Going out alone in The Hague: bars and cafes where that is normal

Every Wednesday the Boterwaag on the Grote Markt turns into a Latin dance floor.

There is a free workshop from nine, the night itself runs from ten until one, entry is free, and the venue’s own instruction is that you do not need to register, just come along.

No partner, no booking, no prior skill.

It is the single lowest-barrier way to arrive somewhere in this city on your own and end up talking to people.

The square that is built for it

The Grote Markt has been an entertainment quarter since the 1970s and it has one feature that matters enormously to a person on their own: you can order from any of the venues around the square and sit anywhere on it.

Vavoom, Cafe Zeta, De Zwarte Ruiter, September, Hoender en Hop, De Boterwaag, Nationaal and PizzaFM all share the same outdoor space, and nobody polices which chair belongs to which bar.

That removes the awkward part.

You are not a single person occupying a four-top; you are one of several hundred people on a square.

Hoender en Hop opens at eight in the morning, the earliest on the square, and De Zwarte Ruiter has been the heart of the Grote Markt since 1988 and opens at eleven every day with free live music at weekends.

De Boterwaag itself sits in a seventeenth-century monument and calls itself the city cafe of The Hague.

Its kitchen runs from ten in the morning until ten at night.

It is closed on Mondays, which catches people out.

Brown cafes where sitting at the bar is normal

The test of a proper brown cafe is whether there are stools at the bar and whether anyone looks at you when you take one.

The Oude Molstraat has three of them within fifty metres.

Cafe de Oude Mol at number 61 is the best known, famous for a friendly bohemian atmosphere, melting candles on the tables, fairy lights over the bar and live music on Monday evenings.

It opens at five in the afternoon.

Huppel the Pub at number 21 describes itself as the brown beer cafe in the heart of The Hague and opens at four on weekdays and three at weekends.

Cafe Momfer de Mol at number 19 claims to be the most convivial cafe in the Netherlands and specialises in jenever and Dutch craft beer, though it does not publish its opening hours anywhere, so telephone or take your chances.

For beer specifically, De Paas on the Dunne Bierkade has over ten beers on tap and more than 150 in bottle, along with whiskies, jenevers and liqueurs, and puts a terrace boat on the canal in summer.

Cafe de la Gare on the Nieuwe Schoolstraat runs ten taps and around 180 bottles and is closed on Mondays.

Kompaan, the Hague brewery, has a bar at Torenstraat 49 in the centre and its Thuishaven taproom with twenty taps at Saturnusstraat 57 in the Binckhorst.

If you would rather eat than drink, Gastropub Van Kinsbergen on the Prins Hendrikplein describes itself as a cross between a Dutch grand cafe and a London gastropub and serves bar food all day and all evening, which is the specific thing that makes eating alone comfortable.

Bars and pubs in The Hague are concentrated in the centre, the Denneweg, the Hofkwartier and around the Prins Hendrikplein.

One correction to the usual advice about the Zeeheldenkwartier: the drinking is on the Prins Hendrikstraat and the Prins Hendrikplein, not on the Piet Heinstraat, which is the daytime shopping and eating street.

The Hague Social Club at Prins Hendrikstraat 53, the Blue Parrot at 105, Cafe Parley at 55A and Cafe Pomegranate at 113 are the ones the neighbourhood’s own business association lists.

The fixed weekly things, which are what you actually want

A single visit to a bar is a drink.

A weekly fixture is how you start recognising faces, and The Hague has more of them in English than its size suggests.

Quizzes. O’Casey’s Irish Pub on the Noordeinde runs the longest-standing one, every Thursday from 20.00 to 22.30, eight rounds, 17.50 euro per team with a maximum of six per team.

Note that it is priced per team rather than per person, which means a solo arrival needs to join one on the night.

Say so at the bar and someone will take you.

Kompaan Binnenhaven also runs a Thursday quiz, presented in English and Dutch.

The Fiddler on the Riviervismarkt hosts a proper English pub quiz from 20.30, but fortnightly on Tuesdays rather than weekly, so check the dates.

The Sherlock Pub on the Sumatrastraat runs one on Saturday evenings from 20.00.

Murphy’s Law, contrary to several listings, does not run a quiz at all.

Comedy in English. O’Casey’s has stand-up every Monday from 19.00 to 22.00 at 9.50 euro.

Bonobo on the Raamstraat runs English-language stand-up nights on Wednesdays from 19.30 with six to eight comedians and free entry, though its own page contradicts itself on whether that is every two or every three weeks, so check.

The Hague English Comedy Nights are ticketed at 22.50 euro with two showtimes at 19.00 and 21.00, at Theatre Branoul on the Maliestraat, roughly ten times a year rather than weekly.

ImproNation runs a drop-in improv workshop every Sunday at 14.00 for 15 euro, in English, at the Zandvlietcollege.

Comedy and improv in The Hague is a small scene and the same faces run most of it.

Music. September on the Grote Markt has live jazz every Tuesday from 21.30, free, with an open jam session afterwards, and funk sessions on the second and fourth Thursday.

De Oude Mol has live music on Mondays.

O’Casey’s runs an open mic on the first Friday of the month at 19.00, free, and has done for over ten years.

Murphy’s Law on the Dr. Kuyperstraat does live jazz on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, with tickets at 10 euro for the larger nights, and is closed Sundays and Mondays.

Live music venues in The Hague include Paard and SuperMarkt, both a short walk from the Grote Markt.

Board games. The Boardroom at Torenstraat 142 charges 6 euro a person for as many games as you like from a library of more than 700, dropping to 4.50 for groups of eleven or more.

It is closed on Mondays and explicitly invites walk-ins to see whether there is space, which is the right attitude for a solo visitor.

Tabletop Kingdom on the Korte Houtstraat runs gaming blocks on Thursdays and Friday evenings with no entry fee stated.

Language exchange. The Language Exchange Cafe meets every Wednesday, is free beyond buying your own drinks, and usually covers Dutch, Spanish, French and Italian, though it does not publish a start time.

The Dutch Language Cafe on the Herengracht runs its all-languages Taalcafe on the fourth Thursday of the month from 19.30 to 21.30, free for members, and shorter Dutch-practice drop-ins on Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons at 13.00.

The free library conversation groups described in how to actually make friends in The Hague run in 22 locations and cost nothing at all.

Sunday mornings. The Happy Legs Run Club meets every Sunday at 09.00 at Thrive Coffee House on the Douzastraat with no registration required.

The Hague Hash House Harriers, who describe themselves as a drinking club with a running problem, meet on Wednesdays and charge non-members 7 euro for a single run including beer and snacks.

More organised sport is in sports clubs and how joining one works here.

Daytime, if evenings are not your thing

Kaafi at Prinsestraat 25 opens ten until four, seven days a week, and is the sort of place where people sit alone with a book without anyone minding.

Several guides give its address as Spui 130, which is wrong.

Filtro on the Papestraat opens nine until six every day.

Thrive Coffee House on the Douzastraat has a room set aside for working.

Cafes in The Hague vary enormously in whether a laptop is welcome, and the honest test is whether anyone else has one out.

How to do it without it feeling like a project

Sit at the bar, not at a table.

This is the whole technique.

A stool at the bar is a public position and a table for one is a private one, and Dutch bar staff will talk to you in English without being asked.

Go early rather than late.

Places that open at eleven in the morning are places where a single customer is unremarkable; the same bar at half past midnight is a different room.

Weeknights are better than Saturdays for the same reason.

Go back.

The second visit is when the bartender recognises you and the fourth is when someone else does, and there is no shortcut through that.

Pick two places near where you live and use them, rather than working through a list.

And be direct about it.

Asking whether a quiz team needs a sixth, or whether a seat at a table is taken, works here in a way that hinting does not, for exactly the reasons set out in Dutch directness.

Almost all of the above runs in English, so whether you need Dutch is not the barrier people expect.

Two places not to bother looking for, because both get recommended as Hague venues and neither is one: Cafe ‘t Klooster is in Delft and Locus Publicus is in Rotterdam.

The rest of what there is to do here, alone or otherwise, is in things to do in The Hague and Centrum and the Chinatown end.

If a bar is not the answer for you, volunteering, a course or a club membership get you to the same place by a different route.

Sources

• De Boterwaag (boterwaag.nl), Grote Markt 8a, 2511 BG: “Elke woensdag Salsa avond!”, “Inschrijven is niet nodig, kom gewoon gezellig langs!”, “iedereen is welkom”, “Gratis entree!”, with a free workshop 21.00 to 22.00 and the salsa night 22.00 to 01.00; DenHaag.com independently describing how “every Wednesday evening, the Boterwaag transforms into a Latin dance floor” with free entry from 10pm; the venue closed Mondays, open Tuesday and Wednesday 11.00 to 01.00, Thursday to Saturday 11.00 to 01.30 and Sunday 11.00 to 23.00, kitchen daily 10.00 to 22.00, in “a beautiful seventeenth-century monumental building”
• DenHaag.com and gmdh.nl on the Grote Markt: “The Grote Markt in the city centre of The Hague is a former market square surrounded by bars and clubs”; venues Vavoom, Cafe Zeta, Zwarte Ruiter, September, Hoender en Hop, Boterwaag, Nationaal and PizzaFM; Hoender en Hop at Grote Markt 25 opening 08.00 on weekdays. De Zwarte Ruiter (zwarteruiter.nl), Grote Markt 27: “De Zwarte Ruiter is sinds 1988 het hart van de Grote Markt in Den Haag”, open from 11.00 daily with free-entry live music at weekends
• DenHaag.com on Cafe de Oude Mol, Oude Molstraat 61, 2513 BA: “Located in one of the oldest streets of The Hague, cafe De Oude Mol is famous for its friendly bohemian vibe, delicious bar snacks and live music on Monday evenings”; open from 17.00, to 01.00 Sunday to Wednesday and 02.00 Thursday to Saturday. Huppel the Pub (huppel-the-pub.com), Oude Molstraat 21: “Het bruine Biercafe in het hart van Den Haag”, Monday to Friday 16.00 to 01.00 and weekends from 15.00. Cafe Momfer de Mol (cafemomfer.nl), Oude Molstraat 19: “het gezelligste cafe van Nederland”; opening hours not published
• DenHaag.com on Cafe De Paas, Dunne Bierkade 16A: “Serving over 10 beers on tap, over 150 bottled beers and countless whiskies, Dutch gins and liqueurs”; Monday to Thursday 16.00 to 01.00, Friday and Saturday 15.00 to 01.30, Sunday 15.00 to 01.00; the venue’s own site was returning HTTP 500. Cafe de la Gare (delagare.nl), Nieuwe Schoolstraat 13a: “ruim 180 bieren op fles en 10 tapkranen”; closed Mondays. Kompaan (kompaanbier.nl): Binnenhaven at Torenstraat 49 and Thuishaven at Saturnusstraat 57 with “20 tapkranen”. Gastropub Van Kinsbergen, Prins Hendrikplein 15: “Van Kinsbergen is een mix van een Nederlands grand cafe en de in Londen populaire gastropub” and “Bar food wordt de gehele dag en avond geserveerd”
• Zeeheldenkwartier business association directory (zeeheldenkwartier.com): drinking venues listed on the Prins Hendrikstraat and Prins Hendrikplein including The Hague Social Club at number 53, Blue Parrot Cafe at 105, Cafe Parley at 55A and Cafe Pomegranate at 113, with Marius Wijncafe at Piet Heinstraat 93
• O’Casey’s Irish Pub (ocaseys.nl), Noordeinde 140, 2514 GP: “Play the weekly pubquiz with your friends! 8 rounds, 17.50 per team, max 6 know-it-alls per team”, every Thursday 20.00 to 22.30; “Every Monday a fun night of comedy on our main stage”, 19.00 to 22.00 at 9.50 euro; open mic on the first Friday of the month at 19.00, “For over 10 years the best OpenMic in town!”. The Fiddler (fiddler.nl), Riviervismarkt 1: “A proper English pub quiz hosted by the amazing Question Mark”, “8:30 pm – 11 pm”, on alternate Tuesdays; closed Mondays. Sherlock Pub (sherlockdenhaag.nl), Sumatrastraat 314: quiz at 20.00 on Saturday nights. Murphy’s Law publishes no quiz on its own site
• Bonobo (bonobodenhaag.nl), Raamstraat 15, 2512 BX: “Live Engels gesproken Stand-up Comedy Night”, “De toegang tot de Stand-up Comedy Nights is gratis”, “6 TO 8 STAND-UP COMEDIANS, FROM STAND-UP COMEDY STAGE YOUNGSTERS TO EXPERIENCED VETERANS”, Wednesdays from 19.30, with the page giving inconsistent frequencies of two and three weeks. The Hague English Comedy Nights at Theatre Branoul, Maliestraat 12: “Two showtimes to choose from each date at 19,00 and 21,00”, “Entry: 22,50 eur”, roughly ten times a year. ImproNation (impronation.nl): “The one and only improv group that offers improv courses and performs in the English languague in The Hague”, weekly drop-in workshop Sundays 14.00 at 15 euro, at Zandvlietcollege, Bezuidenhoutseweg 40
• September, Grote Markt 26: “Elke dinsdagavond klinkt er live jazz vanuit wijnbar September”, with “aansluitend ruimte voor een jamsessie”, “Gratis”, from 21.30, plus funk sessions on the second and fourth Thursday. Murphy’s Law, Dr. Kuyperstraat 7: live jazz Thursday, Friday and Saturday, “Tickets 10,- p.p.” for Saturdays and larger Thursday shows; closed Sunday and Monday
• The Boardroom Den Haag (the-boardroom.nl), Torenstraat 142, 2513 BW: “Voor 6,- per persoon per bezoek kun je zoveel spellen spelen als je wilt…Vanaf 11 personen betaal je 4,50 per persoon”, “Met meer dan 700 bordspellen”, “Je kunt natuurlijk altijd gewoon langslopen om te zien of we plek hebben”; closed Mondays. Tabletop Kingdom, Korte Houtstraat 13: gaming blocks Thursday 11.00 to 21.00 and Friday evening 18.30 to 21.00
• Language Exchange Cafe The Hague (languagecafethehague.nl): “Every week on Wednesday!”, “Free way of learning. Only expectation is to order drinks”, “Usually there is Dutch, Spanish, French and Italian. But you can ask for other languages too!”; start time not published. Dutch Language Cafe (dutchlanguagecafe.com), Herengracht 13A: Taalcafe “every fourth Thursday of the month”, 19.30 to 21.30, “Participation in the Taalcafe is free for members! You only pay for the drinks you order at the bar”; Kletsmomentje Friday, Saturday and Sunday 13.00 to 14.00
• Happy Legs Run Club, every Sunday at 09.00 from Thrive Coffee House, Douzastraat 1, “no need to register, just show up”, as listed on the RunClubs.nl aggregator. The Hague Hash House Harriers (haguehash.nl): Wednesdays, “Just another drinking club with running problemses”, “non-members EUR 7.00 for a single run (includes beer and snacks)”
• Kaafi, Prinsestraat 25, 2513 CA: “10.00 – 16.00 Seven Days A Week (Kitchen Closes at 15.00)”. Filtro, Papestraat 11, 2513 AV: “MONDAY TO SUNDAY 09:00 – 18:00”. Thrive Coffee House, Douzastraat 1: “een lokale koffie bar waar je even kan ontspannen en verbinden. Ook hebben we een ruimte waar je kan co-werken”
• Not in The Hague, despite frequent listing as such: Cafe Het Klooster gives its address as Vlamingstraat 2, 2611 KW Delft, and Locus Publicus as Oostzeedijk 364, 3063 CD Rotterdam