Twenty things to do in The Hague

Start with the two you cannot do.

The Binnenhof, the parliamentary complex that appears on every postcard of this city, is closed to the public for its renovation and stayed closed even for Open Monumentendag in 2026.

The Haags Historisch Museum on the Korte Vijverberg is shut too, for a renewal running from 2024 to 2028, and says so plainly on its own front page.

Plan around both and you will not waste a morning.

What is left is a city that packs an unusual amount into a small centre, plus eleven kilometres of coast at the end of a tram line.

Prices below are as published in September 2026.

The five that justify the trip

1. Panorama Mesdag. A painting 114.5 metres round and 14.6 metres high, the largest in the Netherlands, opened on 1 August 1881 and still standing in the building made for it, which makes it the oldest panorama in the world in its original location.

You climb an artificial dune and look at Scheveningen as it was.

Adults 17.50 euro, everyone under 19 free, Zeestraat 65, Tuesday to Sunday 10.00 to 17.00.

Nothing else in the city is like it.

2. The Mauritshuis. Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring and Rembrandt’s Anatomy Lesson, in a seventeenth-century town palace at Plein 29, for 21 euro with under-19s free.

Small, and all the better for it.

3. The Prince William V Gallery, five minutes away at the Buitenhof.

The first museum in the Netherlands, more than 150 old masters hung floor to ceiling in the eighteenth-century manner, 8.50 euro alone or 24 as a combined ticket with the Mauritshuis.

Almost nobody makes the five-minute walk, which is exactly why you should.

4. Kunstmuseum Den Haag, Stadhouderslaan 41, 22 euro, closed Mondays.

Its own description of its holdings is “a treasure chamber of over 160.000 pieces of art”, it has the largest Mondrian collection anywhere, and the fashion and applied-art wings turn over independently of the paintings.

5. The beach. Free, eleven kilometres of it, twenty minutes from the centre on tram 9 or 11.

In March it is empty and dogs may run loose; in July it is the busiest place in the province.

Which stretch to pick and when is in Scheveningen and the coast, season by season.

Six more museums, and how they rank

6. Escher in Het Paleis, Lange Voorhout 74, 14.50 euro, Tuesday to Sunday 11.00 to 17.00.

Escher’s prints in Queen Emma’s former winter palace.

It is the one museum in the city that does not accept the Museumkaart, so price it as a real 14.50 rather than a free visit.

7. Museum Beelden aan Zee, Harteveltstraat 1, dug into the dune behind the Scheveningen boulevard.

Sculpture indoors and on a terrace facing the sea, 22 euro, Tuesday to Sunday 10.00 to 17.00.

8. Rijksmuseum de Gevangenpoort, Buitenhof 33.

A medieval gatehouse used as a prison, 15 euro, with the audio tour included and a guided tour for 5 euro more.

Take the guided one; the building is small and the guides carry it.

9. The Louwman Museum, Leidsestraatweg 57, more than 275 cars for 20 euro.

It looks remote and is not: bus 385 from Den Haag Centraal takes eight minutes and the stop is three minutes from the door.

10. Museon-Omniversum, Stadhouderslaan 37, 17.95 euro for an adult including one film in the dome theatre.

Open every day from 09.30 and until 21.00 from Thursday to Sunday, which makes it one of the few late options in the city.

11. Madurodam, which is the overrated one.

It opens 365 days a year, it charges 14.95 euro just to park, and it does not print its entry price anywhere outside its own booking engine.

It is a full-price family day out rather than an afternoon, and a straight comparison with the money going on a train to Delft is not flattering.

All eleven are compared properly in the museums, ranked by whether they are worth a second visit.

Four that cost nothing

12. The Noordeinde galleries. The street runs past the king’s working palace and the tourist board calls it “de kunststraat van Nederland”: sculpture, contemporary photography, antique jewellery, art nouveau, art deco and design, in windows you can walk past for free.

Art galleries in The Hague are more concentrated here than anywhere else in the country outside Amsterdam.

13. The Japanese Garden at Clingendael. Free, and open for only a few weeks in spring and a few in autumn because the moss and the planting cannot take the footfall.

No dogs, no buggies, capacity limits, and it closes in heavy rain.

Check the gemeente’s page for the current dates before setting out; it is the single most missed thing in this city.

14. The Binnenhof viewpoint. While the parliament complex is closed, the renovation project runs a free viewpoint and information centre, which is the only way to look down on the Hofvijver at the moment.

15. The Lange Voorhout antiques and book market, Thursdays and Sundays 10.00 to 18.00 through the warmer half of the year, free to walk round.

More of this sort of thing is in free things to do in The Hague.

Three that are about the city rather than its attractions

16. De Passage. Opened on 4 May 1885 and the oldest covered shopping arcade in the Netherlands, the only survivor of the four Dutch passages, ranked with Milan and Brussels among the finest in Europe.

Ten minutes and no ticket.

17. The Hofkwartier. The block behind the palace taking in the Prinsestraat, Molenstraat, Oude Molstraat and Papestraat, defined by the city’s own retail plan as an area of specialist shops selling art, fashion, jewellery, design and food.

It is five minutes from the Grote Marktstraat and a different century, and it is where to eat rather than on the main drag.

The full geography is in the shopping streets and what each is for.

18. The Haagse Markt, Herman Costerstraat, Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, roughly 08.45 to 17.00.

Three walkways of over 450 metres, more than 500 stalls, and the largest open-air goods market in the Netherlands.

Go on a Monday morning if you want to see it rather than queue in it.

It and the other seven markets are in the Haagse Markt and the other markets, and the shops around it are in the international and specialist food shops.

Two you have to book

19. The Vredespaleis. You cannot wander in.

The grounds are open only as part of a guided tour, there are three of them, in the palace, around the palace and in the garden, and tickets appear online roughly two weeks ahead and go.

The Visitors Centre with its audio tour is separate.

Plan a fortnight out or do not plan it at all.

20. The Pier at Scheveningen. The ferris wheel stands 50 metres above sea level with 36 enclosed gondolas and a flight of 12 to 15 minutes; the bungy tower next to it is 60 metres and the zipline runs 350 metres at up to 70 kilometres an hour, with a jump at 120 euro.

Two warnings: the Pier’s website is pier.nl, because depier.nl now redirects to a holiday park in Brabant, and the whole structure is being redeveloped with full reopening expected in 2028.

Telephone before you travel.

What to do with a particular day

If it is raining, and in this city it will be, the indoor list is in a rainy day in The Hague.

If you have children with you, the version that actually works is in The Hague with children.

And if you have done the lot, Delft is fifteen minutes away and eleven other places are inside an hour, in day trips within an hour.

One route for a first day, in order: Panorama Mesdag at opening, walk down to the Noordeinde and through the Hofkwartier, lunch there, the Mauritshuis in the afternoon, then the Prince William V Gallery on the same ticket if the legs hold.

Everything on that list is within fifteen minutes’ walk of everything else and of Den Haag Centraal.

Museums and attractions in The Hague are unusually concentrated for a city of 570,000 people.

One route for a second day: tram 9 to Scheveningen, Beelden aan Zee, along the boulevard to the Pier, back through the harbour for fish.

The beach pavilions are open from March to October and four of them stay open all year.

The residential side of both routes is in Centrum and the Statenkwartier.

Sources

• Binnenhof renovation (binnenhofrenovatie.nl), on Open Monumentendag 2026: “omdat onze deuren helaas gesloten blijven”; the viewpoint and information centre remain open. Haags Historisch Museum (haagshistorischmuseum.nl): “Het museum is op dit moment gesloten”, under “Vernieuwing Haags Historisch Museum 2024-2028”
• Museum Panorama Mesdag (panorama-mesdag.nl): “The seascape is 114,5m in circumference and 14,6m high, it is the largest painting of the Netherlands”; “The Panorama opened on 1 August 1881”; “the oldest panorama in the world still in its original location”; adults 17.50, ages 0 to 18 free; “Tuesday-Sunday, 10am to 5pm”; Zeestraat 65
• Mauritshuis (mauritshuis.nl/en/plan-your-visit/): Mauritshuis 21 euro, “Youth (under the age of 19) Free”, combination ticket with the Prince William V Gallery 24 euro and the Gallery alone 8.50; the Gallery “is the very first museum of the Netherlands” and is “home to the work of more than 150 old masters”; Plein 29; Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring and Rembrandt’s Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp named as the museum’s icons
• Kunstmuseum Den Haag (kunstmuseum.nl/en/visit): full price 22.00, “The museum is open daily from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM. On Mondays, the museum is Closed”; the homepage describing “a treasure chamber of over 160.000 pieces of art”; Stadhouderslaan 41
• Escher in Het Paleis (escherinhetpaleis.nl): entrance 14.50; “Tuesday to Sunday: 11.00-17.00”; Lange Voorhout 74; “the former winter palace of Queen Emma”; Museumkaart and VriendenLoterij VIP-KAART not accepted
• Museum Beelden aan Zee (beeldenaanzee.nl): “Dinsdag t/m zondag: 10:00-17:00 uur”; “Volwassenen 22,00”; Harteveltstraat 1, 2586 EL Den Haag
• Rijksmuseum de Gevangenpoort (gevangenpoort.nl): “Volwassenen (18 jaar en ouder): 15,00”; “Gebruik van een audiotour is gratis. Rondleiding: 5,- per deelnemer”; Buitenhof 33
• Louwman Museum (louwmanmuseum.nl): “Admission adult: EUR 20.00”; “more than 275 automobiles”; “bus line 385 stops. From The Hague Central Station the travel time is only 8 minutes” with a three-minute walk; Leidsestraatweg 57
• Museon-Omniversum (museon-omniversum.nl): “Dagkaart Volwassenen 17,95” including one dome film; “Maandag t/m zondag 9:30-17:00 uur, Donderdag t/m zondag en tijdens schoolvakanties 17:00-21:00 uur”; Stadhouderslaan 37
• Madurodam (madurodam.nl): “We’re open 365 days a year”; “Parking at Madurodam costs 14,95”; no entry price published outside the booking system as at 11 September 2026
• Den Haag Marketing (denhaag.com) on the Noordeinde: “De galeries maken Het Noordeinde tot de kunststraat van Nederland”, with sculpture, contemporary photography, antique jewellery, art nouveau, art deco and design. Binnenstadsmanagement Den Haag (binnenstaddenhaag.org/branchering-per-gebied/) on the Hofkwartier: “Speciaalzaken. Aan de Prinsestraat, Molenstraat en Oude Molstraat vinden bezoekers winkels met kunst, mode, sieraden, design en eten”
• Japanse tuin, Park Clingendael (denhaag.nl): “Een bezoek aan de Japanse Tuin blijft gratis”; “De Japanse tuin is op dit moment gesloten. In het najaar is de tuin weer een paar weken open”; “Niet toegestaan zijn: honden, buggy’s en elektrisch aangedreven hulpmiddelen”; “Bij slecht weer, bijvoorbeeld tijdens harde regenval, kan de tuin tijdelijk worden gesloten”; visitor capacity limits and online reservation
• De Passage (depassage.nl and denhaag.com/en/passage): “De Passage werd op 4 mei 1885 officieel geopend in Den Haag door wethouder Vaillant”; “het oudste overdekte winkelcentrum van Nederland”; “The Hague Passage ranks with the passages of Milan, Moscow and Brussels among the most beautiful shopping galleries still in existence in Europe”
• De Haagse Markt (dehaagsemarkt.nl and denhaag.nl/nl/vrije-tijd-en-recreatie/markten-in-den-haag/): “de grootste onoverdekte warenmarkt in Nederland”; “3 looppaden van ruim 450 meter lang”; “maandag, woensdag, vrijdag en zaterdag van 8.45 tot 17.00 uur”; denhaag.com giving “more than 500 stalls”. Lange Voorhout antique and book market, Thursdays and Sundays 10.00 to 18.00, free admission
• Vredespaleis (vredespaleis.nl/bezoek/): “Het terrein van het Vredespaleis kan alleen worden bezocht als onderdeel van een rondleiding. Er zijn drie verschillende rondleidingen: in het paleis, rondom het paleis en in de tuin. Tickets voor de rondleidingen worden ongeveer twee weken van tevoren online aangeboden op de website”
• The Pier: pier.nl, Strandweg 150-154; depier.nl issues a 301 redirect to sandberghe.nl, a holiday park in Uden. Ferris wheel specification from skyviewdepier.nl: 50 metres above sea level, “36 closed gondolas”, “12 tot 15 minutes flights”. Bungy Scheveningen (bungy.nl): tower “60 meter hoog”, zipline “350 meter” at “tot 70 km/u”, “JUMP 120”. Redevelopment plan reported by denhaag.com, 11 September 2024: RE:BORN, renovation from early 2026, full reopening expected 2028
• Population figure of 569,468 for Den Haag in 2026, as used across this site, from the gemeente’s own statistics