Subtract the door price from the NS bundle: Ouwehands lands on minus 1,50 euro, NEMO on 3,50

The NS Spoordeelwinkel bundles an off-peak return journey and admission into one price and shows only a from-price per person. It never tells you how much of that money is the train and how much is the door. Taking it apart needs one step: subtract the door price you would actually pay from the bundled price, and whatever is left is what the return journey really costs you. On the family page today NEMO is listed from 25 euro per person, while the museum's own site puts the door price at 21,50 euro from age four. The difference is 3,50 euro for an off-peak return journey, which almost anyone living outside Amsterdam should take. Ouwehands Dierenpark is listed from 30 euro per person against an adult door price of 31,50 euro, so the subtraction lands on minus 1,50 euro: the journey is not merely free, the bundle undercuts the gate.

The direction that catches people is the other one. Run the same sum for somebody holding a discount card and the answer flips. NEMO states that a Museumkaart gets you in for nothing, so 25 euro minus zero is 25 euro, and you are paying 25 euro for a return journey that most departure stations sell for less. A CJP or student card brings the door price to 14 euro, so 25 minus 14 is 11 euro, and the same check applies before you book. In the opposite case, an Ouwehands-style bundle that already beats the gate is worth recalculating even if you normally drive: parking there costs 9 euro per car, and a family arriving by train simply never pays it. The first question is never which attraction is better, it is what you personally would be charged at the door.

Where

Oosterdok 2, 1011 VX Amsterdam

When

Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 17:30

Price

Door price 21,50 euro from age 4, free up to and including 3

Ages

Charging starts at 4

Note

A Museumkaart already lets you in for nothing, so the whole 25 euro lands on the train

• The sum itself: bundled price minus the door price you would actually pay equals the true cost of the return journey, which you then compare with the off-peak return fare from your own station
• The two figures on the page today: NEMO from 25 euro per person and Ouwehands Dierenpark from 30 euro per person, and in both cases the travel half is an off-peak return
• The door-price side: NEMO charges 21,50 euro from age four, nothing up to and including three, 14 euro on a CJP or student card and nothing on a Museumkaart; Ouwehands charges 31,50 euro from age ten, 28,50 euro for ages three to nine, nothing for ages zero to two, with parking a further 9 euro per car
• Who gains: people living outside the attraction's own city, paying full admission, without a Museumkaart; holders of a Museumkaart, a student travel product or an address in the same city should usually buy the two halves separately
• Limits and next step: the bundled figure is a floating from-price that moves with your departure station, so the number on the page is not the number you will pay, and the travel half is valid off-peak only. Look up your own off-peak return fare in the NS planner first, then decide which way to book
• Ouwehands opens 365 days a year; NEMO's base days are Tuesday to Sunday, with Mondays added during school holidays, public holidays and the stretch from late March into September

Hokimi field note: this subtraction earns its keep when one person in the household holds a Museumkaart and another does not. On the same outing, letting the uncarded person take the bundle while the carded one buys travel alone often beats putting the whole family on the same offer. Run both combinations before you book; the gap is usually worth a lunch. Sources: source 1, source 2, source 3.