52.08° N · 4.32° E
Girl with a Pearl Earring at the Mauritshuis, Escher in a palace, Madurodam and Scheveningen beach a tram ride away. About 50 minutes by train from Amsterdam.
What to do
Each plan says how long it takes, who it's for and whether you can book.
Museum · 1 h 30 · Vermeer, Rembrandt and Fabritius in a 17th-century townhouse beside the Hofvijver. €21; free up to age 18.
Park · 3 h · Windmills, canals, Schiphol and the Rijksmuseum to scale, with interactive attractions. Open 365 days; free up to age 3.
Museum · 1 h 15 · More than 120 Escher prints in Queen Emma's former winter palace. €14.50; closed on Mondays.
Itineraries
Days and weekends already planned out, with how to get between each stop and who to book with.
Plan the trip
Each choice narrows the next: the season shapes how best to travel, and how you travel decides where you stay and where you eat.
When to go
From April to September, when Scheveningen beach and the pier terraces are open and boats tour the canals. The museums are open all year and are the best plan for a rainy day.
How you travel
Choose how you're travelling and we'll tell you where to stay, how to get around, where to eat and which services you'll need. We only show the ways of travelling that make sense here.
The Hague has two airports nearby. Amsterdam Schiphol receives direct flights from Madrid, Barcelona and almost all the big Spanish cities, and its station, beneath the terminal, has direct trains to Den Haag Centraal. Rotterdam The Hague, smaller and closer, has direct flights from Barcelona, Málaga, Alicante, Valencia, Seville and the Canary Islands depending on the season. You do not need a car.
The Hague can be done entirely without a car: the museum centre is walkable and tram 9 takes you to Madurodam and the beach. It is on the train line between Amsterdam, Leiden, Delft and Rotterdam, so with one or two nights here you see half of South Holland. The budget per person per day includes sleeping, food and tickets.
The Hague has two grand historic hotels that give meaning to a luxury break: the Des Indes on the museum avenue and the Kurhaus on the beach. With one in the centre and one by the sea, you can have a weekend of Vermeer in the morning and a spa with views of the North Sea in the afternoon. The budget per person per day includes the hotel, meals and tickets.
Who you're with
A trip with a toddler is not the same as one with a teenager. Pick yours to see what works and what to bear in mind.
The Hague works very well with children because it mixes in one day things that are far apart in other cities: a short museum with a famous painting, a miniature city and the beach, all linked by the same tram. Under-18s do not pay at the Mauritshuis or the Panorama Mesdag.
With children under six, the key is Madurodam and the beach, and keeping the museums to a short visit. Everything is linked by tram 9, so you do not need a car.
For teenagers, The Hague has two magnets: Escher, who plays with the mind, and the beach with the pier. The Mauritshuis is short and free for them, and the Peace Palace tells them what international justice is for.
Where to stay
We show you what suits the way you travel.Change how you travel
Why we like it: The grand five-star hotel of The Hague, on the Lange Voorhout, a few steps from the Mauritshuis, Escher and the Binnenhof. With a health club, spa and restaurant.
Why we like it: The grand spa hotel of 1818 facing Scheveningen beach, with 270 rooms, a spa with a pool, a restaurant on the promenade and the Kurzaal.
Why we like it: A hostel with private rooms and children's beds five minutes from Hollands Spoor station, with a bar and breakfast. The budget option in the centre.
Services for this trip
Where to eat
From set lunch menus to Michelin stars. We mark the price level and what to order at each place.
What to order: kibbeling (battered cod chunks) with sauce, and a herring if it is Hollandse Nieuwe season.
What to order: one of the fixed-price menus, which you put together by choosing dishes from the menu.
What to order: the three-course menu, with meat, fish or vegetarian, or a high tea in the garden.
Map
The places to stay and services on the map are the ones for the way you travel. Turn on the layers you want and tap a point to see its details.
Nearby
The closest places, whichever country they are in.
Tips
It opens at 10:00. From 16:00 to 18:00 there is a reduced rate and fewer people.
From Den Haag Centraal it passes Madurodam and reaches Scheveningen.
Up to age 18 they do not pay at the Mauritshuis or the Panorama Mesdag.
Escher in Het Paleis and the Panorama Mesdag are closed.
The Hague is the city where the Netherlands is governed even though the capital is Amsterdam: the Parliament, the king, the ministries and the international courts are all here. For the traveller that means an elegant, quiet centre, with avenues of lime trees, palaces and one of the best small museums in Europe, the Mauritshuis, where Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring and View of Delft hang. And twenty minutes away by tram is the sea: Scheveningen, the Dutch people's beach, with its grand hotel of 1818, its pier over the water and its fishing harbour.
By train, no need to think twice. From Amsterdam Centraal to Den Haag Centraal it is about 45 to 50 minutes, with very frequent trains that also stop at Schiphol, so you can come directly from the airport. You pay by tapping a contactless card or phone on the reader when you enter and leave. From Den Haag Centraal, the Mauritshuis and the Binnenhof are ten minutes on foot, and tram 9 takes you to Madurodam and Scheveningen.
By car it is about 60 kilometres by motorway, but parking in the centre is expensive and rush-hour traffic is heavy. It only makes sense if you are going to Madurodam with small children (it has its own car park, €14.95 a day) or continuing along the coast.
Start first thing at the Mauritshuis, beside the Hofvijver pond. It is a 17th-century townhouse with a small, extraordinary collection: Vermeer, Rembrandt, Fabritius's The Goldfinch. It can be seen comfortably in an hour and a half. When you come out, walk round the Hofvijver to see the Binnenhof, the complex of Parliament buildings, now undergoing renovation, and go up the Lange Voorhout, the tree-lined avenue where you will find Escher in Het Paleis, the Escher museum in a former winter palace of the queen.
Eat in the centre: at Schlemmer, a classic café-restaurant in the theatre district, or at De Basiliek, beside the Plein. In the afternoon, choose: the Panorama Mesdag, a circular painting of 1881 that puts you in the middle of the Scheveningen dunes, or tram 9 to Madurodam, the Netherlands in miniature. The tram carries on to the sea: end the day at the Scheveningen beach and pier and have fish for dinner at Simonis aan de Haven, in the harbour.
Both, if you can: they are ten minutes apart by train and complement each other. Delft is the small canal city where Vermeer lived; The Hague holds his paintings. With a night in either you see both and Rotterdam too, half an hour away. If you only have one day, The Hague has more variety, especially with children or if the weather is good and you want a beach.
Yes, if you want to combine city and sea. Sleeping in Scheveningen, at the Kurhaus, means sleeping facing the beach; in the centre, the Hotel Des Indes is the classic grand hotel on the Lange Voorhout, and the Stayokay is a hostel beside Hollands Spoor station with private rooms for families. The Hague is cheaper than Amsterdam and Amsterdam is 50 minutes away by train.
From April to September, to have the beach, the pier terraces and the canal boats. In summer Scheveningen fills up on sunny weekends. In winter the plan works just as well thanks to the museums: the Mauritshuis, Escher and the Panorama Mesdag are indoors and open all year. Remember that Escher and the Panorama Mesdag are closed on Mondays, and that the Mauritshuis opens on Mondays at 13:00.
Questions
About 45 to 50 minutes by train from Amsterdam Centraal to Den Haag Centraal, with very frequent trains that stop at Schiphol.
In the Mauritshuis, beside the Binnenhof, ten minutes on foot from the central station. Admission costs €21 and is free up to age 18.
On tram 9 from Den Haag Centraal, which passes Madurodam. By bike it is about 20 minutes.
Yes. They are about ten minutes apart by train. The Mauritshuis in the morning and Delft in the afternoon makes a full day.
Only on a guided tour, inside, outside or in the garden. Tickets go on sale on its website about two weeks beforehand.
Yes, especially for ages 4 to 12: an open-air miniature city with interactive attractions, open all year.
Geocaliahttps://www.geocalia.com/en/the-netherlands/the-hague-and-scheveningen
