This was a pleasant surprise! From the ship to the diverse objects, I really enjoyed discovering…read morethis museum. Unfortunately didn't have the time to see everything, but that' just another reason to visit Utrecht again.

Nice-sized museum - you can pretty much see the whole thing in less than 3 hours…read more * Great 700- or 1000-year old ship in the basement * The Dick Bruna studio on the top floor is really great. * Manageable collection of art * Modern Furnishings collection Parking nearby is quite expensive.

It is THE MUSEUM in Rotterdam. Part of the larger Musea area district in Rotterdam, this is fully…read morededicated to contemporary art and shows. It is a very modern well designed and great looking museum. It is noticeable when you are inside, from the outside is a pretty nice building which completely hide himself between the higher road and the lower park. It can get easily crowded. The bar/restaurant is big and nice... nothing spectacular but always a good stop in between shows or to end up your viewing experience. Part of the Museum Card network (for most of the shows). I was there for the Keith Haring show, a very loved artist in Rotterdam. All very good.

Who's everyone's favorite spy? Could it be James Bond a.k.a 007? Duh!! The Kunsthal has an expo on…read moreher majesty's favorite spy. It looks great! The first thing you see is the famous orange bikini from that equally famous scene. And smack dab in the middle of the auditorium there is the iconic Asthon Martin. The original James Bond, Sean Connory next to it in full life size glory. The expo consist of clips from favorite/ famous scenes, a lot of iconic props and costumes. There is a room soley dedicated to the casino scene's throughout the Bond movies. A life size casino table fills the room with manikins of the actors around it. There's also een fairly big replica of the ice hotel in one of the rooms. And check this out, the revolving round bed with the gold sprayed girl form 'Goldfinger" is also in the expo. Must sound very nice to a lot of male ears!! There is so much to see, enough to fill 1 or 1.5 hours. You can also look at Ian Flemming's original books and a small history about him. My fave is the photo wall of all the different Bond actors and their fake Bond ID's. So if you want something to do in the weekend that lightens up these gloomy winter days, go to the Kunsthal. The expo is there untill february 8, 2015.

Never quite seen so many music makers…read more There is a good kids attraction where they can do a scavenger hunt There is a guided tour that looks interesting Took about one hour for us to go through and feel like we were able to see everything

I seriously can't fathom why this museum is so poorly rated. This was probably my favorite museum…read moreon our trip. If you are going, make sure to take the TOUR. We made the 10:30am one. It's free and the young man, in addition to explaining what the automatons and musical instruments were and the history behind them, actually wound up all the ancient relics so you could see them in action. Some of this stuff is really old, which is mind boggling. Exceptional museum and so much fun (and I don't have children and am not a child!). A must-visit in Utrecht. Also, a separate note about Holland for those planning their trip. Utrecht and The Hague were our favorite cities. We found Amsterdam to be touristy and overrated. Delft is a nice day trip (20 minutes from The Hague) but don't go to the Delftware factory, it is a tourist trap. Skip Leiden: university town but not that interesting and not much in it.

A very unique experience, though a bit pricey at around $24 USD (€20-22). It's important to know…read morethat this isn't a traditional museum; it's a high-tech art storage center that happens to be open to the public. The focus is really on the "behind-the-scenes" of art preservation--how pieces are crated, cleaned, and stored in climate-controlled rooms. The building itself is a masterpiece. It spans several floors, and while the individual sections feel small, the central atrium with its zig-zagging staircases is massive. There's an elevator if you want to skip the stairs! They offer free 10-minute "walk-in" tours of the storage compartments, plus more detailed "behind-the-scenes" tours that are worth the extra look. The top floor has a great cafe/restaurant (Renilde) and an outdoor space with a forest of birch trees. The 360-degree view of Rotterdam is breathtaking. If you love architecture or are curious about how museums actually work, it's worth the price. If you just want to see a standard art gallery, you might find it a bit expensive.

The Boijmans is the main art museum in Rotterdam. It opened in 1847, originally with the collection…read moreof Frans Jacob Otto Boijmans. Since then, it has grown and now contains some of the preeminent works of art. Not just Dutch artists, the collection includes Rembrant, Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh, René Magritte and Salvador Dalí. And those are just the more famous. There are Rubens and Bosch and many more! A friend of mine had visited a few months ago and found the Rembrant/Dali wing was closed. That wing was open this time, but the Kandinsky wing was closed. I'm a big fan of Kandinsky and I have a few posters of his work and his contemporaries. I was bummed. Even bummed, I still enjoyed the Bruegel "Tower of Babel", one of the most famous paintings in Rotterdam. And the Rodin sculptures. Amazing artworks! The museum wasn't particularly crowded on this weekday and they had no issue with photographs, as long as the flash was disabled. An audio tour is available, which I strongly recommend. Note: The museum is a member of the Museumkaart system, so if you're planning on visiting more than three or four museums in the Netherlands, get the card!

A well laid out museum with a large collection of masterpieces from artists like Rembrandt, Vermeer…read moreand Ruebens. The famous Girl with the Pearl Earring is captivating but there are many others worth viewing. Check out the lower level and its presentation about how the museum dealt with occupation during WWII.

Walking in, the museum immediately feels calm and intimate. The galleries are beautifully arranged,…read moreand the scale works perfectly -- spacious enough to move comfortably, but small enough that you're always aware of how close you are to the art and the people around you. It's the kind of place where you don't want to be that person blocking a painting, and the layout naturally encourages everyone to share the space respectfully. There's a complimentary coat and bag check, and it's absolutely worth using. Being able to wander without a backpack or jacket makes the whole visit feel lighter and lets you focus entirely on the works in front of you. The collection itself is exceptional -- beautifully curated, full of pieces that genuinely deserve the attention they get. But then you hit the large Stephan Vanfleteren photographs scattered throughout the rooms, and the tone shifts hard. These oversized portraits have the dull, overprocessed look of something you could snap on a smartphone that's been dropped repeatedly and still somehow limps along. They feel completely disconnected from the surrounding masterpieces, like filler chosen because a wall needed something on it. The contrast is so jarring that it pulls you out of the experience, and after a few rooms, it starts to feel less like an artistic choice and more like an intrusion. It's baffling that a museum with such a refined collection would wedge in work that looks this flat, this mismatched, and this unworthy of the space it occupies. By the time you finish, the memory of the classical works is still there, but so is the irritation -- those photographs linger in the worst way, leaving the overall experience feeling uneven and not nearly as polished as it should be.

Van Gogh was sold out, chose this instead.... And it was awesome! . However, this museum can sell…read moreout too! Really enjoyed the afternoon we spent in this museum. My favorite was the "Nightwatch" exhibit, but there was so much more to enjoy I loved that the more famous works of art had laminated cards (in multiple languages) that explained the exhibit and told you the history and interests about the work. The building is a little tough to navigate, but we figured it out. Amsterdam is full of museums, this is one you shouldn't miss. Lots to do outside too.

One of the must see museums when visiting Amsterdam…read more We also enjoyed taking a break at the cafe located inside the Rijksmuseum.

Fantastic museum for any one who appreciates interesting art or is an Escher lover. The museum has…read morea QR code that you can scan which provides a free overview of the most popular prints. You can read or listen to the guide. This was very helpful in getting the background story on the art and covers the top 12. There are 2 floors of prints from Escher and artists who were inspired by him. No parking.

Loved this museum. It's a small museum but very interesting. It captures storytelling of Escher's…read morelife and how it is portrayed in his art. Loved how the rooms are laid out for this purpose as well. Good labeling on the pieces and useful to have the free audio tour accessible via phone.

I am beyond amazed that I get to see the actual Sunflower painting!! O.M.G!…read more I'm not posting any artwork here, because I don't want to take away anyone's experience. If I could go back to Amsterdam, I would definitely go back to this museum again. Yellow is such a joyful color. After visiting the museum, it has a deeper meaning to me. I went through entire museum floor by floor, showroom by showroom. Every corner has something that amazes me. I also got a chance to see how Van Gogh actually looked like! My goodness. I couldn't believe my eyes. A few tips: 1- you must make a reservation online ahead of time. I saw many people got turned away while I was waiting in line for security check. 1b- it's okay to be in line 15 minutes before your supposed arrival time. 2-it's best to buy the audio tour ticket along with the entrance fee instead of buying it on site. It was sold out when I got there. 3-there is a book store on the top floor, and you can actually take home a blank Sunflower coloring sheet for free! It's on an easel at the corner by the window.

TIP - order tickets ahead in time online to make sure you can get in on the day/time you want…read more A beautiful looking museum. Lots of Van Gogh art works to view and take in. Self guided tour comes with a player with headphones to that you can learn about the different Van Gogh art periods and works of art. Overall the museum was okay. You see a lot of Van Gogh art but not much about his life and world around him. I preferred the Rembrandt House as it showed his home and living arrangements - it gave you glimpse of his life at that time. I think the Rijks Museum would be a better choice to see a variety of artists.