I amsterdam City Card: Is It Worth It in 2026?

The I amsterdam City Card promises free entry to more than 70 museums, free trams and a free canal cruise — but is it actually worth the money? For a lot of visitors it pays for itself in a day. For others it quietly loses money, especially since two of the city’s most famous sights, the Van Gogh Museum and the Anne Frank House, are not even included.

This is our honest 2026 guide: the real prices, exactly what is and is not covered, how the card works, the simple maths to check whether it suits your trip, and how it compares with the alternatives.

Last updated: July 2026.

What is the I amsterdam City Card?

The I amsterdam City Card is the city’s official tourist pass, run by Amsterdam’s own tourism board. The standard version — now branded “Total Experience” — bundles four things into one card for a set time window:

• free entry to over 70 museums and attractions;
• unlimited GVB public transport (trams, metro, city buses and ferries);
• one free canal cruise;
• one free 24-hour bike rental, plus around 25% off a range of partner attractions.

It comes as either a physical contactless card or a digital card in the official app. In May 2026 a second option also appeared — an Explorer (Special Edition) card, where you choose a fixed number of attractions (3, 5 or 7) at a lower price, but with no public transport included. Most of this guide is about the standard Total Experience card, which is what people usually mean by “the I amsterdam City Card.”

I amsterdam City Card prices in 2026

At the time of writing, the standard Total Experience card is priced at roughly the following, with a single price for adults and children alike:

The longer the card, the cheaper each day becomes — which is why the 72- to 120-hour cards are usually the easiest to justify. The newer Explorer option starts from around €44 for three attractions. Prices change regularly, so check the current figure before you buy.

What’s included with the I amsterdam City Card?

Here is what you actually get:

Free public transport (GVB)

Unlimited travel on Amsterdam’s GVB network — trams, metro, city buses, ferries and even night buses — for the full validity of your card. Note the limits: it does not cover NS trains, so the train between Amsterdam Central Station and Schiphol Airport is not included, nor are regional buses. A standalone GVB pass alone would cost roughly €10 for 24 hours up to €34 for 120 hours, so this is a big chunk of the card’s value.

Free entry to 70+ museums and attractions

The headline benefit. Big names included free (normal entry in brackets) are:

• Rijksmuseum (~€25) — the single most valuable inclusion; see our Rijksmuseum guide;
• Moco Museum, H’ART Museum (the former Hermitage) and the Stedelijk Museum of modern art;
• Rembrandt House Museum and Museum Van Loon;
• NEMO Science Museum, ARTIS (the Royal Zoo and Micropia) and Hortus Botanicus;
• A’DAM Lookout and This is Holland — both usually free with the card, though it is worth confirming.

A free canal cruise and a free bike

You also get one free canal cruise (worth around €16 — the classic way to see the city, and a highlight in its own right) and one free 24-hour bike rental. On top of that there are discounts of roughly 25% at a range of partner attractions and restaurants.

The free list leans towards art and history — the Rijksmuseum, Stedelijk, Moco and H’ART for art; the Rembrandt House, Museum Van Loon, the Amsterdam Museum and the Dutch Resistance Museum for history — but there is plenty for families and science fans too, from NEMO and ARTIS to Micropia and Hortus Botanicus. Just outside the centre it also covers spots like the A’DAM Lookout and This is Holland in Amsterdam-Noord. The exact line-up shifts from year to year, so if there is one museum you are counting on, check it against the official list before you buy rather than assuming.

What’s NOT included — the gotchas

This is the part that catches people out, and it is where an honest guide earns its keep. Before you buy, know that these are not covered:

• Van Gogh Museum — not included at all. It was dropped from the card back in 2022 and is still out in 2026: no free entry and no discount. Since it is one of the busiest museums in the city and sells timed tickets that book up days ahead, reserve your Van Gogh Museum tickets separately and early.
• Anne Frank House — not included. It has its own timed online tickets that sell out weeks in advance and must be booked directly on the official Anne Frank House website.
• Heineken Experience, Madame Tussauds and Body Worlds — discount only (around 25% off), not free.

If your Amsterdam wish list is essentially Van Gogh plus Anne Frank plus a couple of other things, the card will almost certainly lose you money — you would be better off booking those two separately and paying as you go.

Is the I amsterdam City Card worth it?

It comes down to simple maths. A major Amsterdam museum averages around €22 to enter, the free canal cruise is worth about €16, the 24-hour bike about €15, and the transport €10–€34 depending on duration. So roughly:

The card is worth it if you are an active sightseer who will visit around two or more paid museums a day, you will use the trams and metro, and you want the free cruise and bike thrown in. On the 72- to 120-hour cards, the fixed extras alone cover a big share of the cost, so you only need a handful of museums on top to come out ahead.

It is not worth it if your must-sees are the Van Gogh Museum and Anne Frank House (both excluded), you prefer to walk the compact centre rather than ride, you sightsee slowly at about one thing a day, or you are travelling with young children (who are often free or cheap at museums anyway).

A worked example: does it actually pay off?

Numbers beat vibes, so here are two realistic trips at roughly 2026 prices. Individual entry fees change, so treat these as ballpark rather than gospel.

The active sightseer (72-hour card, about €115). Imagine you see the Rijksmuseum (~€23), take the free canal cruise (~€17) and visit the Moco Museum (~€22) on day one; NEMO (~€18) and the A’DAM Lookout (~€16.50) on day two; and the Rembrandt House (~€18) plus ARTIS (~€25) on day three, riding the trams throughout and taking the free bike out for an afternoon. Paying separately, that is roughly €140 in entries plus about €25 for three days of transport — call it €165 — before you count the bike. Against a card at around €115, you are up roughly €50, and the more you see, the further ahead you get.

The slow traveller (skip it). Now say your Amsterdam is really about the Van Gogh Museum (~€22) and the Anne Frank House (~€16), both excluded, plus one relaxed museum and a lot of aimless walking. A 24-hour card at around €67 would need you to cram three included, paid attractions into one day just to break even, which is nobody’s idea of a good holiday. Here, paying as you go is cheaper and calmer.

The pattern is simple: the card rewards pace and museums, and punishes a Van Gogh-and-Anne-Frank itinerary. Do this quick sum against your own shortlist before you buy, and you will know within a minute whether it is for you.

Which I amsterdam City Card duration should you choose?

Match the card to the shape of your trip rather than just your total nights:

• A single busy day (24 hours): only worth it if you will blitz three or more included attractions plus transport in one go. For most people the 24-hour card is the hardest one to make pay.
• A weekend (48–72 hours): the sweet spot for a first city break. A 72-hour card gives you three unhurried days and usually breaks even with room to spare.
• Four to five days (96–120 hours): the best per-day value by far, and the fixed extras — cruise, bike and transport — already claw back a big share of the cost before you enter a single museum. Ideal if you are mixing museums with slow mornings.

One thing that trips people up: the clock runs in real hours from first use, not calendar days, so a card does not have to line up neatly with your nights in the city. If you plan to spend a day out of town — say a day trip from Amsterdam to Zaanse Schans or Leiden — you can buy a shorter card and simply not activate it on the day you are away, rather than paying for hours you will not use.

How to get the most value from your City Card

Once you have decided to buy, a little planning turns a decent deal into a clearly good one:

• Front-load the expensive stuff. Line up your priciest included museums — Rijksmuseum, ARTIS, the big art museums — inside the card window, and save the free or cheap sights for the days it is not active.
• Activate it on a museum-heavy morning, not the evening you land. Every hour counts, so start the clock when the sightseeing genuinely begins.
• Actually use the cruise and the bike. They are worth around €30 together and are easy to forget; build them into your plan rather than treating them as afterthoughts.
• Pre-book the timeslot sights. A few popular attractions still want a free reservation even with the card, so sort those the day before to avoid a wasted trip.

How to use the I amsterdam City Card

A few practical points that save confusion on the day:

• Card or app: you can use a physical contactless card or the digital version in the official I amsterdam City Card app, which shows a QR code.
• On public transport, check in AND check out. Tap the card (or scan the app’s QR code) on the GVB reader when you board and again when you get off, every single trip. Forget to check out and the system can flag it.
• The clock starts on first use, not at purchase, and then runs continuously. A 48-hour card first used at 5pm on Friday runs until 5pm on Sunday — it is 48 real hours, not two calendar days, so activate it when your sightseeing actually begins.
• Some attractions still need a timeslot. Most sites let you walk in with the card, but a few popular ones (and the Rijksmuseum at busy times) ask you to reserve a free slot online in advance — check each one the day before.
• Children need their own card to be covered for transport and paid attractions. Since many museums are already free or cheap for under-18s, it is worth doing the maths for kids separately — a family can sometimes skip the cards for the little ones and still come out ahead.

Where to buy the I amsterdam City Card

You can buy the card online in advance (the simplest option, and the digital app version means no queue at all), or collect a physical card in the city — the main pick-up point is the I amsterdam Store at the back of Amsterdam Central Station. Buying ahead online also lets you compare the current price and pick the right duration before you arrive.

I amsterdam City Card vs the alternatives

It is not the only pass in town. In short:

One neat trick for Van Gogh fans: the Museumkaart covers the Van Gogh Museum where the I amsterdam City Card does not, so heavy museum-goers sometimes weigh that up instead. For a general first trip, though, the I amsterdam City Card’s bundled transport and cruise usually make it the more convenient choice.

The other real contender is the Go City Amsterdam Pass, which comes in two flavours: an all-inclusive pass (unlimited attractions in a set window, closer to the City Card) and an explorer-style pass (a fixed number of attractions). It leans more towards paid experiences and tours — think Heineken Experience, a hop-on-hop-off boat, food tours — and less towards the museum-plus-transport bundle. If your ideal Amsterdam is big-ticket experiences rather than a museum crawl, price a Go City pass against the City Card for your exact shortlist. If it is classic museums plus getting around, the City Card is usually the simpler win. Whichever you lean towards, the honest move is the same: list the handful of things you will genuinely do, add up the door prices, and only buy a pass if it beats that total by enough to matter.

The verdict

For an active first-time visitor packing in museums, trams, a canal cruise and a bike ride, the I amsterdam City Card is genuinely good value — the longer cards especially. Just go in with your eyes open: book the Van Gogh Museum and Anne Frank House separately, do the quick maths against the things you actually plan to do, and pick the duration that matches your pace. For more on budgeting the rest of your trip, see our guide to money and costs in Amsterdam.

Quick checklist — buy it if you can tick most of these:

• You will visit around two or more included, paid museums or attractions per day.
• You will use the trams, metro or buses rather than only walking.
• You want the free canal cruise and bike, and will actually use them.
• Your must-see list is not dominated by the Van Gogh Museum and Anne Frank House, which are excluded.
• You are looking at a 72-hour card or longer, where the per-day price drops and the bundled extras cover much of the cost.

Tick three or more and the card almost certainly saves you money and hassle. Tick one or none and you are better off buying tickets as you go — and pre-booking the Van Gogh Museum and Anne Frank House on their own.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the I amsterdam City Card worth it?

It is if you are an active sightseer visiting roughly two or more paid museums or attractions a day and using the trams. With free entry to over 70 sites plus a canal cruise, a 24-hour bike rental and unlimited GVB transport, most visitors break even quickly on the 72- to 120-hour cards. It is poor value if your main targets are the Van Gogh Museum and Anne Frank House (neither is included), if you walk everywhere, or if you sightsee slowly.

What does the I amsterdam City Card include?

Free entry to over 70 museums and attractions — including the Rijksmuseum, Moco, H’ART, Stedelijk, Rembrandt House, NEMO and ARTIS — plus unlimited GVB public transport (tram, metro, bus and ferry, but not NS trains or the airport train), one free canal cruise and one 24-hour bike rental. You also get around 25% off partner attractions such as the Heineken Experience and Madame Tussauds.

How much is the I amsterdam City Card in 2026?

The standard Total Experience card costs roughly €67 (24h), €94 (48h), €115 (72h), €130 (96h) and €140 (120h), at one price for adults and children. A newer Explorer option lets you pick 3, 5 or 7 attractions from around €44, but it does not include public transport. Always confirm the current price on the official iamsterdam.com site before buying.

Which museums are free with the I amsterdam City Card?

Big names included free are the Rijksmuseum, Moco Museum, H’ART Museum, Stedelijk Museum, Rembrandt House, Museum Van Loon, NEMO and ARTIS (Micropia and the zoo), among more than 70 in total. The Van Gogh Museum and Anne Frank House are not included and must be booked separately.

Is the Van Gogh Museum included in the I amsterdam City Card?

No. The Van Gogh Museum was removed from the card in 2022 and is still not included in 2026 — you get neither free entry nor a discount. Because it is one of Amsterdam’s most popular museums and sells timed tickets that book up, reserve a Van Gogh ticket separately and in advance.

Does the I amsterdam City Card cover the airport train?

No. The card gives unlimited travel on Amsterdam’s GVB network — trams, metro, city buses, ferries and night buses — but not NS trains. The train between Schiphol Airport and the city centre is run by NS, so you need to buy that ticket separately.

Does the I amsterdam City Card include the Rijksmuseum?

Yes. The Rijksmuseum is included free and is the single most valuable inclusion on the card, at around €23 to enter on its own. At busy times you may still need to reserve a free timeslot online in advance, even with the card, so check before you go.

Can you use the I amsterdam City Card on trams and the metro?

Yes. The card includes unlimited travel on the whole GVB network — trams, metro, city buses, ferries and night buses — for its validity. Remember to tap in when you board and tap out when you get off, every trip. It does not cover NS trains or the Schiphol airport train.

I amsterdam City Card or Museumkaart — which is better?

They suit different trips. The I amsterdam City Card bundles transport, a canal cruise and a bike with about 70 attractions over a short window, which suits an active short break. The Museumkaart is cheaper over a year and covers 400-plus museums nationwide, including the Van Gogh Museum, but comes with no transport or attractions. Heavy museum-goers on a longer or repeat trip often prefer the Museumkaart; first-timers on a city break usually get more from the City Card.

Is the I amsterdam City Card worth it for a 2-day trip?

It can be. A 48-hour card at around €94 pays off if you visit roughly two included museums a day and use the trams, especially once you add the free cruise and bike. If two days is all you have and your list is topped by the Van Gogh Museum and Anne Frank House, both excluded, you will usually do better paying as you go.

Do children need their own I amsterdam City Card?

Yes, if you want them covered for GVB transport and for the paid attractions on the card, each child needs their own. But many Amsterdam museums are already free or heavily discounted for under-18s, so it often works out cheaper to skip the card for younger kids and pay their (small) entries directly. Do a quick sum for the children separately from the adults.

Where can I buy the I amsterdam City Card?

The easiest option is to buy online in advance, especially the digital app version, which means no queue at all and lets you compare durations before you arrive. If you prefer a physical card, the main pick-up point is the I amsterdam Store at the back of Amsterdam Central Station. Rather than counting on finding a seller the moment you land, it is simpler to buy ahead online and activate the card when your sightseeing begins.