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The best things to do in The Hague are easy to miss when you’re based in Amsterdam and short on time. Skip the trip and you skip Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring, a proper North Sea beach, and a whole country shrunk to knee height. The good news: Den Haag sits about 50 minutes away by direct train, so it works beautifully as a relaxed day out. Here’s how to plan it.

I’ve made this trip more times than I can count, usually with a paper coffee cup in one hand and a train ticket in the other. The Hague is the Netherlands’ seat of government and the home of the royal family’s working life, but for a visitor it’s really a compact city of world-class art, grand old streets, and a coastline that starts where the trams stop. Amsterdam gets the crowds; Den Haag gets on with things quietly. That contrast is exactly why it makes such a satisfying escape.

Below I’ve laid out how to get there, the attractions I send friends to first, where to eat between them, and a simple one-day route that stitches it all together without leaving you footsore. If you’re mapping out a wider trip, this pairs neatly with the other best day trips from Amsterdam, and I’ll show you how The Hague stacks up against Leiden, Delft and Rotterdam near the end.

How to get to The Hague from Amsterdam

The train is the obvious choice, and honestly there’s no good reason to do it any other way. Direct intercity services run frequently between Amsterdam Centraal and Den Haag Centraal, with a journey time of around 50 minutes. The fastest services come in around 49 minutes and the more typical ones nearer 53, so I plan for about an hour door-to-platform and rarely feel rushed. Because timetables and journey times shift, check current schedules on the NS website before you set off. NS runs the route, and you can turn up and go rather than booking a fixed seat.

There are two main stations to know about. Den Haag Centraal is the big terminus closest to the museum quarter and the government district. Den Haag HS, short for Hollands Spoor, is the other principal stop on the line and sits a little south of the centre. If your train is heading to Rotterdam, it may call at HS; if it terminates in The Hague, you’ll usually want Centraal. Both are well connected to the city’s trams, so neither is a wrong choice, but Centraal puts you within a short walk of the Mauritshuis and the Binnenhof.

A quick word on tickets. You can tap in and out with a contactless bank card or an OV-chipkaart at the gates, or buy a paper ticket from the machines. Check current fares and timetables on the NS website before you travel, as the times above are approximate and depend on whether you catch an Intercity or a slower Sprinter. Aim to leave Amsterdam by mid-morning at the latest if you want a full day; the light on the coast is lovely in the late afternoon and you won’t want to miss it. If you would rather not think about tickets at all, a day return bought on the NS app is the simplest option, and the same journey works just as well in reverse for an evening back in the capital.

Getting from the centre to the coast: the trams

The Hague is unusual among Dutch cities in that its beach is part of the deal. Once you’re in the centre, trams run out to the seaside in around 15 minutes. Tram 1 is the one most people mention for Scheveningen, and it’s often cited as the quickest way between the centre and the coast, with trams 9 and 11 also serving the seafront. The network is run by HTM. Tram numbering can change, so check current routes on htm.nl or a maps app on the day rather than trusting a number you read months ago. The same contactless card that got you off the train works on the tram, which keeps things simple. Services run often enough that you rarely wait long, and the ride itself, out past parks and older suburbs towards the dunes, is a pleasant way to watch the city loosen its collar as it nears the sea.

The best museums and attractions in The Hague

For a city this size, the concentration of great art is almost unfair. You could fill a day with paintings alone and never leave a ten-minute walk of the Hofvijver pond. Here are the places I’d prioritise, roughly in the order I’d tackle them.

The Mauritshuis

If you do one thing in The Hague, make it the Mauritshuis. It’s a small museum in the best sense: a 17th-century mansion beside the Hofvijver, packed with Dutch and Flemish Golden Age painting and blessedly walkable in a couple of hours. The headline act is Johannes Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring, painted around 1665, and she really is worth the fuss. The room she hangs in tends to draw a quiet, shuffling crowd, and there’s a particular moment when the light catches that pearl and you understand why people cross oceans for her.

She’s not the only reason to come. The same collection holds Vermeer’s View of Delft, a serene cityscape that pairs beautifully with a later side-trip to Delft itself. Rembrandt is here too, including The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp and a late self-portrait from 1669, painted in the last year of his life and unflinching about it. Around them you’ll find Frans Hals, Jan Steen, Paulus Potter, Carel Fabritius and Rubens, so the walls read like a roll-call of the era. If you love the Golden Age galleries at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Mauritshuis is the intimate companion piece: fewer rooms, no fatigue, and a chance to stand very close to famous faces.

A few practical notes. The museum is popular and the Vermeer room can get busy, so I’d book a timed entry rather than gambling on the door. Opening hours and admission shift with the season, so check the official site, mauritshuis.nl, for current details before you go. Buying ahead also saves you queuing on the day, which matters when you’ve a train to catch. If you have any interest at all in Dutch painting, budget a little more time than you think you need here; people who plan a quick look often end up staying the whole morning.

Check Mauritshuis tickets →

The Binnenhof and the Hofvijver

Step out of the Mauritshuis and the Binnenhof is right next door, its towers reflected in the Hofvijver pond. This is the historic heart of Dutch government, a complex of buildings around eight centuries old that includes the Ridderzaal, the Hall of Knights. For most of its life it has been the working home of parliament, and in normal times visitors could take guided tours inside.

Here’s the important caveat, because it changes how you visit. Since September 2021 the Binnenhof has been closed for a major, multi-year renovation. All the government occupants moved out, and the complex is not open to the general public during the works. There are no interior parliament tours or visits to the Ridderzaal for now, so please don’t turn up expecting to walk the halls. No firm reopening date has been officially fixed, and reporting on the timeline has shifted, so I’d treat any completion year you see quoted as uncertain and check the current status before you build your day around it.

That doesn’t mean you skip it. The exterior and the Hofvijver are still a highlight, and the reflection of the turrets across the water is one of the most photographed views in the country for good reason. There’s also a free Binnenhof Renovation Information Centre, usually at Plaats 22, with exhibits on the building’s roughly 800-year history and the work underway. It’s typically open around Wednesday to Saturday from about 10:00 to 17:00 and Sunday from around noon, but hours change, so check current times on denhaag.com first. A free public viewing tower gives you a raised look over the site, which is a genuinely interesting way to see a national monument mid-restoration rather than behind scaffolding you can’t understand.

Escher in Het Paleis

A short stroll away on the Lange Voorhout is one of my favourite small museums anywhere: Escher in Het Paleis, or Escher in the Palace. It’s devoted entirely to the Dutch graphic artist M.C. Escher, the man behind those impossible staircases and tessellating birds that turn into fish. The museum opened on 15 November 2002 and holds an almost complete collection of his work, including the roughly seven-metre-long print Metamorphosis III, which unspools along a wall and rewards slow looking.

The setting is part of the pleasure. It’s housed in the Lange Voorhout Palace, an 18th-century building that served as the winter palace of Queen Mother Emma of the Netherlands from 1901 until her death in 1934. So you’re wandering through royal rooms while your brain is being gently bent by optical illusions, which is a combination I’ve never found anywhere else. There are interactive installations that kids and adults both fall for, and it makes a clever change of pace between the old-master galleries. As ever, check current hours and tickets on the museum’s site before setting off. The chandeliers deserve a mention of their own: they were designed into playful, impossible shapes, so even the lighting overhead is part of the show.

Panorama Mesdag

Panorama Mesdag is one of those experiences that sounds odd on paper and turns out to be unforgettable. It’s a cylindrical 360-degree painting of the sea, dunes and the fishing village of Scheveningen as they looked in 1881. Painted by the Hague School artist Hendrik Willem Mesdag with collaborators, the canvas stands over 14 metres high and runs around 120 metres around, roughly 1,680 square metres of paint wrapping the whole room.

You climb up onto a central raised viewing platform, dressed to feel like the top of a dune, and the horizon simply surrounds you. Real sand and beach debris in the foreground blend into the painted distance so smoothly that your eye stops finding the join. It opened on 1 August 1881 and is the oldest 19th-century panorama in the world still standing on its original site, which gives it a lovely time-capsule quality: this is the coast as visitors saw it well over a century ago, before the modern resort grew up. It’s a quick visit, maybe half an hour, but a memorable one, and it sets up a trip to the real Scheveningen later in the day rather nicely. There is usually a small cafe and a room of Mesdag’s other seascapes too, so you can linger a little longer if the light through the glass roof tempts you to.

Kunstmuseum Den Haag and Mondrian

If your taste runs more modern, the Kunstmuseum Den Haag is essential. It holds the largest collection of Piet Mondrian works anywhere in the world, more than 300 items, tracing his path from early naturalistic landscapes to the pared-back grids of red, yellow and blue that became shorthand for modern art itself. The collection culminates in Victory Boogie Woogie from 1944, his last and unfinished work, which entered the museum in 1998. Standing in front of it, with its taped-on squares of colour caught mid-thought, you get a rare sense of an artist still working the problem when he died.

Beyond Mondrian, the museum has strong holdings in modern art, decorative arts and fashion, so it rewards a longer wander if the weather keeps you inside. There is a fine display of period rooms and a music collection with historic instruments, and the temporary exhibitions are usually worth building a visit around. Check kunstmuseum.nl for current opening times and admission, which vary by season and by any temporary exhibitions on at the time.

A quick note on the name: Gemeentemuseum

You may still see this museum called the Gemeentemuseum, and older guidebooks and signs use that name. It’s the same institution: the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag was renamed Kunstmuseum Den Haag, so if you’ve been sent to one or the other, don’t worry, you’re looking for the same building. It’s worth flagging because the confusion trips up a lot of first-time visitors who think they’re two different places. The building itself, a landmark of Dutch architecture by H.P. Berlage, is part of the appeal, all calm brick, tiled halls and considered light, and it’s a fine example of how the city treats its cultural buildings as destinations in their own right.

Madurodam

Madurodam is the one I always recommend to families, and secretly enjoy just as much as an adult. It’s a miniature park in the Scheveningen district built at 1:25 scale, filled with hundreds of model replicas of famous Dutch buildings, castles, canals and windmills, with trains, boats and cars that actually move and interactive installations dotted throughout. You walk among a shrunken Netherlands, stepping over canals and peering into cathedral windows, and it manages to be both charming and quietly educational about the country you’re travelling through.

There’s history under the whimsy, too. Madurodam opened on 2 July 1952 as a monument to George Maduro, a war and resistance hero, and that memorial purpose still sits at the heart of the park. Kids tend to bolt from model to model while parents linger over the detail; either way, plan for a good couple of hours. Because it’s out towards the coast, it slots naturally into an afternoon that finishes at the beach. Opening times and prices change seasonally, so check the official site for current details, and if you’re going on a busy day a fast-track ticket saves standing around.

Check Madurodam fast-track tickets →

The Peace Palace

The Peace Palace, or Vredespaleis, is the building that gives The Hague its nickname as the international city of peace and justice. Inside it work the International Court of Justice, the United Nations’ principal judicial organ, alongside the Permanent Court of Arbitration and The Hague Academy of International Law. It’s a serious place with a serious purpose, and even from the gates the grand facade and gardens make an impression.

Visiting takes a little planning. There’s a Visitors Centre in the entrance building with exhibits explaining the palace’s history and work, and it’s free to enter, usually with a free audio tour to walk you through it. Access to the palace interior and the gardens, however, is only by guided tour, booked in advance, and availability is genuinely limited; these can sell out. I’d treat any tour price you see quoted as subject to change and simply check vredespaleis.nl for current options, dates and booking. If the tours are full or not running when you visit, the Visitors Centre still makes the trip worthwhile, especially paired with a walk around the outside.

Lange Voorhout, the Hofkwartier and Denneweg

The Hague rewards aimless walking, and its most elegant streets cluster around the old centre. The Lange Voorhout is a broad, tree-lined avenue of embassies and palaces, home to the Escher museum and, at certain times of year, open-air art and markets under the plane trees. It has a stately, unhurried feel that suits the city.

For shopping and browsing, aim for the Hofkwartier, the tangle of small streets behind the Binnenhof, where independent boutiques, design shops and little cafes fill handsome old buildings. The Denneweg is the other street I always mention: a run of antiques dealers, galleries, wine bars and restaurants that feels lived-in and local rather than aimed at tourists. This is where The Hague’s slightly aristocratic, slightly bohemian character comes through, and it’s a fine place to slow down between museums, coffee in hand, watching the city go about its business.

Scheveningen beach and pier, and quieter Kijkduin

Very few European capitals of anything let you finish a day of Golden Age painting with your feet in the North Sea, but The Hague does. Scheveningen is the city’s main seaside resort: a long, sandy beach, a wide promenade lined with restaurants, and the landmark Pier reaching out over the water with a Ferris wheel, food outlets and a bungee tower for the brave. Behind it stands the historic Kurhaus, a grand old hotel that has watched over the sand for generations and is worth a look even if you’re not checking in.

On a summer evening the promenade fills with people eating fresh fish and watching the light go pink over the water, and it feels a world away from the museum quarter you left an hour earlier. Surfers gather here too when the swell is up, so don’t be surprised to see wetsuits among the ice-cream queues. In the colder months the beach empties out and takes on a bracing, windblown beauty, the kind of walk that clears your head and earns you a hot drink at one of the pavilions afterwards.

If you want somewhere calmer, head for Kijkduin on the city’s southwestern edge. It’s the smaller, quieter beach, more laid-back and natural, backed by dunes rather than promenade, and it draws locals looking to escape the busier resort. Both are separate from the historic centre, reached by tram or a short ride, so treat the coast as its own chapter of the day rather than something you can glimpse from the town hall. My advice: paintings in the morning, sand in the late afternoon.

Neighbourhoods and where to eat

The Hague splits, loosely, into a few characters. There’s the government and museum core around the Hofvijver and Lange Voorhout, formal and grand. There’s the Hofkwartier and Denneweg for browsing and eating. There’s the Zeeheldenkwartier, a slightly artier, more local pocket a short walk from the centre with good independent cafes. And there’s the coast at Scheveningen and Kijkduin, which runs to its own rhythm entirely.

For eating, you’re spoiled for range without needing to plan much. Around the Hofkwartier and Denneweg you’ll find everything from proper Dutch brown cafes to modern bistros and wine bars, ideal for a long lunch between museums. The city’s international side shows up on the plate too; The Hague has a strong Indonesian heritage, and a rijsttafel here, that spread of many small spiced dishes, is close to a local institution and well worth seeking out for dinner. At the seafront, keep it simple with fresh fish: a paper cone of kibbeling, or herring the Dutch way if you’re feeling brave, eaten looking at the waves. As with anywhere, popular places fill up on weekends, so if you’ve set your heart on a specific restaurant it’s worth booking ahead.

A practical tip: I tend to eat my main sit-down meal at lunch, near the museums, and keep the evening light and casual at the beach. It spreads the cost, avoids the after-work crush, and means you catch the coast at its best hour. If you only have time for one Dutch treat between sights, make it a warm stroopwafel from a market stall, pressed to order so the syrup is still soft, and eat it on a bench by the Hofvijver.

One day in The Hague: a suggested route

Here’s the itinerary I’d hand a friend for a single, unhurried day. It assumes a mid-morning train from Amsterdam and a return in the evening, and it keeps walking sensible rather than heroic.

  • Late morning. Arrive at Den Haag Centraal and walk straight to the Mauritshuis for a timed entry. Give yourself a couple of hours with the Golden Age and, of course, the Girl with a Pearl Earring.
  • Midday. Step next door to the Hofvijver and the Binnenhof for photos and, if it’s open, a look at the free renovation information centre and viewing tower. Wander up to the Lange Voorhout.
  • Lunch. Eat around the Hofkwartier or Denneweg, then choose one more indoor attraction: Escher in Het Paleis if you want charm and illusions, or the Kunstmuseum for Mondrian, or Panorama Mesdag for something quick and unusual.
  • Early afternoon. Hop a tram towards the coast. If you’re travelling with kids, break the journey at Madurodam for a couple of hours among the miniatures.
  • Late afternoon and evening. Finish at Scheveningen: a walk out along the Pier, feet in the sand, and an early dinner of fresh fish on the promenade as the light softens. Tram back to the station and an evening train home to Amsterdam.

If art is your whole reason for coming, swap the coast for a second or third museum and make a slow day of the museum quarter alone; the Mauritshuis, Escher, Panorama Mesdag and the Kunstmuseum are all within easy reach of each other. If you’re travelling with children, flip the emphasis towards Madurodam and the beach and treat the Mauritshuis as a focused one-hour visit for the famous faces. The city is compact enough that either version works without a car. And if the weather turns, as it does on this coast, you can happily spend the whole day indoors moving between galleries and still feel you have seen the best of The Hague.

The Hague, or combine it with Leiden, Delft or Rotterdam?

One of the quiet advantages of this corner of the Netherlands is how close the good stops sit to each other on the same rail line. The Hague can absolutely fill a full day on its own, but if you’re a fast mover or on a longer trip, it pairs well with a neighbour. Here’s how I’d think about it.

Destination Character Pair with The Hague if…
The Hague (Den Haag) Government, world-class art, a real beach You want one varied day: Vermeer plus the North Sea
Leiden Historic university town, canals, museums, student energy You love old-town atmosphere and are travelling light on time between the two
Delft Small, pretty, famous for blue-and-white pottery and Vermeer’s own city You’ve fallen for Vermeer’s View of Delft and want to see the real place
Rotterdam Bold modern architecture, big-city buzz, harbour You want a striking contrast: historic Hague in the morning, futuristic skyline after

My honest take: if this is your first visit, give The Hague the whole day and don’t dilute it. A single town done properly beats three half-seen. But if you’re returning, or you simply move quickly, a morning at the Mauritshuis followed by an afternoon in a nearby town is a lovely way to see more of the region. A visit to Leiden is the gentlest pairing, since it’s so close, while Rotterdam gives you the biggest change of scene. Delft sits neatly in between and ties back to that Vermeer painting you’ll have admired. For inspiration on stringing these together, the wider guide to the best day trips from Amsterdam is a useful next read.

And if you decide to keep your art fix on home turf instead, there’s no shortage of things to do in Amsterdam to fill the day. But I’d still nudge you towards the train. There’s something clarifying about swapping the crowds for a quieter city where the masterpieces come without the scrum, and you can end the afternoon watching the tide come in.

Veelgestelde vragen

Is The Hague worth a day trip from Amsterdam?

Yes, comfortably. In a single day you can see Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring at the Mauritshuis, walk the historic government quarter around the Hofvijver, take in modern art or Escher’s illusions, and still finish with your feet in the North Sea at Scheveningen. Few day trips pack in that much variety, and the train makes it easy.

How far is The Hague from Amsterdam?

Direct intercity trains run frequently between Amsterdam Centraal and Den Haag Centraal, with a journey time of around 50 minutes; the fastest services come in around 49 minutes and typical ones nearer 53. Den Haag HS is the other main station on the line. Check current NS timetables before you travel, as times depend on the specific service.

The Hague or Rotterdam: which should I choose?

It depends on your taste. The Hague leans historic and cultural, with grand streets, Golden Age art and a beach. Rotterdam is bold and modern, defined by striking architecture and a big-city, harbour-side energy. If you want classic Dutch elegance and a Vermeer, choose The Hague; if you want contemporary design and buzz, choose Rotterdam. They’re close enough to combine on a longer day.

What are the best things to do in The Hague with kids?

Madurodam is the standout for families: a miniature Netherlands at 1:25 scale with moving trains and interactive displays. Pair it with the beach and Pier at Scheveningen, where there’s a Ferris wheel and space to run around. Escher in Het Paleis, with its optical illusions and interactive rooms, also tends to hold children’s attention well.

Can I visit the Binnenhof and its parliament halls?

Not the interior, for now. The Binnenhof has been closed for a major multi-year renovation since 2021, and there are no interior parliament or Ridderzaal tours during the works. You can still enjoy the exterior and the Hofvijver reflection, visit a free renovation information centre with exhibits on the site’s history, and use a free public viewing tower. No firm reopening date is officially fixed, so check denhaag.com for the current status and centre hours.

Is Scheveningen worth visiting?

If you like the seaside, yes. Scheveningen is The Hague’s main resort, with a long sandy beach, a promenade full of restaurants, the landmark Pier and the historic Kurhaus hotel. For something calmer and more natural, Kijkduin on the southwestern edge of the city is a quieter alternative. Both are a short tram ride from the centre and make a relaxed end to the day.

How do I get from The Hague’s centre to the beach?

Trams connect the centre to the coast in around 15 minutes. Tram 1 is often cited as the fastest to Scheveningen, with trams 9 and 11 also serving the seafront; public transport is run by HTM. Tram numbers can change, so check htm.nl or a maps app on the day. The same contactless card you used on the train works on the tram.

How much time do I need for the Mauritshuis?

Around two hours is comfortable. It’s a compact museum housed in a 17th-century mansion, so you can see the highlights, including Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring and View of Delft, plus Rembrandt, Frans Hals and Jan Steen, without museum fatigue. Book a timed entry to skip queues, and check mauritshuis.nl for current hours and prices, which vary by season.