Getting to the Kroller-Muller Museum? (Otterlo, Holland)
 

I am confused about trying to get to the Kroller-Muller Museum via public transport. One source I read makes it sound like you can only get a bus to the entrance of the national park, then you have to ride a bike to the museum, which apparently is deep inside the park. [That would take a while. I haven't biked in 20 yrs.] Another source said there's a bus that takes you right to the museum. And my sources differ as to which city I would be taking the train to from Amsterdam (Arnhem or Apeldoorn?). The museum website is no help.

Anyone made this journey and have tips? It's a must-visit for me--I've gotta see the van Goghs!

Yup - went recently. Asked train station in Amsterdam which station was best and they said take the train to Ede-Wageningen and then by bus to the museum itself. I did so. Buses wait outside the Ede-Wageningen station and go thru the park entrance to within a few blocks on the museum entrance.

To leave the museum i took the bus to Arnhem and for this you have to change buses once...at least i had to...go to Arnhem train station.

Ede-Wageningen is the fastest cheapest shortest route. Buy a Daar retour...day return ticket there and back for some savings over two one ways. For the bus you can use the Nationale Strippenkaart's you buy and use on trams in Amsterdam - good on most buses anywhere in country and any city transit system - or buy one at the Ede-W station before getting on the bus - then have driver stamp it, using the correct number of strips.

I enjoyed the museum a lot and the large statue park that surrounds it in a lovely natural setting. I had a National Museum Card but was disappointed that this museum did not accept it, surprisingly since it is i believe affiliated with Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum which does.

Trains and buses go very frequently - at least hourly.

Welcome at the Kroller-Muller Museumwelcome to the Kroller-Muller Museum. A magnificent amalgamation of art, architecture and nature. Amidst unspoilt natural surroundings, ...
www.kmm.nl/?lang=en

and for train schedules: www.ns.nl

and one further thought - ask at the Amsterdam train station if they have a combo train, bus and museum entry ticket.

About those bikes - yes there are free bikes at the park entrance in case you want to get off the bus there and ride the several miles to the museum.

The Hooge Veluwe National Park the museum is in is an expanse of sand and has a rather wild look - lots of pine trees, etc. An old sand dune i guess.

Thanks for the info, PalenqueBob!! Looks like the museum changed their website in the last couple of weeks, which is great. The previous version only had a phone number to call to find out about transportation.

About how long was the journey from Amsterdam to the museum, all total?

I only saw this thread just now. Note that it is not a 'Daar' but Dag (means Day) retour that you should buy. Depending on the season and if you are interested in some walking in the forest there are some nice hotels and restaurants in the area. But of course just to visit the museum is already worthwile.

It takes about 90 minutes to Ede-W station then about 45 mins to the museum as i recall.

FYI, the Hooge Veluwe National Park in which the museum is located is the nation's largest park -- which says a lot for tiny Holland. The name means something like "High Heather", and roaming around the rest of the park on foot or by bicycle is a real delight.

The Park's site is:
http://tinyurl.com/29guh6

I forgot to say that the park is over 13,000 acres in size, which is why it is so impressive for the Netherlands.

Sorry to jump on to this post again, but the Hooge Veluwe Park is one of those things that has stuck in my memory, ever since I visited a number of years ago. the sculpture garden, largest in Europe, combined with the wild, windswept, setting, is really stunning. The hunting lodge itself is worth the visit, IMO.

The Kroller-Muller was just wonderful. I recall going into one room that contained nothing but Vincent's paintings of potatoes. You could almost feel the dust, dirt, and dispair coming off of those brown sacks and piles of spuds. If you only saw those Van Gogh "potato period" paintings, you would conclude, "This is one depressed, sick, Dude".

Anyway, I think this is one site that you should not miss in Holland if you want to see something other than crowded cities.

:-)

Very good thread. This continues to be on "my list" for a visit whilst in Amsterdam. One of these days I will have enough time to spend there to justify a "day trip."

This museum and sculptures sound wonderful. Not counting being in the midst of a National Park.

Thanks again for the info, all. This is a can't-miss place for me--can't wait!!

Want to share a discovery with others who plan to go here:
website www.9292ov.nl allows you to plug in Amsterdam Centraal as your start point (or wherever), choose Kroller Muller Museum in Otterlo as end point, your approximate departure time, then gives you not just the train info (which is all you get on ns.nl) but also the important bus info for getting from Ede-Wageningen to the museum (via Otterlo itself). Can also look up the returns. Website is in Dutch only but common sense will help you figure it out (I did). The buses to and from the museum do not run frequently so this handy little website looks like it will save a lot of waiting around.

DejaVu, thanks for the update info!!...lynda

Why not consider the Veluwe (I am there almost every summer for a short week) for a few days instead of a day trip to the musem only, Biking on the Veluwe is just so easy (remember the country is flat!) you don't need an athletes condition at all. What about the (medium-upscale) hotel het Roode Koper,
with a beautiful garden small pool and bikes and lovely restaurant, it is in Hoenderloo very near the museum.
Just a suggestion!www.roodekoper.nl
bilingual site.

I'm not going to have enough time, ivee, but thanks for the suggestion.

I know you don't have the time this time, but perhaps for others: I can also -even closer recommend another Hotel/restaurant called Oranjeoord in Hoog Soeren. Just for info!

This museum is very poorly served by public transport. I think it would be a really long and utterly exhausting day to try and get there and back from Amsterdam. There is so much to see with the park and museum, that you might consider spending the night near by. You might also want to think about hiring a car to avoid those really bad bus connections. We were staying in Arnhem when we visited, and even though I hate driving, the connections to and from Kroller-Muller were so bad that we gave up and got a very good rate at the Hertz counter near the Arnhem train station. I was glad we had the car when we all suffered melt down in the park around 4:30, and were able to be back in our hotel by 5:15.

I would agree that transport is not that easy. We did manage to do this as a day trip from Amsterdam, but for the effort (approx 3 hours each way), I didn't feel it was worth it. My sister, a huge Van Gogh fan, did.

We never found the bus at the Ede-Wageningen station that went right to the doors of the museum. We were instructed to take a bus to Otterlo, then when we found what would have been the stop for the bus to the museum, we had almost an hour wait for the next one, so we walked about 20 minutes to the gates of the park, grabbed the bikes and rode the 10-15 to the museum. Then to have to do the whole thing in reverse...ugh.

Well i went on a Sunday and had no problem getting a bus to the museum itself - right outside the Ede-W station. and no problem busing to Arnhem on way back via a change in Otterlo. But i may have been lucky so check schedules.

Can anyone recommend a hotel or B&B near the park, 100-125 Euro.

ivee does just that above - i don't think there are an awful lot actually near the park or at least i didn't see much of anything though there are some large campgrounds.

Try HollandBookings.com. A site in many languages where you will find several hotels. I have been several times to 'Oranjeoord', nearby is also 'Echoput' (more expensive with a Gourmet restaurant).
Even closer are:
Boutique Hotel Sterrenberg in Otterlo,
Bilderberg Hotel Wolfheze in Wolfheze,
Bilderberg Hotel de Buunderkamp also in Wolfheze.

Of course when we were in Oranjeoord we took the day for biking to the National Park. as I said before you don't need an olympic shape, the country is so flat!

Reporting back--I did do it as a daytrip from Amsterdam and ALMOST had it go off without a hitch thanks to the website I mentioned earlier in the thread. Took train to Ede-Wageningen, picked up the bus there to Otterlo, got the bus in Otterlo that goes to the park/museum...so far all's well...but at the park entrance, the driver stopped the bus and said we had to pay entrance to the park before we could go to the museum. So I and a handful of other foreign tourists got off the bus to the park ticket booth. The bus drove off and left!! So it was either walk or bike there. Thank goodness Holland is flat, because I haven't biked in 20 years. Thank goodness also that I wore jeans on the off-chance I might end up doing exactly that. I was pretty miffed by the time I got to the museum. The bus drove from the park entrance to the museum, and about four people stayed on the bus (Dutch people who knew something I didn't, I suspect), so I don't get why the driver said get off. There's a ticket to buy at the museum that's just for the museum. I tried to tell the driver I only wanted the museum and not the park, but he made me get off anyway. It was all very odd.

The way back was easier because a nice man at the museum told me where to find the oddly placed bus stop to catch the bus back to Otterlo, without having to bike or walk back to the park entrance. That stop is round the corner from the museum, 5 mins walk.

It's the goofiest public transport set-up I've ever seen. Definitely easier to rent a car, and if I hadn't been by myself, I would have. I almost wondered if it was deliberately hard to keep hordes of crazed foreign tourists from descending on the park/museum. Only the most dedicated van Gogh fans are going to bother.

It's 3 kilometers from the park entrance to the museum, by the way. So it's not like it's a short walk or bike ride. Luckily I was there on a weekday morning when there weren't any Dutch people on the bike path to laugh at me poking along. ;-)

DejaVu- sorry about that of course but i did the same route a few years ago and stayed on the bus right to the museum - no one said get off at the entrance so hopefully it doesn't always happen.

I went to Kroller Muller today from utrecht. the journey was a bit arduous as some people have predicted. I used 9292.nl which does have english now, but the connections were pretty bad from Ede/Wacheninge station. I got the 108 bus from the station to Otterlo, and was hoping to get the 400 up to the museum but the one that was waiting at the Otterlo stop had a driver who unhelpfully said that no one could get on and we had to wait for the next one, with no explanation. I decided to walk, which was pretty easy, and of course the same bus with the same driver sailed past me at the half way point. Anyway, I had a lovely day with biking around and a great walk around the sculpture garden and museum. To me it was worth it. The bad bit was the end - I showed up with a couple of minutes to spare back at the entrance where I came in, dropped the bike and waited for the 400 bus back to Otterlo. After 15 minutes I surmised that the bus must have gone past early so I missed it. They are hourly, and it was the last one (at 17:49), so I had to walk to Otterlo and of course I missed the 108 connection back to Ede and there is only 1 per hour. Still, I had a nice beer in one of the bars in Otterlo. Of course I made sure I was plenty early at the bus stop, and sure enough the bus was 6 minutes early, but this time the driver waited at the stop.

Next time I would just make sure I leave plenty of time and not rely on the 400 bus. The difficulty is that the museum and sculpture garden shut much earlier than the rest of the park, so the temptation is to go to the museum first and for a nice long ride afterwards, but it is quite difficult to judge how long it is going to take you to get back. I guess the solution is to go earlier, do the biking around, and then get the bus straight from the museum nearest to closing time.

Thanks for all your info guys! I was able to find the closest train station---it's Ede-Wageningen and takes about 54 minutes from Amsterdam Centraal. Change trains at Utrecht and then get the train going in the direction of Arnhem. As of 4 Nov 2012, the price for a day return is €25.40 in 2nd Class,€43.20 1st Class, according to the Netherlands Raiilway website (www.ns.nl).

Actually, I may just stay in a hotel nearby for a couple of days, so I can enjoy biking in the park in addition to visiting the museum.

Chris - there are direct Amsterdam to Ede-Wegeningen every half hour - no need to change in Utrecht - the Amsterdam C to Arnhem train goes directly to Ede-W.