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NEMO is the green copper building rearing out of the Oosterdok like a ship’s prow, five minutes’ walk east of Centraal Station. Renzo Piano designed it, it opened in 1997, and inside are five floors of exhibits that children are actively encouraged to pull, push, flood and detonate. Entry is €21.50 from age four. The roof, which is one of the best free viewpoints in the city, costs nothing at all.
Everything turns on who you are travelling with: the NEMO Science Museum Amsterdam is the best rainy-day answer in the city for anyone travelling with children between about five and thirteen, and it is a fairly ordinary science centre for anyone travelling without them. That is not a criticism — it is exactly what it is designed to be, and it does the job better than most European equivalents. But we would not send a couple on a three-day trip here, and we would send a family of four here before Museumplein without a second thought.
NEMO at a glance
Checked September 2026 against the museum’s own site.
| Detail | 2026 information |
|---|---|
| Ticket | €21.50 for everyone aged 4 and over |
| Under 4 | Free |
| Students and CJP | €14 |
| Museumkaart | Free entry |
| I amsterdam City Card | Free entry |
| Rooftop square | Free, daily 10:00–17:30 (Thursdays to 21:00 in summer) |
| Roof access | Stairs on the east side, no ticket needed |
| Time needed | 3 hours; a full day is possible with young children |
| Address | Oosterdok 2, five minutes east of Centraal |
| Architect | Renzo Piano, opened 1997 |
| Booking | Walk up, except wet days in school holidays |
The free roof, which is the best-kept secret in the centre
Start here, because most visitors never learn it. NEMO’s sloping roof is a public square. You climb the wide external staircase on the east side and you are on top of the building with no ticket, no queue and nothing to pay. It is open daily from 10:00 to 17:30, and until 21:00 on Thursdays in summer.
The view is genuinely good: the whole old harbour, the Scheepvaarthuis, the Montelbaanstoren, the domes of the Sint-Nicolaaskerk, the masts of the replica East Indiaman at the Maritime Museum, and the water traffic on the IJ. Since the roof was redeveloped it has also carried an outdoor science exhibition — instruments for measuring wind speed, solar observation, a water feature that demonstrates how the Dutch have moved water around for eight hundred years — and a good deal of planting.
If you are on a budget, this is one of the best free things in Amsterdam and it belongs on the same list as the ferries and the Begijnhof. Our free things to do guide and hidden gems cover the rest. It also makes an excellent picnic spot, and the steps face south-west, which makes it a good place to watch the light go.
What is inside
Five floors, arranged so that you take the escalator or lift to the top and work down. Everything is hands-on. Almost nothing is behind glass. It is loud, and if you are sensitive to noise you should know that in advance.
Ground and first floors
Physical phenomena: chain reactions, balls travelling through elaborate machines, a giant demonstration of how a ball bearing behaves on a curved surface. This is where the youngest children stop first and often refuse to move on.
The technology floors
Bridges you build and load until they collapse, a working assembly line, electricity demonstrations, a section on how the internet physically works, and a laboratory where children in white coats extract DNA from strawberries. The staffed workshops run at set times and are worth checking on arrival.
Humania and the body
Human biology, adolescence and identity, handled with the directness Dutch museums bring to these subjects and British and American visitors sometimes find startling. It is well done and honest, and if you have a nine-year-old it will generate questions on the tram home.
Space and the top floor
Astronomy, a look at the scale of the universe, and the route out onto the roof. Ending upstairs and walking out into daylight is the right way round.
Is NEMO worth €21.50?
Our verdict depends entirely on who is walking through the door, so here it is broken down.
Families with children aged 5–13
Yes, without hesitation, and it is one of the few Amsterdam attractions where the whole family gets their money’s worth rather than the adults enduring it. Three hours is standard and a full day is achievable in bad weather. At €21.50 a head it is less than ARTIS and considerably more weatherproof.
Families with under-fives
Qualified yes. Under-fours are free, so a family of two adults and a three-year-old pays €43. The ground floor works beautifully at that age; the upper floors mostly do not. Two hours is realistic.
Teenagers
Mixed. The technology and body floors hold fifteen-year-olds well; the ball-run exhibits do not. Moco or the A’DAM swing will usually land better with that age group.
Adults without children
Probably not, at €21.50. It is a competent science centre but not a distinguished one, and it is not about Amsterdam in the way the Maritime Museum next door is. Go up on the roof for free instead, then spend the €21.50 somewhere that could only exist in this city.
Two important pieces of pricing. Both the Museumkaart and the I amsterdam City Card cover NEMO in full, which is unusual — most attractions are covered by one or neither. If you hold either card, this becomes a free three hours and the calculation above changes completely. Our attractions and tickets guide works through which card pays for itself on which itinerary.
When to go
- Rainy days, obviously — but so does everyone else. If the forecast is bad and it is a Dutch school holiday, arrive at opening or expect a queue.
- Weekday mornings in term time are the quietest by a long way. Dutch school groups tend to arrive mid-morning, so the first hour is the best.
- Avoid Wednesday afternoons, when local schools finish early.
- Thursday evenings in summer, when the roof stays open to 21:00, are the best free version of this attraction.
- Winter works well, since three hours indoors is exactly what a short cold day needs — see Amsterdam in winter and the weather by month guide.
Booking ahead is rarely essential. The exception is a wet weekend during a Dutch school holiday, when NEMO is one of the busiest buildings in Amsterdam and the entrance hall backs up.
The building
Renzo Piano — the architect of the Pompidou Centre, the Shard and Kansai airport — designed NEMO to sit directly over the entrance to the IJ tunnel, which runs under the water to Amsterdam Noord. The tunnel’s approach ramp dictated the shape: the building had to bridge it, so Piano lifted it into a great tilted green wedge that rises out of the dock.
The copper cladding was chosen to oxidise, and it has, to the same green as the roofs of Centraal Station and half the church towers in the centre. Whether it looks like a ship’s bow, a whale surfacing or a green wall depends on where you stand, and Amsterdammers argued about it for years before quietly deciding they liked it. Piano himself said the building should be a place that makes you curious before you have gone inside.
It is now one of the defining images of the eastern waterfront, alongside the Muziekgebouw and the new Oosterdokseiland library. Our architecture walking guide covers the whole eastern docks route, which is the most rewarding modern-architecture walk in the city and takes about ninety minutes.
Practical detail
- Bring ear defenders for a noise-sensitive child. This is a genuinely loud building on a busy day, with hard surfaces and several hundred children.
- Bring your own lunch. Eating your own food is permitted, and the restaurant on the top floor is priced accordingly. Picnic on the roof if the weather allows.
- Lockers are available for coats and bags; buggies can be parked.
- Accessibility is good, with lifts to every floor and step-free access from the quayside. The roof is reached by stairs, though there is lift access from inside the museum — see our accessibility guide.
- The shop is unusually good for a museum — actual science kits rather than branded pencils. See our souvenir guide for what is worth carrying home.
- Language is not a barrier; almost everything is bilingual Dutch and English, and much of it needs no text at all.
Making a day of the eastern waterfront
NEMO is five minutes’ walk from Centraal Station along the Oosterdok, and it anchors what is probably the best half-day in Amsterdam that most visitors never do.
Next door is Het Scheepvaartmuseum, the National Maritime Museum, in a seventeenth-century naval storehouse with a full-size replica East Indiaman moored outside that you can board. For anyone interested in why Amsterdam exists at all, it is a better museum than NEMO and it is right there. Our Dutch Golden Age guide explains the shipping economy it documents.
Also within fifteen minutes: the OBA central library on Oosterdokseiland, which has a free top-floor terrace and cafe with a view rivalling NEMO’s; the Muziekgebouw concert hall on the water; the Kattenburg and Wittenburg islands, quiet residential streets built for the naval yards; and the Plantage district twenty minutes south-east.
Fifteen minutes further east is the zoo — see our ARTIS and Micropia guide for the outdoor version of the same family day.
For getting here, walk. It is five minutes from Centraal and the route along the water is more pleasant than any tram. If you do need transport, the public transport guide and the tram routes guide cover fares and stops. Families basing themselves nearby should look at staying near Centraal Station and our family hotels guide.
A floor-by-floor plan that keeps everyone happy
NEMO’s own advice is to take the lift or escalator to the top and work down, and it is right — but only if you understand what that does to your energy budget. Children arrive at maximum enthusiasm and spend it on whatever they meet first. If that is the ball-run on the ground floor, the top three floors get five minutes each.
So: go straight up. Do not stop on the way. Start on the top floor with space and the roof, come down through the human-biology section, then the technology floors, then finish on the physical-phenomena floors near the exit — which is exactly where you want a tired seven-year-old to be able to stop.
Two things worth checking at the entrance desk on arrival. The first is the timetable for the staffed demonstrations and lab workshops, which run at fixed times through the day and are the best thing in the building — the chain-reaction show and the DNA extraction in particular. The second is whether any floor is closed for redevelopment, which happens periodically and is worth knowing before you pay.
Budget three hours and plan a break in the middle. The roof is the natural place to take it: step outside, eat what you brought, let the noise level drop, then go back in. Families who do this reliably last an hour longer than families who do not.
How NEMO compares with the other family options
Amsterdam has four or five genuinely good things to do with children, and they are not interchangeable. The comparison that matters is weather, age and time.
| Option | Price | Time | Best age | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NEMO | €21.50 (4+) | 3 hrs | 5–13 | Indoors |
| ARTIS zoo | From €29.50 | Half a day | 2–12 | Needs dry weather |
| Micropia | From €17, under-13s free | 1–1.5 hrs | 10+ | Indoors |
| Maritime Museum | Around €18 | 2–3 hrs | 6+ | Mostly indoors |
| Canal cruise | €18–€30 | 1–1.5 hrs | Any | Covered boats |
| Vondelpark playground | Free | As long as you like | 2–10 | Needs dry weather |
The pattern is straightforward. On a wet day NEMO is the answer, and it is the only one of these that will absorb an entire miserable afternoon. On a dry day the zoo or the park are better value and better memories. A canal cruise is the reliable middle option in any weather, and the Vondelpark playgrounds cost nothing at all. The whole family picture is in Amsterdam with kids, and the cost of a family trip is broken down in the trip cost guide.
Where NEMO fits in a short trip
On a two-day family trip we would not include it unless the weather forces the issue. Two days is enough for a canal cruise, one neighbourhood, one big attraction and a great deal of walking, and NEMO takes half of a day you do not have — our two-day itinerary shows how tight that is.
On three days or more it earns a place, and the natural slot is the morning of the day the forecast is worst. Pair it with the Maritime Museum next door if the rain sets in properly, or with the walk east through the old naval islands if it lifts. The three-day itinerary and the five-day itinerary both sequence the eastern waterfront as a single half-day, which is the right way to treat it.
One scheduling note worth making. NEMO closes at 17:30 and so does its roof, which makes it firmly an afternoon-ending rather than an evening-starting attraction. If you want a late family activity, a canal cruise or the A’DAM Lookout, open until 22:00, are the two that work after dinner.
Finally, on booking order: nothing about NEMO needs planning weeks ahead, which makes it the ideal flexible item in a trip built around the fixed points. Lock in the Anne Frank House and the Van Gogh Museum first, then drop NEMO into whichever morning the weather ruins. Our advance booking timeline sets out that order in full.
Keep Exploring
- Amsterdam attractions and tickets: all prices and booking windows
- Amsterdam with kids
- Free things to do in Amsterdam
- The complete Amsterdam museums guide
- The architecture walking guide
- Amsterdam attractions by area
- Things to do in Amsterdam
Frequently asked questions
How much does the NEMO Science Museum cost?
€21.50 for everyone aged four and over, with under-fours free. Students and CJP cardholders pay €14. Both the Museumkaart and the I amsterdam City Card cover entry in full.
Is the NEMO roof really free?
Yes. The rooftop square is a public space reached by the external staircase on the east side, open daily from 10:00 to 17:30 and until 21:00 on Thursdays in summer. No ticket is required.
How long do you need at NEMO?
About three hours for most families. With children between five and ten in bad weather, a full day is entirely possible. Under-fives will usually be done in two.
What age is NEMO best for?
Roughly five to thirteen is the sweet spot. Younger children enjoy the ground floor; teenagers get more from the technology and human-biology floors than from the rest.
Is NEMO worth it without children?
Honestly, not usually at €21.50 — it is a good science centre rather than a distinctive Amsterdam experience. Go up on the free roof instead and spend the money elsewhere.
Do you need to book NEMO in advance?
Rarely. Walking up is fine on most days. The exception is a wet weekend in a Dutch school holiday, when it becomes one of the busiest buildings in the city.
Can you bring your own food into NEMO?
Yes, and it is a sensible saving. There is a restaurant on the top floor at museum prices. The roof is the best place to eat what you brought.
Is everything in English?
Effectively, yes. Almost all labelling is bilingual Dutch and English, and a large proportion of the exhibits need no reading at all.
Is NEMO good for children with sensory sensitivities?
It can be difficult. The building is loud, echoing and busy. Arriving at 10:00 on a weekday in term time is by far the calmest version, and ear defenders are worth bringing.
What else is nearby?
The National Maritime Museum is next door with a full-size replica East Indiaman moored outside, and the OBA central library on Oosterdokseiland has a free top-floor terrace with a comparable view. Both are within ten minutes’ walk.