Fully accessible modern gallery with paintings and drawings by Vincent van Gogh.
5
5
Date of visit: June 2017
I am a carer or friend of a disabled person. I have experience of challenges around: moving around
Overall Rating
Excellent
Best to book in advance, which you can do on-line, and to be aware that the gallery will be very crowded. Vincent, who never had much money and relied on financial support from his brother, would be staggered and no doubt delighted at how popular and expensive his work has become. The newish entrance building, with plenty of circulating space, a shop and toilets - included an accessible toilet, has helped the museum cope with its popularity.
Disabled Access In and Around
Excellent
Lift access to all levels - you descend into the spacious entrance hall, and then move through into the gallery area, from where there are lifts to all levels. You may be frustrated by the tendency of the able-bodied to hog the lifts when they could perfectly well use the stairs, so be prepared to wait awhile. We hope you don't encounter the American man who peremptorily shouted "Are you getting out?" at us when the lift stopped at his level. "No we blankingly-well aren't, because we've just waited several minutes to get in this lift" was the gist of the accompanist's response.
Parking & Transport
Good
Can't comment on the parking. We got there by tram from Amsterdam Centraal Station - trams 2 and 5 will get you very close to the museum - the stop is called Van Baerlestraat. There's no mention of dsabled parking on the museum website. There is an underground car park under Museumplein, and it appeared to have lift access, but we didn't use it.
Accessible Toilets
Excellent
Excellent - spacious, clean, well-equipped with grab rails, plenty of room to side transfer if you wish, and those wonderful Dutch alarm cords which stretch horizontally around the room just above floor level, so that the alarm cord could be reached wherever a user happened to fall. Can we have more of those in the UK, please?
Staff
Excellent
Friendly, helpful and English-speaking.
Additional Information
The crowds mean that you may have to wait a while to get a clear view of the most popular pictures. Many people use the audio-guide (we didn't), which tends to concentrate crowds round those pictures on which there is a recorded commentary. It can be quite difficult to get near the captions, so the audio-guide might be a good idea. We enjoyed a lunch-time drink in the very pleasant cafe, which wasn't crowded. It is self-service - most of what's on offer could be reached by a solo wheelchair user.
