ARTIS-Groote Museum, the interactive nature museum







ARTIS-Groote Museum is Amsterdam’s interactive museum of nature where you explore your connection with the natural world. Visit the new exhibition Tanja: Up Close, about Amsterdam’s most famous hippopotamus. Become one with everything around you.
How can you visit ARTIS-Groote Museum with your City Card?
You do not need to make a reservation in advance to visit ARTIS-Groote Museum with your City Card. You can have your City Card scanned at the entrance. Make sure your City Card is valid at the time of your visit.
How to get here
ARTIS-Groote Museum is located right in the heart of Amsterdam.Take tram 14 from Amsterdam Central Station to ARTIS. Tram lines 7 and 19 also stop nearby. Metro station Waterlooplein is a 10-minute walk away.
About ARTIS-Groote Museum
In this interactive museum of nature in Amsterdam, you’ll discover how humans, animals, plants, and microbes together form one ecosystem. By touching, smelling, listening, and observing, you’ll experience that we, as humans, are also part of nature.
Through 1,000 large and small examples, you’ll explore the similarities between yourself and other animals and plants. Did you know that trees communicate with each other, just like neighbors? Or that babies move in ways similar to crocodiles?
Set off on a journey of discovery through many interactive machines and be moved by art, sounds, and scents. In this way, you’ll gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of your connection with nature. There are also various activities, and lectures to attend in the museum, including during the spring holiday.
Exhibition: Dichtbij Tanja
Don’t miss the exhibition Tanja: Up Close. In 2009, Tanja the hippopotamus - a true ARTIS icon, passed away. Until 10 May 2026, Tanja can be seen on display in preserved form. This exhibition takes a close look at human-animal relationships, with Tanja, Amsterdam’s most famous hippopotamus, at the center of attention.
With a combination ticket, you can also visit the other ARTIS locations: discover the world of microbes at ARTIS-Micropia and experience nature up close at ARTIS Zoo
Accessibility
General accessibility provisions and information
Present, available or allowed
- Service dog allowed
- Wheelchair accessible entrance
Provisions for people with reduced mobility
Present, available or allowed
- Stairs with handrail
- Lift
- Accessible restroom
Provisions for people who require low sensory environments
Present, available or allowed
- Hidden disability Sunflower-keycord recognised here
Not present, not available or not allowed
- Personal assistant
- Guide lines
- Hearing loop (t-coil or headphones)
- Sign language interpretation provided
- Closed captioning
- Open captioning
- Low stimulus hours
- Sensory experience
- Audio description
- Accessible information
- Material in Braille
- Passageways that are sufficiently wide
- Mobile payment
Explanation by ARTIS-Groote Museum, the interactive nature museum
ARTIS is currently not working with low-stimulus hours. During the week before 11:00 and after 15:00 it is often quieter outside of school holidays.















