Photo: CrazyPhunk, CC BY-SA 3.0Drents Museum
Drenthe's principal museum, renowned for archaeology, art and major international exhibitions.
Tue–Sun 11:00–17:00✓ Museumcard
drentsmuseum.nl
Photo: CrazyPhunk, CC BY-SA 3.0Drenthe's principal museum, renowned for archaeology, art and major international exhibitions.
Tue–Sun 11:00–17:00
Photo: Grasmat, CC BY-SA 4.0Small military museum in Assen telling more than seventy years of stories of courage and commitment of the Dutch 'Stoottroepen' infantry regiment.
Tue-Fri 10:00-16:00
Photo: Baykedevries, CC BY-SA 4.0Large open-air museum bringing the peat colonies to life with trains, boats and historic villages.
Tue–Sun (seasonal)
Photo: Gouwenaar, Public domainMuseum dedicated to the Netherlands' prehistoric dolmens and Funnelbeaker culture.
Daily 10:00–17:00
Photo: Gouwenaar at Dutch Wikipedia, Public domainMuseum telling the story of the fortified town of Coevorden.
Tue–SunMuseum preserving the Jewish history of Coevorden.
Limited openingsynagogecoevorden.nl
Photo: Drenthe007, CC BY-SA 3.0Archaeological museum exploring prehistoric Drenthe.
Tue–Sun (seasonal)oermuseumwestdrenthe.nl
Photo: Rene1971, CC BY-SA 3.0Planetarium and cinedome in Dwingeloo, home to one of the two Zeiss planetariums in the Netherlands, opened in 1989 by astronaut Jerry Ross.
Wed-Sun (daily in holidays)www.planetron.nl
Photo: Wstoter, CC BY-SA 3.0Museum of Art Nouveau and figurative art with beautiful gardens and sculpture park.
Tue–Sun 11:00–17:00
Photo: OXLAEY.com, CC BY 2.0Museum showcasing wooden shoes from around the world.
Tue–Sun
Photo: Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0Museum of historical musical instruments in a villa on the Vosbergen estate in Eelde.
Sat-Sun 14:00-17:00Extensive private museum about the Second World War in the Netherlands.
Limited openingergensinnederland.nl
Photo: Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0Contemporary Tibetan art museum founded by artist Tashi Norbu.
Wed–Sunmcta.nl
Photo: L. de Jong, CC BY-SA 4.0Cultural history museum in a Saxon farmhouse from 1681 on the edge of Emmen.
Tue-Sat (seasonal)
Photo: Spoorjan, CC BY-SA 3.0Heritage railway museum preserving the history of peat railways.
Tue–Sun (seasonal)
Photo: Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domainMuseum about the Colonies of Benevolence and life in the former agricultural colonies.
Tue–Sun / seasonalPhoto: Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domainInteractive museum about the UNESCO World Heritage Colonies of Benevolence.
Tue–Sun 10:00–17:00Museum devoted to accordions and harmonicas in Gasselternijveenschemond, west of Stadskanaal.
Limited opening
Photo: ZanderZ, CC BY-SA 3.0Museum celebrating Cuby + Blizzards and Dutch blues music.
Wed–Suncubymuseumgrolloo.nl
Photo: Gouwenaar, Public domainMemorial museum telling the story of the Westerbork transit camp during the Second World War.
Tue–Sun 10:00–17:00
Photo: Vysotsky, CC BY-SA 4.0Printing museum, formerly the Drukkerijmuseum, in a monumental warehouse in the centre of Meppel.
Tue-Sat 11:00-17:00www.drukkerijmuseum-meppel.nlMuseum celebrating the famous Dutch pottery manufacturer.
Limited openingmuseumgoedewaagen.nl
Photo: S3668258, CC0Eclectic collection of archaeology, natural history, toys and curiosities.
Tue–Sun
Photo: Richard Broekhuijzen, CC BY-SA 4.0Museum dedicated to illustrator Jan Kruis and Jan, Jans en de Kinderen.
Seasonalorvelte.netMuseum about everyday life in nineteenth-century Drenthe.
Seasonalorvelte.netBeautifully preserved manor house with historic interiors.
Tue–Sun (seasonal)
Photo: PROV. MUSEUM ASSEN (Fotograaf), CC BY-SA 4.0Museum with a large collection of historic toys, dolls, model railways and games.
Wed–Sunspeelgoedmuseum-roden.nl
Photo: Willemjans, CC BY-SA 3.0Historic farmhouse showing rural life in Drenthe.
Tue–Sat (seasonal)
Photo: Baykedevries, CC BY-SA 4.0Open-air museum recreating traditional life in south-east Drenthe.
Daily (Apr–Oct)Museum of historic tractors and agricultural machinery.
Limited openingjanvdrenthe.nl
Photo: Bic, CC BY-SA 3.0Museum exploring the history of crime, punishment and prisons in the Netherlands.
Tue–Sun 10:00–17:00
Photo: Ymnes, CC0The only publicly accessible Dutch house where Vincent van Gogh lived and worked.
Tue–Sun 10:00–17:00Museum of shells, marine animals and ocean life collected from around the world.
Tue–Sun / seasonalThe only Dutch museum devoted to the art of paper cutting, on the village green of Westerbork.
Tue-Sun (seasonal)www.museumvanpapierknipkunst.nlWorking windmill and museum with bakery, oil mill and steam engines.
Tue–Sat
Photo: Alvs50, CC BY-SA 4.0Regional history museum with changing exhibitions and the Netherlands' largest handcart collection.
Tue–SatLocal museum and sculpture garden celebrating regional culture.
Seasonalhansstokmanhof.nlTry a different spelling, or clear the filters to browse them all again.
Drenthe has 37 museums across 27 towns, the fewest of any mainland province, and two of the most important sites in the country.
The hunebedden are megalithic tombs built here around five thousand years ago, long before anything else in the Netherlands. Fifty-two of the fifty-four that survive are in Drenthe, and the Hunebedcentrum at Borger stands next to the largest of them.
The other is Westerbork. Between 1942 and 1944 more than 100,000 Jews, Roma and Sinti were held at the transit camp near Hooghalen before being sent east. Anne Frank passed through it. The memorial centre there is one of the most important museums in the Netherlands.
Nineteen of the 37 accept the Museumcard, an unusually high proportion.
Drenthe is rural and spread out, and a car makes the difference between two museums a day and four. Only two of the 37 open every day. Westerbork and the hunebedden are twenty-five minutes apart and make a natural, if sobering, pairing.
We build private days across this province around the museums you actually want to see, with driving, tickets and timing arranged so the day works rather than sprawls.
Plan your tour, or see all our private tours.
This page is part of our complete guide to museums in the Netherlands, covering all 1,167 of them.