A Guide to Amsterdam’s Cinemas

Essentially Amsterdam Life · July 21, 2026

A trip to the cinema is one of the easiest pleasures to enjoy in Amsterdam, especially for internationals, because films here are almost always shown in their original language with Dutch subtitles.

That single fact makes the city a genuinely great place to catch the latest release or a beloved classic.

Cinemas worth knowing

Six cinemas doing six different jobs: a 1921 picture palace, the national film museum, a student-run house going since 1945, an arthouse in a former pathology lab, a world-cinema screen in De Pijp and a multiplex for the blockbusters.

None of them publishes opening hours because the programme sets the times, so check the day’s schedule rather than the door.

Pathé Tuschinski

Tuschinski opened in 1921 and is the one cinema here that people photograph before the film starts, an Art Deco and Amsterdam School landmark off the Rembrandtplein with lavishly decorated auditoriums.

Major releases play here and the red-carpet premieres land here, which is a large part of why 7,252 reviews have gathered at 4.7.

Eye Filmmuseum

The national film museum stands on the IJ waterfront in Noord, a ferry ride from behind Centraal, and programmes restored and classic cinema in the original language alongside its exhibitions.

Nothing else in the city has drawn as many reviews, 11,236 at 4.4, and the cafe-restaurant makes it the easiest of the six to arrive early for.

LAB111

A former pathology laboratory on the Arie Biemondstraat in Oud-West, LAB111 works the indie, cult and documentary end of the schedule, with a cafe-bar that carries the rest of the night.

Adventurous is the operative word, and 2,547 reviews at 4.7 suggest the gamble usually comes off.

Kriterion

Founded in 1945 and still run by students and volunteers, Kriterion on the Roetersstraat sets its arthouse programme beside a cafe that keeps going long after the credits.

Plan an evening rather than a screening, on 1,840 reviews at 4.5.

Rialto De Pijp

World cinema is Rialto’s brief, on the Ceintuurbaan in De Pijp, where films play in their original language and festivals and debates are built around the regular programme.

It is the smallest of the six by review count, 815 at 4.5, and the first to check if you want something outside the week’s releases.

Pathé Arena

For a blockbuster rather than a rediscovery, the multiplex beside the Johan Cruijff ArenA in Zuidoost has the premium large-format screens, with parking and a metro station at the door.

Nothing here draws crowds like it does, 9,795 reviews at 4.4, and it is the one address on this list built for convenience rather than character.

Original language, with one exception

Dutch cinemas do not dub films for adult audiences, so an English-language release plays in English with Dutch subtitles underneath.

For anyone arriving from a dubbing country this is the single best thing about going to the cinema here.

The exception is children’s films, which are usually programmed in two versions.

Look for originele versie or OV for the original soundtrack and Nederlands gesproken or NL for the dubbed one, and check the label rather than the title when you book.

The big screens

For a new release in the largest possible format, the multiplexes are Pathé Arena out by the stadium in Zuidoost and Pathé De Munt near Muntplein in the centre.

Both run the widest slate of showtimes across the day and both are straightforward to reach by metro.

Pathé Tuschinski near the Rembrandtplein takes the same major releases, but nobody goes there for the sound system.

The 1921 auditoriums are the reason to buy the ticket, and it is where the red-carpet premieres happen.

Eye, across the water

The Eye Filmmuseum sits on the north bank of the IJ, directly opposite Centraal Station, and is both a museum of film and a working cinema with a serious repertory programme.

The free ferry from behind the station takes a few minutes and runs constantly.

It is the obvious pairing of an exhibition and a screening in one afternoon, and the view back across the water from its terrace is worth the crossing on its own.

Arthouse, and which one for what

Amsterdam’s independent cinemas are not interchangeable, and choosing between them is really choosing a programme.

LAB111 in Oud-West, in a converted pathology laboratory, leans cult, documentary and genuinely obscure; Filmhuis Cavia on the Van Hallstraat is volunteer-run and non-commercial, showing experimental and political film you will not find screened anywhere else in the city.

Filmhallen inside De Hallen has several screens and therefore the widest choice on any given evening, mixing quality mainstream with independent.

The Movies on the Haarlemmerdijk and De Uitkijk on the Prinsengracht are single-screen historic houses - the first from 1912 with a restaurant attached, the second in the same building since 1913 - and both programme carefully rather than broadly.

If you want a specific new arthouse title, check Filmhallen first because of the screen count.

If you want to be surprised, start with LAB111 or Cavia.

The festival calendar

Amsterdam’s reputation in film rests largely on documentary, and IDFA, the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, takes over cinemas across the city each November.

Tuschinski, the arthouses and Eye all become venues for it, and tickets for the better-known titles go early.

Outside the festival, the independents run their own seasons, director retrospectives and restored classics through the year.

Those are usually announced a month or so ahead on the cinema’s own programme rather than on any central listing.

Booking, timing and what the ticket costs

Book online for anything popular at a weekend, and check the format you are actually buying, since premium screens and 3D carry supplements.

Prices differ by cinema, by day and by format, so the number on one venue’s site tells you nothing about the next.

Weekday afternoons are the cheapest and quietest slots almost everywhere, and several cinemas run discount days or membership schemes that pay for themselves in three or four visits.

Longer screenings at some venues still include an intermission, which surprises people who have never met one.

Rain, children and a fallback plan

Amsterdam produces a great many grey afternoons, and a cinema is the most reliable indoor plan the city has.

Weekend matinee slots fill fast in bad weather, so book in the morning rather than turning up.

For children, the dubbed showings are usually the early ones and the original-language versions later in the day.

That is worth checking before you promise anybody anything.

Finding a screening

The programme changes weekly and no single listing covers every venue, so the cinema’s own site remains the reliable source.

Browse the full range of Amsterdam cinemas to see what is near you.