Anne Frank House

The Anne Frank House and Museum in Amsterdam is the most important thing you can do on your visit. I know Amsterdam is known for being a fun party city, which it is, but the history of the city and the pain others experienced must be addressed. The Anne Frank House is located in Central Amsterdam. I strongly recommend buying your ticket in advance; 80% of tickets are released online exactly 2 months before the day of visit. Tickets are bought up fast and only 20% are saved for same-day purchases. This moving tour with audio guide through the exact apartment Anne Frank lived and wrote her diary is emotional and life-changing.

We booked an introductory programme together with entrance ticket. Our entry time was 9:30am.
We arrived 10mins early and were asked to wait outside. They let us in at 9:25am to check the tickets and led us to the room for the English Introductory program at around 9:30am. Everything seemed very well organised and on time.
The introductory program was great. The lady said it was her first time delivering the introductory program and she did a great job. After the 30 mins of talk we went into the museum. There were A LOT OF people inside the museum already even though it was still quite early in the morning.
The recorded audio tour was great and gave detail accounts of the related history.
Be aware that there were steep stairs inside Anne Frank House. Also would recommend booking your ticket at least a month in advance. My family ( 2 adults 2 children, 10 and 13 ) all enjoyed the introductory program so I would recommend to book that too.

It was quite a sad and emotional experience so I recommend you do something fun afterwards- we hopped on to the canal cruise right outside the Anne Frank House and this certainly helped to lift our spirits.

Book tickets online.. 80% are available to book 2 months before date and 20% sold online on the day these tickets are much sought after - Sold direct on the anne frank house website.
Would recommend reading anne frank diary before going felt very moved & emotional and it almost feels unreal when you experience what limited space they had. It’s been a life changer.
Small handbags are allowed, any bigger gets checked into cloakroom along with coats should you chose to.
Audio guide is free & so glad lady on ticket gate told us to go back & pick them up - it’s available in different languages.
There’s small reasonably priced coffee shop within the building alongside canal.
We spent 90 mins on tour without visit to coffee shop included.

Anne Frank's story is harrowing and a massive part of Amsterdam's history but I was a bit disappointed with the museum. I haven't read Anne Frank's diaries so the visit to the museum was a whistlestop tour but it all felt a bit hectic and disorganised. We went while on a mini cruise so booked our tickets as soon as they were available (a month or so ahead of sailing), and had to queue outside. It starts off quite well where only the people in the allotted time slot are allowed in the house but once you're in, it seems a bit of a free for all and we didn't even get to see her diaries at the end of the tour as we just couldn't get near them. We took about an hour going around but I wouldnt have spent more time there and also be aware of booing if you have any sort of mobility issue as there are large and very steep steps to negotiate and I didn't feel safety was a priority - I understand they want to keep it as authentic as it was but it just felt a bit like a hazard around every corner.

One gets a good insight into the horrors of war and what people had to endure. It was hard to imagine that so many people lived in such a confined space for so many years.

There is timed entry and online booking opens up 60 days in advance. Book early as tickets are sold quickly during tourist season. Get there ahead of your assigned time as people start lining up early.

Some of the stairs are very steep and it gets very crowded, so that could be a problem if one has mobility issues or is claustrophobic.

You can only bring in very small bags, but there is a place to store things.

There is a small coffee shop, only accessible from inside the museum.

We booked our tickets on the day, 20% of that day's tickets are reserved for 9am on the day sale. The website recommends not queuing online if you are number 200+. I started queuing at 8.40 and was 645 in the queue, was able to buy tickets around 9.10.

Our slot was 17.30-17.45 and we arrived just before 17.45, we had to queue for about 20mins to get in but after that, it was pretty smooth getting round. The audio tour is a must as the videos don't have sound so it's the only way to know what is being said. The queuing system around the house is slow but it allows you to really read and look at everything as theres no pressure to move on quickly as there's nowhere to go anyway.

One of the cheaper sights in Amsterdam and definitely worth every penny

I was not planning on visiting Anne Frank´s House during my trip to Amsterdam. I did so after my sister insisted a lot that I do so.

I will now admit that it was the highlight of my time in Amsterdam, nothing to be cheerful about but a very serious reminder about the past through the eyes and words of a young lady who had to suffer a lot during her short life, someone who surely had a bright future and was very cruelly deprived of it.

Do go, walk around the house and try to imagine what it must have been like for them. It will make a lasting experience on anyone which will be a constant warning about the past and how to prevent this from happening again.

Ensure you book an entrance as soon as possible, 9am (opening time) is the best one. Please refrain from taking pictures, not only is it forbidden but this is not a place to do so. You can buy a very nice book at the end of the tour for a very reasonable prices whose proceeds will be put to very good use. This book contains images of the house, pictures of the Frank's Family, their protectors, etc.

The tour takes about 90 minutes and it is well worth visiting. Having visited Auschwitz and Auschwitz birkenau late last year on a visit to Poland it makes the visit here even more poignant as to the fate of the people in hiding so near to liberation. You have to book online prior to your visit and pick a time slot, this is great as it ensures the museum is not too crowded during your tour.

We were very lucky we managed to visit here, as on visiting the website I was surprised to learn 80% of all the date days we were in Amsterdam tickets were sold 2 months in advance with the other 20% being sold on that day between 9am and 10am. So I packed my iPad as we had free wifi in the hotel to see if I could get 2 tickets while we were there in Amsterdam. Well Monday to Wednesday I was unsuccessful, but on the final day Thursday, before we left for home on the Friday I managed to get two tickets for entry at 2.30pm. We arrived slightly early on again another cold, windy and rainy on and off day, so were very glad when we were told its ok you can come inside and join the que. Before not too long we were given our Audio devices told to put supplied hand sanitizer on our hands and let through after scanning the vouchers off my phone already checked once before to start our tour. I am not going to give too much away other than to say you are not allowed to take any photos or video and be prepared to get upset by the horror of how these young children were treated by the Nazi's. And please god that it never is allowed to happen again. Although I have to admit when some young ladies kept continually laughing and ignored the do not touch signs of the priceless memorabilia we were allowed to share with our eyes. As there were no staff present I had to say something although I have no idea if their replies were good or bad in their own language they used, but from then on they neither touched or laughed so it made me feel Anne Frank had now got the respect she deserved in her last hiding place before being discovered and died. We personally found this so moving and also afterwards realised that a little girl by writing her diary had allowed the world forever to know how she and so many others had suffered just by being born Jews! Why I wonder they do not look any different to us and all I know are good hard working people so why did the Nazi's fear them so much they had to get rid of so many just doesn't make sense to me at present, so a trip to Krakow is needed to try to understand why! Anyway back to Anne Frank house for us so glad we managed to get tickets and visit before we left Amsterdam and suggest you do too when you visit John & Sue Eastbourne UK

We booked youth card tickets and we were told our student cards are not valid even though they said they were online, so we had to pay extra. Storing bags also costs extra. Staff are not the most friendly, we were often rushed to move along during the exhibit.

Interesting exhibit and story, not the best museum in Amsterdam though.