Amsterdam Pass Comparison 2026: City Card vs Go City vs the Rest

Which Amsterdam pass should you actually buy?

An amsterdam pass is not one product, it is five different products wearing similar marketing, and the right pick depends on what your days actually look like. The I amsterdam City Card wins if museums and trams are the core of your trip. The Go City All Inclusive Pass wins if the Rijksmuseum and the Heineken Experience both sit on your must do list. The Go City Explorer Pass wins for a shorter, pick and choose list. Holland Pass wins for a trip that reaches beyond Amsterdam on a voucher budget. And the Museumkaart wins for long stays or multi city trips. The table below lines up all five so you can match your trip to the right one instead of guessing from a name.

How do all five options compare, side by side?

This master table is the fastest way to see the real shape of the market, since every product looks similar on a landing page until you line up price, duration and what is actually inside.

Pass	Price from	Duration	Transport included	Coverage	Best for
I amsterdam City Card	EUR 67	24 to 120 hours	Yes, unlimited GVB trams, buses, metros, ferries	70+ Amsterdam museums and attractions	Amsterdam only trips wanting museums plus transport in one price
Go City All Inclusive Pass	EUR 79	1 to 5 consecutive days	No	40+ attractions including the Rijksmuseum and Heineken Experience	Visitors who want the Rijksmuseum and the Heineken Experience both free
Go City Explorer Pass	EUR 44	30 days to redeem 3 to 5 choices	No	Pick 3, 4 or 5 attractions from an experience heavy list	Couples and families who already know their short list
Holland Pass	Varies by voucher tier, confirm live	Voucher credits redeemed across the Netherlands	No	Attractions in Amsterdam and beyond on a tiered voucher system	Trips that reach past Amsterdam without committing to a full museum card
Museumkaart (national museum card)	Around EUR 30 for the tourist digital option, confirm live	31 days for the tourist digital card	No	400+ museums across the Netherlands	Longer stays or multi city trips

Prices move on every one of these products over time, so treat this table as the shape of the market rather than a locked in number, and confirm the live figure on each linked page before booking.

What does the I amsterdam City Card include that the others do not?

Transport, plain and simple. The City Card is the only pass on this list bundling unlimited GVB trams, buses, metros and ferries into the same price as museum entry, and that single feature is worth about EUR 10 a day on its own. Free entry runs to more than 70 museums and attractions, including the Rijksmuseum, the Stedelijk, NEMO Science Museum, ARTIS Royal Zoo and the Rembrandt House, plus a canal cruise and a full day of bike rental. It even stretches slightly beyond the city, with free entry at the Zaans Museum near Zaanse Schans and the Volendam to Marken ferry. Our full amsterdam pass comparison keeps coming back to this card because for a typical Amsterdam only trip, the combined transport and museum math is hard for any competitor to beat. Read the honest worth it verdict for the exact break even numbers.

How do the two Go City passes differ from each other?

Go City sells two genuinely different products, and mixing them up is the most common mistake visitors make while shopping this category. The All Inclusive Pass is unlimited entry to 40+ attractions across 1 to 5 consecutive calendar days, and it is the only Amsterdam pass anywhere that includes both the Rijksmuseum and the Heineken Experience free. The Explorer Pass instead sells a fixed number of choices, 3, 4 or 5 attractions, redeemable over a relaxed 30 day window with no daily clock pressure, but its list leans toward experiences like A’DAM Lookout and Madame Tussauds rather than the Rijksmuseum, which sits only on the bigger pass. Our full Go City Amsterdam review runs both products head to head with the complete inclusion lists.

What is Holland Pass and how is it different from the rest?

Holland Pass runs on a voucher tier system rather than unlimited entry or a fixed attraction list. You buy a named tier, each one bundling a set number of attraction vouchers, and redeem those vouchers one at a time at participating sites, which span not just Amsterdam but destinations across the wider Netherlands. That national reach is the real differentiator: where the City Card and both Go City passes stay inside Amsterdam, Holland Pass is built for visitors planning at least one stop outside the city. It also includes no public transport, matching every option on this table except the official card. Our dedicated Holland Pass guide breaks the voucher system down tier by tier and gives an honest verdict on who should skip it.

Where does the Museumkaart fit into this comparison?

The Museumkaart is the odd one out on purpose: it is not a city pass at all, it is the Netherlands’ national museum association card, now sold in a tourist digital version valid for 31 days without needing a Dutch mailing address. Coverage runs to more than 400 museums nationwide, which dwarfs every city specific option here, but it includes no transport and no non museum attractions like canal cruises or lookout towers. It only clearly beats the City Card once your trip reaches Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht or stretches across multiple weeks. Our full Amsterdam museum pass guide runs the Museumkaart against the City Card and Go City in more depth if museums specifically are your focus.

Which pass wins for a typical 3 day trip?

For the most common visitor pattern, a 3 day trip centered on Amsterdam with the Rijksmuseum, a couple more museums and daily tram rides, the I amsterdam City Card usually wins on total value because it is the only option folding transport into the same price as museum entry. If the Heineken Experience is as non negotiable as the Rijksmuseum, the Go City All Inclusive Pass edges ahead despite the missing transport. If the trip continues on to Rotterdam or a Netherlands wide itinerary, the Museumkaart or Holland Pass start making more sense than a city specific card.

Which pass wins for families?

Families usually do best with the I amsterdam City Card, since ARTIS Royal Zoo, NEMO Science Museum and the included bike rental are built for children, and every family member’s card compounds the same museum and transport saving. The Go City Explorer Pass is the runner up for families who want a shorter, calmer list, since its 30 day window removes the pressure of a ticking clock, which matters more with kids in tow than with a solo sightseer racing through a checklist.

Does any pass include the Van Gogh Museum or Anne Frank House?

No, and this is worth repeating on every page in this comparison because it surprises more visitors than anything else. No Amsterdam pass includes the Van Gogh Museum or the Anne Frank House, not the City Card, not either Go City pass, not Holland Pass, not the Museumkaart. Both museums sell exclusively through their own official timed ticket systems, and both genuinely sell out days ahead in high season. Whatever pass you land on from the table above, treat these two tickets as a separate, fixed line item booked as early as your travel dates are confirmed.

How does the break even math differ between the five passes?

Every pass on this table only pays off once your planned spending crosses its price, so run the same quick math against each one before deciding. Reference prices stay consistent across this site: the Rijksmuseum runs about EUR 22 at the door, NEMO Science Museum about EUR 17, a canal cruise EUR 13 to 20, the Heineken Experience about EUR 23, A’DAM Lookout around EUR 21, and a full day of GVB trams about EUR 10. The City Card clears its 24 hour price fastest once transport is counted in, since that EUR 10 a day is pure saving no other pass on this table offers. The Go City All Inclusive Pass needs the Rijksmuseum and the Heineken Experience together, close to EUR 45 combined, to clear most of its one day price in two stops. The Explorer Pass and Holland Pass both work differently, since you are paying for a fixed number of choices or vouchers rather than unlimited access, so their break even math is really a question of whether your specific picks would have cost more bought separately. The Museumkaart needs two or three mid priced museum visits to clear its price, which is easy across a multi week, multi city trip and harder inside a short Amsterdam only stay.

Which pass has the widest attraction list?

By raw count, the Museumkaart wins clearly, covering more than 400 museums across the entire Netherlands versus the roughly 70 attractions on the I amsterdam City Card and the 40 plus on the Go City All Inclusive Pass. That raw number is misleading on its own, though, since most visitors never leave Amsterdam and never need coverage in Rotterdam or Utrecht. Inside Amsterdam specifically, the I amsterdam City Card carries the deepest list, reaching well past the obvious headline museums into smaller specialist houses most visitors never discover browsing a Go City menu built around bigger experience style attractions. Holland Pass sits in between, since its national reach beats a city specific card by geography but its voucher system caps how many attractions a single tier actually covers.

What do visitors get wrong when choosing between these passes?

The most common mistake is picking by brand recognition rather than running the numbers against your own itinerary, since a pass that suits a museum heavy solo trip can lose money fast on a family weekend built around one zoo visit and a lot of walking. The second mistake is forgetting that transport is a real cost: skipping the City Card to save a few euros upfront often loses more than that same amount in separate GVB tickets across a multi day stay. The third is assuming any pass covers the Van Gogh Museum or the Anne Frank House, when in fact none of the five products on this page includes either, and both need a completely separate booking regardless of which pass wins your comparison.

Ready to pick your pass? Compare the I amsterdam City Card and the Go City Amsterdam Pass side by side, or read the full worth it verdict for the City Card specifically.

How do solo travelers and groups weigh these options differently?

A solo traveler tends to favor flexibility over raw savings, since one person’s transport and museum spending rarely reaches the scale where every euro of a pass price matters as much as it does for a family. The Go City Explorer Pass or a plain Museumkaart both suit a solo visitor who wants a shorter, deliberate list without committing to unlimited access they might not fully use. Groups and families flip that calculation, since every additional card or vouchers multiplies the same saving across each person, which is why the I amsterdam City Card and the Go City All Inclusive Pass, both built around heavier daily usage, tend to reward larger groups more reliably than a lighter voucher based product.

How do you decide in under a minute?

Ask three questions. Are you staying in Amsterdam only, or visiting other Dutch cities too? Other cities point toward the Museumkaart or Holland Pass, Amsterdam only points toward the City Card or a Go City pass. Do you need public transport included? Only the City Card has it. Is the Heineken Experience on your must do list alongside the Rijksmuseum? Only the Go City All Inclusive Pass bundles both for free. Answer those three and the right amsterdam pass comparison result for your trip is almost always obvious. The City Card Amsterdam homepage lines up all of these options and more in a single comparison table.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best amsterdam pass for a first time visitor? For most Amsterdam only trips, the I amsterdam City Card wins because it is the only option combining 70+ museums with unlimited transport in one price. Visitors who want the Rijksmuseum and the Heineken Experience together should look at the Go City All Inclusive Pass instead.

Is an amsterdam tourist pass worth it for a short weekend? Usually yes if you plan two or more paid attractions a day plus tram rides, since most passes on this list pay for themselves inside a single busy day. A slow weekend built around one museum and a lot of walking rarely clears the break even line on any of them.

How far in advance should I buy an amsterdam pass? Buy any of these products as soon as your travel dates are fixed rather than waiting until you land, mainly because the Rijksmuseum and a handful of other popular venues cap daily visitor numbers through timeslot bookings that fill up first in high season. Buying early does not activate most passes early, since validity typically starts on first use rather than at purchase, so there is little downside to locking in your choice well ahead of the trip.

Which amsterdam visitor pass includes public transport? Only the I amsterdam City Card bundles unlimited GVB trams, buses, metros and ferries into its price. Every other option on this table, Go City, Holland Pass and the Museumkaart, excludes transport entirely.

Do any of these passes cover day trips outside Amsterdam? The I amsterdam City Card stretches slightly into the region with free entry at the Zaans Museum, Haarlem and the Volendam to Marken ferry, though the train or bus getting there needs a separate ticket. Holland Pass and the Museumkaart both reach further into the wider Netherlands by design, which makes either a stronger fit than a city specific card for a genuinely multi city itinerary.

Can I combine two passes on the same trip? Yes, though it rarely makes financial sense unless your itinerary genuinely splits between Amsterdam and other Dutch cities on separate weeks, since coverage overlaps heavily between the City Card, Go City and the Museumkaart inside Amsterdam itself.

Does any amsterdam pass comparison favor one product for every trip? No. The right pick depends entirely on trip length, whether you leave Amsterdam, and whether transport and the Heineken Experience matter to you specifically. Match your own itinerary against the table above rather than picking by name recognition alone.