The short answer
The best known of the three closes at 18:00, and the other two stay open until 01:00. Since most people walk into the Red Light District after dark, that single fact decides more visits than the price does.
- They are three separate museums, and two of them are six doors apart on the same canal. Red Light Secrets at Oudezijds Achterburgwal 60, the Erotic Museum at Oudezijds Achterburgwal 54. The Venustempel is the one on the Damrak.
- At the Erotic Museum, buying online costs 5 EUR more than paying at the door. 10 EUR walking up against 15 EUR on its site. It is the opposite of every other museum we have priced in this city.
- The minimum age is not the same at all three. Sixteen at two of them and 18 at the Erotic Museum, which matters if someone in the group is seventeen.
- One euro of the Venustempel ticket is a donation to a hospital research fund, and the museum says so itself. It is the only ticket in Amsterdam we have priced that works that way.
The three, side by side
Everything here comes from each museum's own website, read the same morning. The prices are per adult and none of the three charges a different rate for students or seniors.
The three Amsterdam sex museums, as each one publishes itself
| Museum | Price | Hours | Age | Address |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venustempel | 10 EUR | 10:00 to 18:00 | 16+ | Damrak 18 |
| Red Light Secrets | 14,50 EUR | 11:00 to 01:00 | 16+ | Oudezijds Achterburgwal 60 |
| Erotic Museum | 10 EUR at the door, 15 EUR online | 11:00 to 01:00, 02:00 Fri and Sat | 18+ | Oudezijds Achterburgwal 54 |
Swipe to see the rest of the table.
Prices, opening hours and age limits read on each museum's own website on 24 October 2026: sexmuseumamsterdam.nl, redlightsecrets.com and erotisch-museum.nl. Red Light Secrets does not publish a counter price, so only its online fare is quoted; its closing time and midnight last admission are from its own footer, and its booking calendar was offering slots every fifteen minutes up to 23:59 the same day.
Read the hours column before the price column. The Venustempel is the one people have heard of, the oldest sex museum in the world and the one five minutes from Centraal, and it closes at 18:00. The two inside the Red Light District run until one in the morning, with the Erotic Museum going to 02:00 on Fridays and Saturdays. Red Light Secrets takes its last admission at 00:00.
That lines up badly with how people actually use the district. The evening is when the windows are lit and the streets are full, and it is also the only time of day when the famous museum is not an option. If the Venustempel is the one you want, it is a morning or an early afternoon thing, on the way to or from the station.
What each one actually costs, and the online trap
Three museums of the same kind, three different pricing logics. There is no pattern to learn here, so the only safe thing is to check the one you are going to.
The Venustempel is 10 EUR, the same online or at the door, and its own site states that 1 EUR of that goes to the Corona Research Fund of Amsterdam UMC. Red Light Secrets is 14,50 EUR online and does not publish a walk-up price, which in practice means book before you go.
And the Erotic Museum charges 10 EUR at the door and 15 EUR online. That is not a typo and it is not a trick: the online ticket includes a gift bag and a ten percent voucher, so it is a bundle. But the habit of booking ahead to save money, which is right almost everywhere else in Amsterdam, costs you 5 EUR here.
Which of the three, depending on what you are after
They are not interchangeable, and the difference is bigger than the prices suggest.
What each museum is, in its own terms
| Museum | What it is |
|---|---|
| Venustempel | The oldest of the three, open since 1985. Erotic art and historical curiosities, in a narrow 17th century building |
| Red Light Secrets | Inside a real former working room. Audio guide with twelve stories by Inga, a sex worker, and the only place in the district where photographs are allowed |
| Erotic Museum | Five floors of erotic art, Victorian stereoscopes and a wall of original erotic sketches and lyrics by John Lennon |
Swipe to see the rest of the table.
Prices, opening hours and age limits read on each museum's own website on 24 October 2026: sexmuseumamsterdam.nl, redlightsecrets.com and erotisch-museum.nl. Red Light Secrets does not publish a counter price, so only its online fare is quoted; its closing time and midnight last admission are from its own footer, and its booking calendar was offering slots every fifteen minutes up to 23:59 the same day.
Red Light Secrets is the one with a subject. It is a museum about prostitution as work, set inside a real former window room, and the audio guide is twelve stories told by a sex worker. It is also, by its own account, the only place in the district where photography is allowed, which is worth knowing because photographing the windows is the one thing you must not do out on the street.
The Venustempel is the collection: erotic art and historical objects accumulated since 1985, in a narrow canal house with steep stairs. The Erotic Museum is the five-floor one, with Victorian stereoscopes and a wall of original erotic sketches and lyrics by John Lennon, which is the detail most people do not expect to find there.
Questions people actually ask
How many sex museums are there in Amsterdam?
Three, and they are separate businesses that people routinely mistake for one. The Sexmuseum Amsterdam Venustempel is on the Damrak, five minutes from Centraal, and is the oldest, open since 1985. Red Light Secrets, the museum of prostitution, is inside the Red Light District at Oudezijds Achterburgwal 60. The Erotic Museum is six doors away on the same canal at number 54. Different prices, different closing times and, in one case, a different minimum age.
How much does the Sex Museum in Amsterdam cost?
The Venustempel is 10 euros, and one of those euros is a donation to the Corona Research Fund of Amsterdam UMC, which the museum states on its own site. Red Light Secrets sells online at 14,50. The Erotic Museum is 10 at the door. Watch that last one, because buying the Erotic Museum online costs 15 rather than 10: the online ticket bundles a gift bag and a ten percent voucher, so it is a package rather than a mistake, but it is five euros more than walking up.
What time do the Amsterdam sex museums close?
This is the part worth planning around. The Venustempel, the best known of the three, closes at 18:00. Red Light Secrets runs until 01:00 with last admission at midnight, and the Erotic Museum until 01:00 as well, going to 02:00 on Fridays and Saturdays. So if you go down to the Red Light District in the evening, which is when most people go, the famous one is already shut and the two inside the district are not.
What is the age limit for the sex museums in Amsterdam?
Sixteen at the Venustempel and sixteen at Red Light Secrets, but eighteen at the Erotic Museum. If you are travelling with someone aged sixteen or seventeen that single difference decides which of the three you can actually enter, and it is not the sort of thing you want to discover at the door.
Is Red Light Secrets in the Red Light District?
Yes. It is at Oudezijds Achterburgwal 60, on the canal, in the middle of the district, and it is set inside a real former working room. The Erotic Museum is at number 54 on the same canal. The one that is not in the district is the Venustempel, which sits on the Damrak between Centraal station and Dam Square, and that is the most common mix-up of the three.
Can you take photos in the Red Light District?
Not of the windows or the people working in them, and that is the one rule everybody who lives or works there agrees on. Red Light Secrets makes a selling point of being the exception: its own listing says it is the only place in the district where you can take photographs, and the ticket includes a picture of you in a red-lit window. Our guide to the Red Light District covers what the City itself prohibits in the area.
Is it cheaper to book the sex museum online or at the door?
It depends on which one, and they do not work the same way, which is the problem. At the Erotic Museum the door is cheaper: 10 against 15 online. At the Venustempel the price is 10 either way. Red Light Secrets publishes only an online fare, 14,50. And on the booking platforms, the Red Light Secrets ticket sells for 16,56, which is 2,06 more than the museum charges for the same admission, so the one thing that extra buys you is free cancellation.
About this guide
Written by Diego Fresno, who spent five days in Amsterdam in November 2018 and publishes this guide independently. Checked for this page: the three prices, the three sets of opening hours, the three minimum ages and the two addresses on the Oudezijds Achterburgwal, each read on the museum's own website on 24 October 2026. Red Light Secrets' closing time and midnight last admission come from its own footer, and its booking calendar was offering fifteen minute slots up to 23:59 that day. That one euro of the Venustempel ticket is a donation to a hospital research fund is the museum's own statement. The platform price, rating and review count are from the Viator API the same day, checked with two different search wordings. Not checked: how long each one takes. Red Light Secrets has that question in its own FAQ and the answer would not open for us, so rather than estimate it from the others, we are leaving it out. Nobody on this site has been inside any of the three, so there is no account here of what the rooms are like and no opinion on whether any of them is worth your afternoon: the descriptions are each museum's own and the rating quoted is other people's, with its sample size attached. Wheelchair access at the Erotic Museum is not stated on its site and we have not confirmed it either way. Corrections sent to hola@diegofresno.com get published, not quietly edited. About the author.