Hoi Allemaal!
I want to share a really good tip for a great experience of living in the Netherlands. I introduce you: Museumkaart!!!
A museumkaart (English: Museum Card) allows the users to visit many museums in the Netherlands for free, or a small number of museums require you to pay small additional fee (for online reservation, etc.) It costs €59.90 for adults and is valid for one year. You might think now it's kind of expensive, but you might change your mind after this!
Before I explain more about the card, I want to share the reason why I bought this card. At first, I didn't really want to buy it as I had no intention to visit museums in NL frequently. But I sort of changed my mind after planning to visit Kasteel de Haar in Utrecht. It was November, and the flowers and trees were gone. In other words, it was not really worth it to just see the outer part (garden and the building) of the castle. I wanted to go inside and see the rooms there. However, I would have need to pay €16 to go to the park and inside the castle (if you want to visit only the park, it costs you €5) as I didn't have a museumkaart before, which allows me to go there for free. So, I was thinking, why not buying a museumkaart? After all, I subscribe weekend vrij. Finally, I got my museumkaart and was able to visit the castle for free (ps: with additional fee for online reservation in some museums).
Anyway, the museumkaart looks like this:
With this card, I was able to visit numerous museums and even important buildings, such as Kasteel de Haar and Royal Palace Amsterdam. Rijksmuseum, the most popular museum in the Netherlands, can be visited for free and without waiting in line with the card! How cool is that! Now, you might feel differently. Maybe you are not really a big fan of museum. Well, I can't really change your mind on that, but what I want to tell you is that you will have a really great experience, as a foreigner living in NL, by visiting many museums here. Everyone can visit Dam Square in Amsterdam, Zaanse Schans in North Holland, or Markthal in Rotterdam. But not everyone can visit many museums all over the country.
Below are some pictures which I took during the museum visit:
Kasteel de Haar, Utrecht
Royal Palace Amsterdam
Nemo Science Museum, Amsterdam
Museum Volkenkunde, Leiden
Panorama Mesdag, Den Haag
Mauritshuis, Den Haag
Paleis Het Loo, Apeldoorn
Rijksmuseum Amsterdam
and many more!
I totally recommend anyone who is currently spending time, at least one year, in the Netherlands to have this card. This is a cheaper option to spend your free time and explore the country.
Have a great experience with Museumkaart!