recognise and respond to.
• The collection is arranged chronologically, which gives even young visitors a clear narrative to follow: Van Gogh’s life and how his painting changed over time.
• The museum is compact. Unlike the Rijksmuseum, which can be overwhelming with children, the Van Gogh Museum’s scale is manageable.
• The letters on display offer a human story — Van Gogh writing to his brother Theo — which older children and teenagers often find genuinely moving.

The museum is less suitable for very young children (under 5), not because of any restriction, but because the collection offers few interactive elements and requires sustained attention. For children aged 6 and above, the museum becomes progressively more rewarding.

Family Guided Tours

The most effective way to visit the Van Gogh Museum with children is on a dedicated family guided tour. The private family tour is designed specifically for families with children and uses games, storytelling, and interactive activities alongside the artworks to maintain engagement. The guide adapts their approach to the ages of the children in your group.

This is a private tour — only your family participates — which means the pace and content are tailored entirely to your group. It includes skip-the-line entry and typically lasts around 90 minutes, which is the right duration for most families with school-age children.

For families who prefer a self-guided visit, the museum’s standard audio guide is not specifically designed for children, but older children (10+) often find it engaging. The museum’s own website occasionally publishes family activity sheets that can be downloaded before your visit — worth checking before you go.

How Long to Plan for a Family Visit

Most families with children spend 45 to 75 minutes inside the museum. This is shorter than the 90-minute to 2-hour recommendation for adult visitors, and it is the natural result of children’s shorter attention spans and the need for more frequent pauses.

A family guided tour runs for approximately 90 minutes and is structured to maintain pace and engagement throughout. If you are visiting self-guided with children under 10, planning for 60 minutes is realistic and leaves room to slow down for the works that capture their attention.

For more detail on pacing a visit, see our guide on how long to spend at the Van Gogh Museum.

Best Time to Visit with Children

Weekday mornings are the best time to visit the Van Gogh Museum with children. The museum is quieter, which means less jostling in front of popular works and more space for children to move and look freely. The school-holiday periods in the Netherlands (and much of Europe) see more family visitors, which pushes crowd levels up — if you are visiting during Dutch or European school holidays, book the earliest available slot.

Saturday and Sunday afternoons are the most crowded periods of the week. With children, avoiding these windows where possible reduces stress significantly.

Read our best time to visit guide for a full seasonal and hourly breakdown.

Practical Tips for Visiting with Children

• Book children’s free tickets in advance. Many families assume free means walk-in — it does not. Every child needs a reservation with a start time. See our guide to booking Van Gogh Museum tickets for how to do this correctly.
• Use the cloakroom. The museum has a free cloakroom where you can leave buggies, strollers, and large bags. Navigating the galleries with a pushchair is difficult and not recommended.
• Strollers are not permitted in the galleries. Baby carriers are allowed. The museum has elevators, so wheelchair access and pram access to floors is possible for movement between levels, but strollers must be left in the cloakroom during the gallery visit.
• The café is a useful reset point. If a child needs a break mid-visit, the café on the ground floor is a natural stopping point. Returning to the galleries after a 10-minute break often restores energy and focus.
• Focus on a few key works rather than everything. With younger children, choosing 5 to 6 paintings to spend real time with — Sunflowers, The Bedroom, Almond Blossom, a self-portrait — is more rewarding than rushing through the entire collection.
• Tell the story before you go. Van Gogh’s life is unusual and memorable — the ear, the letters to Theo, the sunflowers painted as a gift for his friend Gauguin. Children who know something of the story before entering the museum engage much more deeply with what they see.

Accessibility for Families

The Van Gogh Museum is fully accessible for wheelchair users and visitors with disabilities. There are elevators to all floors, accessible restrooms, and the option to borrow a wheelchair at the entrance free of charge. For a comprehensive overview of accessibility provisions, see our Van Gogh Museum accessibility guide.