Rijksmuseum

The Rijksmuseum is the national museum of the Netherlands and the place to start if you want to understand the country's art and history. It was founded in 1798, and its present home, the red-brick palace designed by Pierre Cuypers, opened in 1885. After a renovation that kept the main building closed from December 2003 to April 2013, the galleries were rearranged to tell a single story of the Netherlands across eight centuries, mixing paintings with furniture, weapons, ship models, costume, Delftware and silver.

The collection numbers around a million objects, of which about 8,000 are on display at any one time. The heart of the museum is the Gallery of Honour on the first floor, which runs along the central axis of the building and is lined with Dutch Golden Age masterpieces. Rembrandt's Night Watch hangs in its own room at the end, and works by Vermeer, Frans Hals and Jan Steen, including Vermeer's Milkmaid, lead up to it. Elsewhere, look out for the dolls' houses, the model ships, the Asian pavilion and the 20th-century rooms on the top floor. The Research Library, the largest public art history library in the country, can be glimpsed from a gallery and is one of the most photographed interiors in the city.

The museum suits almost everyone. Art lovers can spend a full day here, families can pick a handful of rooms and objects, and anyone short of time can follow the museum's own suggestion of seeing the highlights in about an hour. Visitors under 18 enter free, which makes it good value for families.

Everyone needs a ticket with a start time, including Museumkaart holders, so book online before you go. Tickets are sometimes available at the door, but this is not guaranteed. The museum opens every day from 9am to 5pm, including public holidays. Arrive at opening time to see the Night Watch with fewer people around it, and leave the quieter upper floors for later. Het Café inside is convenient for a break, and the restaurant RIJKS has its own entrance next door.

The museum stands at the northern end of Museumplein, a ten-minute walk from the canal ring, with the Van Gogh Museum, the Stedelijk and the Concertgebouw all close by. The gardens around the building are free to enter and display sculpture in summer, and the cycle passage through the middle of the building is an Amsterdam curiosity in its own right.