Anne Frank House tickets sold out? How the release works and what to do instead

Anne Frank House tickets are sold only on annefrank.org, and every Tuesday at 10:00 Amsterdam time the museum releases all tickets for the dates exactly six weeks ahead. There are no tickets at the door, no waiting list and no other official seller, and the museum puts it plainly: if there are no tickets left for your date, it is sold out. The realistic options are to be online on the Tuesday your date is released, or to spend the time on the other places in the Netherlands where this history is told: the Jewish Cultural Quarter in Amsterdam, the Corrie ten Boom House in Haarlem, Camp Westerbork, or the war history of Rotterdam and The Hague.

Whether or not you get a ticket, the streets around the Annex are open to everyone. We run private walking tours of Amsterdam, and guests who tell us their interest get a guide who specialises in it, including the Jewish history of the city and the Second World War. Guests who do have a time slot get the walk planned around it.

How are Anne Frank House tickets sold?

Online only, for a fixed time slot, released six weeks in advance. The rules as published on the museum’s own site in November 2026:

• Release: every Tuesday at 10:00 Amsterdam time (the museum writes “10am CET”), all tickets for visits six weeks later go on sale at once. If you want to visit on a Saturday, the tickets for that Saturday appear on the Tuesday six weeks before it.
• Where: only on annefrank.org. The museum warns that there are fraudulent websites with addresses similar to its own.
• Price in 2026: €16.50 per adult, €7.00 for ages 10 to 17, €1.00 for ages 0 to 9. Each price includes a €1.00 booking fee. Museumkaart and ICOM card holders pay the €1.00 fee only; the I amsterdam City Card gives no discount. The museum had not published 2027 prices by November 2026, so check the ticket page for your dates.
• Introductory programme: an optional 30-minute programme in English on Anne Frank’s story in the context of the Second World War, before your museum visit, for €7.00 extra per ticket. Suitable from age 10.
• Time slots: you book a specific date and time. Tickets are personal, non-transferable, valid only for that date and time, and cannot be exchanged or refunded.
• Opening hours: daily from 09:00 to 22:00, with exceptions listed on the ticket page: for example 12:00 to 22:00 on 1 January, 09:00 to 17:00 on King’s Day (27 April), 4 May, 25 and 31 December, and closed on Yom Kippur.

A visit takes about an hour, with the audio tour in nine languages included (among them English, German, French, Spanish and Italian). Only bags smaller than an A4 sheet are allowed inside, and large bags, backpacks and suitcases cannot be stored, so leave them at your hotel or at Amsterdam Centraal.

Why do the tickets sell out so fast?

Because the building is a canal house, not a museum built for crowds. The Secret Annex is a set of small rooms reached by steep stairs, so the museum sells fixed time slots and there are only so many per day. Demand is worldwide and year-round, and popular dates go soon after the Tuesday release.

The single most useful habit is to work back from your date: count six weeks, find the Tuesday, and be on the ticket page a few minutes before 10:00 Amsterdam time with the number of tickets, the ages and your preferred time slot decided.

Is there a waiting list or a same-day release?

No. The museum states that there is no waiting list, sells nothing at the entrance, and does not exchange or refund tickets. It publishes no same-day release. If the calendar shows your date as full, plan on the alternatives below rather than on a last-minute ticket.

How do I avoid fake tickets and resellers?

Buy only at annefrank.org. The museum says its tickets are on sale only there, warns about look-alike websites, and adds that commercial parties offering Anne Frank House tours do not provide access to the Anne Frank House. So a “guaranteed skip-the-line Anne Frank ticket” from a reseller or a tour company should be treated with suspicion. If a package claims to include the museum, ask for the booking confirmation from annefrank.org with your name on it before you pay.

What can I do in Amsterdam if I cannot get a ticket?

See the house from outside, then go to the Jewish Cultural Quarter. It is not the same, but it is a good day.

• Prinsengracht 263 and the Westerkerk. The museum entrance is at Westermarkt 20, around the corner from the canal-side house at Prinsengracht 263. The Westerkerk next door is the church whose bells Anne wrote about hearing from the Annex; Rembrandt is buried inside. From September to June the church is open to visitors Monday to Friday from 11:00 to 15:00, in July and August Monday to Saturday from 11:00 to 15:00, and it can close without notice. Its tower is closed to visitors, so do not plan on the view.
• The museum’s own online tours. The Anne Frank House publishes a 3D virtual tour of the building, “The Annex Online”, the free Anne Frank House VR app, and a bookable online guided tour of the Secret Annex in VR. These are made by the museum itself, not third-party substitutes. Details are on the web and digital page. Doing the online guided tour the evening before you stand on the Prinsengracht is a reasonable replacement for the visit you could not book.
• The Jewish Cultural Quarter. Four sites on and around the Jonas Daniël Meijerplein: the Jewish Museum, the Portuguese Synagogue, the National Holocaust Museum and the Hollandsche Schouwburg (the theatre used as a deportation assembly point, free to enter, no ticket needed). A combined ticket for all four is €30 for adults and stays valid for a week; the National Holocaust Museum alone is €20. Tickets bought at the desk cost €2.00 more than online. The National Holocaust Museum is where the story of the more than 100,000 Jews deported from the Netherlands is told with the depth the Annex, by its nature, cannot.

Tickets or not: the war years and Jewish history with your own guide

Whether or not you get into the Anne Frank House, you can book a private walking tour of Amsterdam with us and ask for any special interest, because we have guides with special expertise. The standard route passes the Westerkerk and the Anne Frank House from outside; tell us in the booking comment that you want the war years or the Jewish history of Amsterdam, and we match a guide who specialises in it. If you do have a ticket, we schedule the walk around your time slot.

Our Amsterdam destination guide has the rest of the city.

What is the best alternative for a full day?

Haarlem, and specifically the Corrie ten Boom House. It is 15 minutes from Amsterdam by train, it tells a hiding-place story in the actual house, and, unlike the Anne Frank House, the people in the hiding place were never found.

The ten Boom family were watchmakers on the Barteljorisstraat. From 1941 Corrie and her sister Betsie worked with the underground, and many Jews found a safe house through the family; from spring 1943 they hid people themselves. On 28 February 1944 the Sicherheitsdienst raided the house and arrested more than 30 people, but the six behind a false wall in Corrie’s bedroom (two Jewish men, two Jewish women and two members of the Dutch underground) were not found, and a police resistance group got them out about 47 hours later. Of the four Jewish people, three survived the war. Corrie’s father Casper died in custody about ten days after the arrest, Betsie died in Ravensbrück in December 1944, and Corrie survived and spent the rest of her life telling the story. The house has been an open home since 1988, with tours led by volunteers.

How visiting works, from the museum’s reservations page and museum page:

• Guided tours only, Tuesday to Saturday. The daily tours are in Dutch and English, with English tours at 10:00, 12:00 and 14:00; there is almost always a German tour each week and sometimes a French one. Each tour is in one language, without translation.
• 12 people per tour, and a tour lasts about 75 minutes.
• Admission is free and a donation is welcome. Groups of 10 or more contribute a fixed €50 per tour.
• Reserve online at least 10 days ahead; for weekends and holidays the museum recommends three to four months ahead. Like the Anne Frank House, it fills up.
• Not accessible to people with mobility impairments: there are four levels connected by a small winding staircase. Recommended minimum age 10.

The rest of the day is Haarlem itself: the Grote Markt, the Bavokerk, the Adriaan windmill on the Spaarne and, if you want more of the same period, the Frans Hals Museum for what the city looked like before any of it. Our private walking tour of Haarlem can be timed to end at the Barteljorisstraat door for your reserved slot, and our guides work in English, Dutch, German, French, Italian and Spanish, so a German- or French-speaking party can have the Haarlem history in their own language before an English tour of the house. Haarlem is also one of the five best day trips from Amsterdam for reasons that have nothing to do with the war.

Should I go to Camp Westerbork?

Yes if you have a car and a spare day, probably not if you are relying on public transport with limited time. Westerbork, in Drenthe in the north-east of the country, was the transit camp through which more than 100,000 Jews, Sinti and Roma were deported from the Netherlands. The eight people from the Secret Annex were taken there on 8 August 1944, four days after their arrest, and left on 3 September 1944 on the final transport from Westerbork to Auschwitz.

The Memorial Centre at Oosthalen 8 in Hooghalen has the museum, open Monday to Friday from 10:00 to 17:00 and at weekends and on public holidays from 11:00 to 17:00 (closed 25 and 31 December, 1 January and the first three weeks after the Christmas holidays). Adult admission was €13.50 in 2026 and includes the audio tour and the shuttle bus to the former camp site, about three kilometres away, where you cannot drive your own car. Without a car it is a long day: a train to Assen or Beilen, then a bus to Hooghalen and a walk of about two kilometres, or a hub taxi from either station booked in advance by phone, as the museum’s directions page explains. Check 9292 for your exact connection before committing a day to it.

Where else is the war visible: Rotterdam and The Hague

If you are staying in the west of the country, Rotterdam and The Hague carry the war story in the streets rather than in a single museum, and both are under an hour from Amsterdam by train.

Rotterdam was bombed by the Luftwaffe on 14 May 1940, four days into the invasion, and the centre burned. The Laurenskerk, built between 1449 and 1525, caught fire that day and was restored between 1952 and 1968; it is the only medieval building left in the centre, and the modern city around it is the direct result of that day. A walk from the church through the rebuilt centre to the Maas explains why Rotterdam looks nothing like Amsterdam. Check the church’s opening days before you go (adults €4; it can close for private events). Our private walking tour of Rotterdam starts at Station Blaak, a few minutes from the Laurenskerk, and the guide tells the 1940 story on the spot.

The Hague kept its old centre, but its coast at Scheveningen was built into the German Atlantic Wall, and the bunkers are still there. The Atlantikwall Museum opens the original German command bunker on the Badhuisweg on Sundays in season: in 2026 from 5 April to 25 October, 10:00 to 16:00, €9 for adults, advance booking required. The 2027 dates were not yet published in November 2026, so check before you plan around it. The Hague and Delft combine well in a day, and a guide on a half-day tour of the two can cover the war years alongside the Binnenhof and Vermeer.

Frequently asked questions

What day and time are Anne Frank House tickets released?

Every Tuesday at 10:00 Amsterdam time, for all dates exactly six weeks ahead. Count back six weeks from the day you want, find that Tuesday, and be on annefrank.org before 10:00. The release covers the whole week’s dates at once, so your Saturday six weeks away competes with everyone else’s.

Can I buy Anne Frank House tickets at the door?

No. The museum sells no tickets at the entrance and none through any other website or agent, and there is no waiting list. If the online calendar shows your date as full, the museum considers it sold out.

How much do Anne Frank House tickets cost?

In 2026: €16.50 for adults, €7.00 for ages 10 to 17 and €1.00 for children up to 9, each including a €1.00 booking fee. The optional 30-minute introductory programme costs €7.00 per ticket on top and is suitable from age 10. Museumkaart and ICOM holders pay the €1.00 booking fee only. Prices for 2027 were not yet published in November 2026.

Can a tour guide get us into the Anne Frank House?

No. The museum states that commercial parties offering Anne Frank House tours do not provide access. What a guide can do is tell the story outside the house on the Prinsengracht, and plan the walk around a time slot you booked yourself on annefrank.org.

Is the Corrie ten Boom House a good substitute for the Anne Frank House?

Yes, and for some visitors it is the better visit. It is a real hiding place in a real family home, seen with a volunteer guide in a group of at most 12, and admission is free. It is closed on Sunday and Monday, should be reserved online at least 10 days ahead, and is not suitable for anyone who cannot manage a narrow winding staircase.

Can I visit the Anne Frank House with a wheelchair or with young children?

The house has many steep stairs, and the museum says visitors who have difficulty walking may find them hard; check its accessibility page before you book. Children of any age are admitted with a €1.00 ticket, but the introductory programme is for ages 10 and up and the subject matter is heavy. The museum’s online 3D tour is the accessible alternative.

A private walking tour of Amsterdam, tickets or not

Whether or not you get into the Anne Frank House, you can book a private walking tour of Amsterdam with us: two hours on foot from the Dam through the UNESCO canal ring to the Westerkerk and the Jordaan, private for your own group of up to 15 people, from €299 per group. Tell us your interests in the booking comment and we match a guide who specialises in them, for example the Jewish history of Amsterdam, the Second World War, or the Golden Age and Dutch maritime history. These specialist guides work mainly in English; ask us about other languages. If you have an Anne Frank House slot, we plan the walk around it.

With a day to spare outside the city, our private walking tour of Haarlem can be timed around your Corrie ten Boom slot, and our private walking tour of Rotterdam tells the 1940 story where it happened; mention it in the booking comment.