The Hague: Where Dutch Power and Dutch Art Meet

The Netherlands has two capitals — Amsterdam by official designation, The Hague by political reality. The Dutch parliament, the prime minister’s office, and most government ministries are in The Hague, as are the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court, and the Permanent Court of Arbitration. It is also, less portentously, home to the Mauritshuis — one of the finest small art museums in the world — and to Scheveningen, the North Sea beach resort that Dutch families have been visiting since the 19th century.

The Hague is 50 minutes from Amsterdam by train and most visitors treat it as a day trip. This is correct. It is also one of the best day trips available from the city. I came for the Vermeer and stayed for the herring, the beach, and the unexpected elegance of a political capital that does not take itself too seriously.

The Mauritshuis: Thirty Masterworks in a Mansion

The Mauritshuis is a 17th-century Dutch Classicist mansion on the Hofvijver (Court Pond) in the center of The Hague, containing approximately 30 paintings — a number small enough to be seen completely in two hours, large enough to include several of the finest Dutch and Flemish Golden Age works in existence.

Johannes Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring (c.1665) is the museum’s most famous work and the reason most visitors come. It is displayed in its own room and is smaller than most people expect — 44.5 x 39 cm — with a quality of gaze that photographs routinely fail to capture. The girl’s eyes track you across the room; the single pearl earring, which some art historians argue is not a pearl at all but a glass drop reflecting light, glows with an impossible luminosity.

I stood in front of that painting for 15 minutes. The reproductions do not prepare you for the luminosity of the actual brushwork — the earring seems to generate its own light source, and the dark background pushes the girl’s face forward in a way that photographs flatten completely. This alone is worth the day trip from Amsterdam.

Rembrandt’s Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp (1632) occupies another dedicated room — the painting that established Rembrandt’s reputation in Amsterdam, depicting a public anatomical lecture with a precision of individual characterization that was unprecedented in group portraiture. Jan Steen’s comic genre scenes, Jacob van Ruisdael’s landscapes, Paulus Potter’s Young Bull — each room contains works that would be the centerpiece of a lesser museum.

The museum’s small size is its great advantage. You can see everything without the exhaustion that comes from the Rijksmuseum’s 8,000 objects. Budget two hours and take your time with each room.

The Binnenhof: Parliament in the Middle Ages

The Binnenhof is the working Dutch parliament — a complex of Gothic and Renaissance buildings grouped around a courtyard that dates to the 13th century. The Ridderzaal (Hall of Knights), a 13th-century Gothic hall in the center of the courtyard, is used for the annual State Opening of Parliament when the Dutch monarch reads the Speech from the Throne.

The courtyard itself is freely accessible and worth 30 minutes — one of the finest medieval administrative complexes in northern Europe, still in daily use. Guided tours of the interior run several times daily (book at the Binnenhof visitor center). The adjacent Hofvijver pond reflects the complex’s towers and creates one of The Hague’s most photographed views.

Walk around the Hofvijver at dusk — the reflection of the Binnenhof’s Gothic towers in the pond, with the Mauritshuis visible on the far bank, is one of the most beautiful urban views in the Netherlands. Free, accessible any time, and almost always photographed from the wrong angle. The best viewpoint is from the southeast corner of the pond, near the Lange Vijverberg.

The Peace Palace: International Law Made Manifest

The Peace Palace (Vredespaleis), built in 1913 with money from Andrew Carnegie, houses the International Court of Justice, the Permanent Court of Arbitration, and the Hague Academy of International Law. The building is magnificent — a neo-Renaissance palace surrounded by gardens, its facade adorned with gifts from nations around the world (Japanese gates, Indonesian woodwork, Swiss clocks).

Guided tours (EUR 11.50, Saturdays only, book online) take you through the Great Hall of Justice where the ICJ sits, the Japanese Room, and the library containing over 1 million volumes of international law. Even from outside, the building and gardens are impressive — and the visitor center across the street (free entry) provides an excellent overview of the international legal institutions housed here.

Scheveningen: The Beach You Did Not Come For But Should Visit

Twenty minutes from The Hague by tram (Tram 1 from Den Haag Centraal), Scheveningen is a proper Dutch beach resort — a long sandy beach backed by the famous Kurhaus hotel (opened 1885, still magnificent), a pier extending 380 meters into the North Sea, and a sprawl of beach pavilions serving fish and chips and Dutch beer. In summer it is busy with Dutch families who have been coming here for generations; in October it is dramatically empty and grey and the North Sea demonstrates exactly why Dutch maritime culture developed the resilience it did.

Eating fresh herring (haring) at one of the beach fish stalls — pickled raw herring with onion, served on a small paper plate and eaten by lowering it into your mouth with the tail — is the canonical Scheveningen experience and costs about EUR 4. Attempting it without knowing what to expect is one of Dutch food culture’s more memorable initiations.

The Scheveningen Pier has a bungee jump (EUR 85), a zip line (EUR 30), and a Ferris wheel (EUR 10) — the views from all three are spectacular on a clear day. The beach itself stretches for miles in both directions and is genuinely pleasant for swimming in July and August (water temperature reaches about 18°C — bracing by Mediterranean standards but perfectly tolerable).

Where to Eat and Drink

The Hague’s food scene benefits from its role as a diplomatic capital — the international community supports restaurants that a city of this size would not normally sustain:

• Garoeda on Kneuterdijk — the best Indonesian restaurant in The Hague (high praise in a Dutch city), with rijsttafel for EUR 28-35 per person and a gracious colonial-era interior.
• Brasserie Het Panorama in the Panorama Mesdag building — lunch in the same building as one of the most remarkable paintings in the Netherlands (the Panorama Mesdag, a 360-degree painting of the Scheveningen coast from 1881). The brasserie itself is solid; the combination with the panorama is unique. Museum entry EUR 12.50.
• Walter Benedict on the Denneweg — an excellent cafe-bar in the Hague’s most charming shopping street. Sandwiches EUR 8-12, coffee EUR 3.50, and a terrace that fills up on sunny afternoons.
• Simonis aan de Haven in Scheveningen — the fish restaurant on the harbor. Fresh catch daily, the best kibbeling (battered fried cod, EUR 8) in the Netherlands, and views of the fishing fleet.
• For fine dining, Calla’s holds a Michelin star and serves a Dutch-French tasting menu (EUR 75-95) in an elegant townhouse near the Lange Voorhout.

Where to Stay

Most visitors treat The Hague as a day trip, but staying overnight lets you combine the city with Scheveningen beach and Delft (15 minutes by train):

• Budget: Kingkool Den Haag (from EUR 30/night for a dorm bed) — a well-designed hostel near the Binnenhof with private rooms available.
• Mid-range: Paleis Hotel (from EUR 120/night) — a handsome hotel on the Molenstraat, a short walk from the Mauritshuis and Binnenhof. The rooms are spacious by Dutch standards.
• Splurge: Hotel Des Indes (from EUR 250/night) — The Hague’s grand hotel, on the Lange Voorhout. Originally a baron’s mansion, now a Marriott property with period furnishings, a magnificent lobby, and the kind of old-world elegance that diplomatic capitals do well.

Practical Information

Getting around: The Hague’s center is walkable — the Mauritshuis, Binnenhof, and Peace Palace are all within 20 minutes on foot. Tram 1 runs from Den Haag Centraal to Scheveningen beach in 20 minutes (EUR 3.50 single, or use your OV-chipkaart). Bikes are available from OV-fiets at the station.

Weather: Maritime North Sea climate. Summer 18-22°C, winter 2-7°C. Scheveningen is windier than the city center — bring a layer even on sunny summer days. The beach pavilions provide shelter.

Language: English is spoken universally — The Hague’s international community (expats, diplomats, international organization staff) means English is practically a second official language here.

Pronunciation: The Hague in Dutch is “Den Haag” (den HAHG). Scheveningen (SKAY-ven-ing-en) is famously difficult for non-Dutch speakers — during WWII, it was allegedly used as a shibboleth to identify German spies, though the historical evidence for this is debated.

Day trip combination: The Hague + Delft (15 minutes by train) is the natural pairing and one of the best day trips from Amsterdam. Both cities are compact, the train connection is frequent, and the combination of Vermeer’s painting (The Hague) and Vermeer’s city (Delft) makes a thematically coherent day.