Autumn school holiday at the museum: three cities, two holiday weeks
Amsterdam starts its autumn school holiday earlier than The Hague and Rotterdam. These museum routes help families choose the right day and booking.
A museum day in the Randstad this autumn calls for a look at the calendar. Amsterdam is in North Holland, where the official autumn school holiday runs from 10 through 18 October 2026. The Hague and Rotterdam are in South Holland: there it begins on 17 October and ends on 25 October. Several museums run their programmes beyond the school holiday in their own city. On Friday 16 October, activities are already available in Amsterdam, while Rotterdam’s holiday programme starts a day later.
In Amsterdam, NEMO Science Museum spreads its autumn programme across 10–25 October. Children can watch the Chain Reaction, join extra workshops and use the AI Challenge to explore how to tell real from fake. Game On remains on view through 25 October. NEMO is therefore an option after the official northern holiday week as well. The museum recommends ordering tickets in advance for the autumn holiday.
Wereldmuseum Amsterdam also continues through 25 October. The hands-on exhibition Raad van de Raaf provides a starting point for activities children can do themselves. The museum says it opens daily during the autumn holiday, but the programme varies by activity and day. Another Amsterdam option is Abracadabra kidsweek at the Joods Museum, for children aged six through twelve. It runs through 18 October. The window is shorter here: do not wait until the second holiday week if you want to attend kidsweek.
From Saturday 17 October, Rotterdam comes into focus. The Maritime Museum announces an autumn holiday programme from 17 through 25 October built around play and discovery at sea. In Plons! De toekomst van de zee, children can build a sea farm and help clean up the sea, for example. The interactive exhibition is intended for four- to twelve-year-olds. Plons! requires both an admission ticket and a time slot. Museumkaart and Rotterdampas holders must also book online. The museum says entry with those cards is free.
The Hague offers a different museum day. Visitors aged eighteen and under enter Kunstmuseum Den Haag free. The presentation Mondriaan & De weg naar abstractie has been on view there since 10 October. Families can use the holiday to look at colour, lines and abstraction together without making a separate children’s activity the starting point.
The choice also depends on the children’s ages and how much planning a family enjoys. Advance tickets are recommended at NEMO; a time slot is required for Plons! at the Maritime Museum. Amsterdam’s kidsweek has a clear age range, while the Mondrian presentation needs no fixed holiday programme. That helps prevent arriving when the museum is open but the activity you came for is not taking place.
For Friday 16 October, NEMO, Wereldmuseum Amsterdam and Abracadabra kidsweek are natural options. From 17 October, the Maritime Museum’s holiday programme joins them and South Holland’s official school holiday begins. NEMO and Wereldmuseum Amsterdam continue their Amsterdam programmes through 25 October; the Joods Museum kidsweek ends on 18 October.