JANUARY 2026

At the end of 2025 I bought a Dutch museum pass, which gives me access to most museums in the Netherlands. It seems that Hugo is finally old enough to enjoy and understand museums, so I decided to make the most out of it this year and buy a museum pass. A Dutch museum pass costs € 75 for adults per year, which means you need to visit about four museums to have a good deal. The first museum I visited with the pass is the Netherlands Open Air Museum in Arnhem. After loving the open air museum in Oslo, I decided that I really needed to visit the Open Air Museum in Arnhem, so that’s what we did. The Open Air Museum is extra fun during the Christmas period, as they have decorations and special activities. Read all about it in this blogpost!

Practical information

If you don’t have a Museum Pass, you can buy your ticket online for about € 23 per adult. Kids are € 16,50 and kids until three enter for free. It is cheaper during the week than in the weekend. Parking costs € 8,5 for the day and you can buy a ticket in the ticket machines on site. There are different opening hours depending on the day and season, please check the official website for opening hours. The winter special is usually on from the beginning of December until Half January. During the Christmas season most of the houses are open, there are guided tours, winter decorations and a winter fair. With your entrance ticket you will receive tickets for two attractions of choice + free rental of roller skates.

Our experience at the Open Air Museum

Hugo and I visited the Open Air museum from about 11.30 – 16.30 and could have spent longer inside of the park. The museum is incredibly kid friendly, the hosts that explain about the history are very accommodating to kids. What I also really liked is that it wasn’t overly crowded on the Friday before Christmas. It was cozy and people were enjoying the museum and the decorations, but it never felt too busy. We generally did not experience queues at attractions, restaurants or in the museum houses.

The park hosts lots of pretty historic buildings, I particularly loved all of the different windmills and the “Zaans huisje” area. At the farms and workplaces we often encountered guides, which offered a personal explanation about the history. There is a historic tram that drives around the park, which gives a good overview of all the things you can do. Lots of areas were very family friendly, there is a large playground with a pancake restaurant as well as a farm that has fun games for kids. Everything was very well maintained and relaxed.

Hugo loved visiting the historic houses, such as the butter factory, the metal smith and the turf hut. He did get really distracted with the winter fair, as he was very interested in the roller skating and the swing ride. I have to admit we spent half of our time at the winter fair. But even that looked very lovely and vintage, so I didn’t mind.

Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to visit the Canon, that explains the important events in Dutch history. I am planning on going back during summer, so I can combine a visit to the Canon with a visit to the museum’s gardens, as that must be lovely as well.

Arnhem is a great city as well, but doesn’t seem to be very popular. I have written a separate blogpost with all my Arnhem recommendations, as we often come there.