The ARTIS Groote Museum is an interactive nature museum inside a 170-year-old monument on the ARTIS grounds in Amsterdam, built in 1855. The museum is mostly centred in us - humans - you’ll discover how we, together with: animals, plants, and microbes form one ecosystem. You will do this by touching, smelling, listening, and observing different installations.
The museum explains the connections between humans and the rest of the natural world using over a thousand examples, large and small.The museum is very interactive, you can smell scents specifically designed to trigger memory and even compare your circulation with the circulation of a real tree outside of the building.
The museum doesn’t have a fixed route and you can start at any of the sides. It is divided in 12 “themes” all connected to a body part. Within every bodypart you will learn about the similitudes with animal species and even plans. Did you know that babies move just like crocodiles? it’s all because we have a similar vertebrae.
The building itself is beautiful, it was built between 1850 and 1855, and can be considered as the first museum building in Amsterdam. After closing in 1947, it stood largely untouched for 75 years before reopening in 2022 following a full restoration. The original butterfly staircase, the oak floors and the 19th-century display cabinet doors have all been preserved.
The museum has different tours and activities during the day, like: short workshops and lectures, check out the schedule here.
The current exhibition is: Tanja Up Close, running until 10 May 2026. Tanja was the most famous hippopotamus in Amsterdam, who passed away in 2009. The exhibition presents her preserved form.
The Groote Museum is not a natural history museum in the traditional sense. It’s a museum carefully designed to slow you down, interact and reflect.
The installations are of course the strongest part. If you are thinking of just walking through it, then you will miss not only the valuable information, but also the point of the museum. After visiting you will genuinely feel as equal with our ecosystem.
There is no route, so you might feel a bit disoriented, but just try to think about it like a gallery with single expositions, there is no need to follow a specific path, just walk around and give every section attention. If you need a clear route, then use the audioguides, they will guide you through the museum and give you extra information.
The building is also unique on it’s own, it reminds me a bit of Paris (arches and the limestone), but with the Amsterdam twist: red bricks and a flat roof.
Some of the images and displayed objects might be a bit shocking for younger kids (hearts, skeletons, preserved animals), it’s all part of nature and what we are learning about here, but just be aware of it if you are planning on visiting with very young kids (4-5 years old).
The price is under €20 from 13 years old and free for up to 12 years. If you are very interested in nature, want to enrich your visit to ARTIS Zoo and/or Micropia or travelling with kids, then it’s definitely worth it. Just remember to take the time and interact with the installations.
Book your activity in under a minute and secure your spot. No hassle, choose your date, reserve instantly, and get ready for an unforgettable experience.
The museum is open daily from 10:00 to 17:00. The building is close to the ARTIS Zoo entry and there is no age limit. Book your entree ticket online, it’s a bit cheaper then on-site. If you are also visiting the zoo or Micropia, you get discount on your Groote Museum museum ticket. Kids up to 12 years enter for free.
Online booking benefits
🎫 Pay €1 less then on-site.
🎫 Get discount on other ARTIS activities (add the extra activities while booking)
🎫 Instant confirmation: your ticket is mailed immediately after booking
🎫 No need to print: simply scan your ticket from your phone upon arrival.
🎫 Reschedule your booking for free by calling 020 5233 670.
Child (≤ 5 years): free entrance
ARTIS has its own parking lot, at a daily rate of €17.50. You can pay at the entrance desk or at the parking machine near the Planetarium. However, on busy days it fills up fast. If you’re visiting on a weekend or during school holidays, it’s safer to use one of the nearby Q-Park parking garages: Q-Park Weesperplein, Q-Park Oost or Q-Park Waterlooplein, all around 13 minutes on foot from the entrance.
Booking a spot at Q-Park in advance is worth it: your space is guaranteed and the barrier opens automatically on arrival. You can cancel free of charge up to 1 hour before arrival.
ARTIS Zoo is easy to reach by public transport from Amsterdam Central Station (16 minutes) and other parts of the city. You can reach the zoo with:
🚋Tram 14 to Muiderpoort station: step out at the stop ARTIS/Holocaust museum.
🚇Metro 51 to Isolatorweg: step out at the stop Waterlooplein and walk 10 minutes.
🚇Metro 54 to Gein: step out at the stop Waterlooplein and walk 10 minutes.
The House of Bols Cocktail Experience takes you on a sensory journey through the history and flavours of one of the world’s oldest distilled spirit brands.
It combines multimedia exhibits, aroma installations and interactive games that explore the art of mixology. At the end of the tour you can enjoy a freshly prepared cocktail, which is included in your entree ticket!
A complete lunch or dinner with dessert in one of the best-located restaurants in the city. Good food, generous portions and enough rock memorabilia to feel as if you are eating in a museum. The restaurant sits five minutes from Museumsquare and Leidseplein, the ideal place to eat between museums and sightseeing.
The Bols Cocktail 30 or 60 minutes workshop combines multimedia exhibits, interactive installations and a workshop where you learn the art of mixology. You will make two different cocktails and afterwards you can also another freshly prepared cocktail in the mirror bar.
Eight rooms of light, music and festival culture in a one hour. AMAZE takes you from the origin of sound through a laser show, a mirror maze and other surprising rooms. This is the only experience in Amsterdam built entirely around electronic music and the closest thing to a festival the city has indoors.
Two art shows, one extraordinary building and 325 works by the greatest painters in Dutch history. Fabrique des Lumières takes the art pieces off the museum wall and immerse you in a unique show with music that shifts from tranquil to fierce as the paintings move around you.
Moonwalkers is a 50-minute immersive experience co-created and narrated by Tom Hanks, built from thousands of NASA never seen before images. The exhibition focuses on the Apollo missions and the current Artemis programme, with interviews with active astronauts that give it a perspective that feels as much about the future as the past.
Soft light, water lilies and 150 years of Impressionism. The show follows the French painter through his life and masterpieces: the harbours of Normandy, the Seine at sunrise, the gardens of Giverny. All projected across 3,800 square meters of walls, floors and ceilings with music carefully chosen to make this a compelling experience.
Legendary footballers have walked these halls. Now it's your turn. The stadium tours takes you through the dressing rooms where the players prepare, down the tunnel they walk on match day, and into the dugouts where the most iconic moments in Ajax history were made. Besides you can see the trophy collection, the Gallery of Fame, the authentic clothing of Johan Cruijff and other international players.
A5D flight simulation that takes you across the landscapes, history and landmarks of the Netherlands through three immersive shows. The flight takes over 22 Dutch locations, with synchronised motion, wind, mist and scent effects. During the flight you’ll pass over tulip fields, the windmills of Kinderdijk, the Wadden Sea, Rotterdam’s harbor and many other iconic landscapes across the country.
An interactive experience where you can explore our country’s best-known traditions, landscapes and cultural icons through 10 immersive rooms in just over an hour. You will step inside a canal boat, cycle to music, wander through a giant tulip field and watch Dutch masterpieces come to life.
During the tour we learned some interesting facts: The palace is build on top of 13.659 wooden poles. The building has served as a palace since 1808. The Atlas statue represents Amsterdam as the middle of the world.
