The Hague with children

The city runs more than 500 play areas and inspects every one of them four times a year.

It also runs ten city farms, all open Tuesday to Sunday from 09.00 to 17.00, all wheelchair accessible inside and out, and the gemeente’s own page lists no admission charge for any of them.

Before you spend anything on a child in The Hague, know that the free layer here is unusually thick.

What follows is what things actually cost in September 2026, and which of the commercial options are worth it.

The ten city farms, which are the best free thing in the city

De Woelige Stal at Herman Costerstraat 80 and Schildershoeve at Teniersplantsoen 83 serve the centre.

Op den Dijk at Bovendijk 141 and De Herweijerhoeve at Anna Polakweg 7 are in Escamp; De Reigershof at Reigersbergenweg 280 in Haagse Hout; Molenweide at Stuwstraat 31 in Laak; Landzigt at Aristoteleslaan 143 in Ypenburg and Leidschenveen; De Kakelhof at Puccinistraat 215 in Loosduinen; ‘t Waaygat at Havenkade 75 in Scheveningen; and De Gagelhoeve at Mient 210 in Segbroek.

All ten keep the same hours and all are closed on Mondays.

Children can help look after the animals by arrangement with the farm manager, which is the part that turns a twenty-minute visit into a Saturday morning.

Playgrounds

The 500-odd play areas run from toddler swings up to trapveldjes, basketball courts and urban sports spots for teenagers.

Three are designed specifically for children with a disability: Van Campenvaart in Ypenburg, Melis Stokepark in Morgenstond and Billie Holiday in Waldeck.

The scheme worth knowing about is the Haagse Hopjes, lending points on playgrounds in almost every district where children can borrow skipping ropes, scooters and balls when the schools are shut.

It is free and it exists in part to make the long Dutch holidays survivable.

Playgrounds and indoor play in The Hague are otherwise mostly unstaffed and open.

The parks children actually use

Zuiderpark has three play meadows totalling 14 hectares, several playgrounds, the Zuiderpret nature playground, a skate park, a western-themed play area, a six-metre play castle and a riding school with ponies.

Its arboretum holds 695 tree species, which is a fact for the adult in the party.

The Haagse Bos is the oldest protected forest in western Europe, safeguarded for over 450 years by the Akte van Redemptie, which forbids felling it to sell the timber.

There are fallow and red deer, the Koekamp with its ponds, and two speelbossen, Robin Hood and Huttenbos, where the entire point is that children build huts out of loose branches.

It starts at Boslaan 10 to 12 and you can walk into it from Den Haag Centraal in three minutes.

Meijendel, the largest continuous dune area in South Holland, is free to enter and free to park at the Meijendelseweg entrance.

Two neighbouring areas are not: Kijfhoek and Bierlap, and Solleveld at Monster, each charge 2 euro for a day card.

One to avoid a wasted journey over: Park Sorghvliet is a national monument and requires an annual pass, so it is the one green space in the city you cannot simply walk into.

Swimming, and the thing that makes it cheap

Public swimming in a gemeente pool costs 4.90 euro a visit, or 4.20 for under-14s and over-65s.

A twelve-visit card is 49 euro and you pay for ten; a 25-visit card is 98 and you pay for twenty.

The youth and senior versions are 42 and 84.

The pools are De Blinkerd in Scheveningen, Het Hofbad in Leidschenveen-Ypenburg, De Houtzagerij in the centre, Overbosch in Haagse Hout, De Waterthor in Loosduinen and Het Zuiderpark in Escamp, plus Escamphof, which is a supervised therapeutic pool rather than an open swim.

Het Hofbad has the slide, the diving tower, the whirlpool and the wild-water creek; Het Zuiderpark has a 40-metre slide.

Note that roadworks make the Hofbad difficult to reach until 23 October 2026.

Swimming lessons are a Dutch rite of passage and the gemeente runs them.

Registration is 12.50 euro, a single lesson is 7.20 for anyone up to 15, and a monthly subscription is 28.80.

You do not pay in July and August.

Swimming schools in The Hague and the pools themselves both fill up, so put a four-year-old on a list early.

The Ooievaarspas, which changes everything if you qualify

For a household on a low income the card is transformative rather than marginal.

Under Kinderen Doen Mee, a child up to and including 17 gets one sporting activity and one cultural activity a year at a 100% discount, and free participation in diploma swimming A, B and C.

Swimming lessons are free for under-18s and pool entry is half price for every cardholder.

Library membership is free, children travel free on HTM trams, RandstadRail and HTMbuzz, and through Stichting Leergeld there are school supplies, loaned computers, bicycles for ages 10 to 17, free identity cards for 12 to 17 and free preschool from two and a half.

The card covers residents of Den Haag, Leidschendam-Voorburg and Rijswijk.

It is worth checking the income threshold rather than assuming you are over it, and the same applies to the national schemes in toeslagen and Dutch allowances.

Indoor play, with prices

Kids Eiland at the Megastores on the Van der Kunstraat is the big one: over 3,000 square metres for children from 0 to 12, at 8 euro for under-4s, 10 euro for 4 to 14 and just 2 euro for anyone of 15 and over, including the adult sitting with a coffee.

Monday 13.00 to 17.30, Tuesday to Sunday 10.00 to 17.30.

Ooievaarspas holders pay half.

That 2 euro adult rate is the cheapest way to sit down indoors with a child in this city.

Monkey Town at Jaap Edenweg 10 in De Uithof charges 10.95 euro from one year up, with a toddler rate of 5.95 for ages 1 to 3 on weekday mornings before 11.30 outside the school holidays.

Accompanying adults and babies under one are free, and a ten-visit card is 75 euro.

It says it opens seven days a week but does not publish daily hours, so check before you set off.

Zuiderparadijs, upstairs at Mr. P. Droogleever Fortuynweg 79 in the Zuiderpark, has an indoor mini-car circuit, slides, trampolines and a toddler area, and is wheelchair accessible.

It is closed Mondays and Tuesdays, opens Wednesday 12.00 to 17.00, Friday 10.00 to 13.00 for toddlers and then 13.00 to 17.00, and Saturday and Sunday 10.00 to 17.00.

It does not publish prices.

De Klimmuur at Waldorpstraat 15, next to Hollands Spoor, is the climbing option and it is open late: Monday to Thursday 13.00 to 23.00, Friday 09.00 to 23.00, Saturday 09.00 to 18.00 and Sunday 09.00 to 21.00.

There is a second hall at De Uithof.

Two names to cross off.

Ballorig has no branch in The Hague or anywhere near it.

Jump XL Den Haag has closed, and the nearest trampoline park is in Rijswijk.

Museums, where children are often free

This is the part people underuse.

Under-19s are free at both the Mauritshuis and the Kunstmuseum, everyone from 0 to 18 is free at Panorama Mesdag, and under-12s are free at Museum Beelden aan Zee.

A Museumkaart for a child up to and including 18 is 39 euro against 75 for an adult, and it covers more than 500 museums nationally.

The one built for children is the Kinderboekenmuseum inside the Literatuurmuseum: closed Mondays, Tuesday to Friday 10.30 to 17.00 and Saturday and Sunday 09.00 to 17.00, with a 09.00 weekend opening that is genuinely useful with small children.

Under-2s are free and everyone from two years up pays 14 euro, students and CJP 10.50, Museumkaart free, and a family ticket for four is 48 euro.

You must book online; there are no walk-ins.

Museon-Omniversum is 14.95 for a child of 4 to 11 including a film in the dome theatre, and it stays open until 21.00 from Thursday to Sunday and in the school holidays.

LEGOLAND Discovery Centre at Scheveningen is from 21 euro and is explicitly for ages 4 to 12, with entry closing at 14.30, so it is a morning rather than an afternoon.

The full ranking is in the museums, ranked.

The paid days out, and whether they are worth it

Drievliet is the one to book first.

Its address is Laan van ‘s-Gravenmade, and despite everyone calling it a Rijswijk park the postal address is Den Haag.

A day ticket for anyone over 90 centimetres is 33.50 euro, with an offer price of 24.50 running on its own site, and parking is 9.95.

Tram 15 from Den Haag HS or Centraal stops at Laan van ‘s-Gravenmade, which removes the parking charge entirely.

Madurodam is the one to think hardest about.

It does not print its entry price anywhere outside its booking engine and it charges 14.95 euro to park.

For a family of four it is a significant day and the competition is a train to Delft for 2.50 a child.

That last point is the general one: the Railrunner lets a child of 4 to 11 travel anywhere on the Dutch rail network all day for 2.50 euro, up to three children per adult.

It makes the day trips within an hour cheaper than most afternoons in the city.

Duinrell in Wassenaar, with its 40-plus attractions and the 21-slide Tikibad, is twenty minutes away and covered there too.

The beach with children

Lifeguards are on the Hague beaches from May to September, and the city runs a reception point for lost children and hands out wristbands.

Take one on the first day.

Which stretch of the eleven kilometres suits you, and when dogs and bicycles are allowed on it, is in Scheveningen and the coast, season by season.

Two free things that are not obvious

Library membership is free for everyone under 18 through the Jeugdpas, with fifteen items at a time and ten children’s e-books and audiobooks every three weeks.

Regional press reports that from 4 January 2027 membership becomes free for all Hague residents and fines are abolished, though the library’s own membership page has not yet been updated to say so.

And the Kunstmuseum runs free evenings for city residents under Stad naar het Museum, with the bus, the entry, the activities and the drinks all free, working through the districts: 21 October 2026 for Escamp, 11 November for Laak, 9 December for Centrum and Scheveningen, 20 January 2027 for Leidschenveen-Ypenburg and Segbroek, and 3 February for Haagse Hout and Loosduinen.

More of that sort of thing is in free things to do in The Hague, the wet-weather version is in a rainy day in The Hague, and the general list is in twenty things to do in The Hague.

Joining a club, which is how children here actually make friends, is in sports clubs and how joining one works, and the childcare side is in daycare, BSO and the childcare benefit.

Children’s activities and classes in The Hague run through the school year rather than the calendar year, so sign up in August.

Sources

• Gemeente Den Haag, speelplekken in de stad (denhaag.nl/nl/opgroeien-en-opvoeden/speelplekken-in-de-stad/): “De gemeente heeft ruim 500 speelplekken in de stad”; “trapveldjes, basketbalvelden en urban buitensportplekken”; the three accessible playgrounds Van Campenvaart (Ypenburg), Melis Stokepark (Morgenstond) and Billie Holiday (Waldeck); the Haagse Hopjes lending points “in vrijwel alle stadsdelen”; “De gemeente controleert 4 keer per jaar alle speelplekken op veiligheid en functionaliteit”
• Gemeente Den Haag, stadsboerderijen (denhaag.nl/nl/vrije-tijd-en-recreatie/stadsboerderijen-in-den-haag/): ten farms, all “open from Tuesday through Sunday from 9.00 to 17.00 hours”, all wheelchair accessible including the buildings, children helping with the animals in consultation with the farm manager; addresses as listed in this article. No admission charge is stated on the page
• Gemeente Den Haag, kosten zwemactiviteiten (denhaag.nl/nl/sport/zwemmen-en-zwembaden/kosten-zwemactiviteiten/): “Prijs per keer 4,90” for 14 and over and 4,20 for under-14s and over-65s; “12-badenkaart (u betaalt voor 10 bezoeken) 49” and 42; “25-badenkaart (u betaalt voor 20 bezoeken) 98” and 84; “Ooievaarspas? Dan krijgt u 50% korting”. Kosten voor zwemles: inschrijfgeld 12,50, losse zwemles 7,20 to 15 years and 7,90 for 16 and over, maandabonnement 28,80 and 31,60, free lessons for under-18s on an Ooievaarspas, and no payment in July and August
• Gemeente Den Haag, zwembaden en voorzieningen and openingstijden (denhaag.nl/nl/sport/zwemmen-en-zwembaden/): De Blinkerd, Het Hofbad “veel baden, een glijbaan, duiktoren, whirlpool en wildwaterkreek”, De Houtzagerij, Overbosch, De Waterthor, Het Zuiderpark “recreatiebad met een glijbaan van 40 meter en een whirlpool”, and Escamphof as a supervised therapeutic pool; “Door werk aan de weg is het Hofbad tot en met 23 oktober 2026 slecht bereikbaar”
• Ooievaarspas (ooievaarspas.nl/veelgestelde-vragen/ and denhaag.nl/nl/geld-en-schulden/overzicht-ooievaarsregelingen/): Kinderen Doen Mee for “kinderen tot en met 17 jaar”, one sporting and one cultural activity a year “met 100% korting” plus free participation in “diplomazwemmen (A, B en C)”; free library membership; free travel for children on HTM trams, RandstadRail and HTMbuzz; through Stichting Leergeld, school supplies, loaned computers, bicycles for ages 10 to 17, free identity cards for 12 to 17 and free preschool from two and a half; valid for residents of Den Haag, Leidschendam-Voorburg and Rijswijk
• Kids Eiland (kidseiland.nl/tijdenenprijzen and megastoresdenhaag.nl): “Kinderen t/m 3 jaar 8,00”, “Kinderen 4 t/m 14 jaar 10,00”, “Vanaf 15 jaar en begeleiders 2,00”; “Maandag 13:00 tot 17:30 uur”, “Dinsdag t/m Zondag 10:00 tot 17:30 uur”; “Meer dan 3000m2 speelplezier voor kinderen van 0 tot met 12 jaar”; 50% off for Ooievaarspas holders. Two sources give slightly different street numbers on the Van der Kunstraat, so the street rather than the number is used here
• Monkey Town Den Haag (monkeytown.eu/nl/denhaag/): “Jaap Edenweg 10, 2544 NL Den Haag”; tariff page giving children from one year “10,95”, toddlers 1 to 3 “5,95” on weekday mornings before 11:30 outside school holidays, supervising adults of 18 and over “gratis!”, babies under one “gratis!” and a ten-visit card at “75”. Daily opening hours are not published on the site
• Zuiderparadijs (zuiderparkdenhaag.com): “Mr. P. Droogleever Fortuynweg 79, 2533 SP Den Haag”, first floor; closed Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday 12:00 to 17:00, Friday 10:00 to 13:00 and 13:00 to 17:00, Saturday and Sunday 10:00 to 17:00; wheelchair accessible; indoor mini-car circuit, slides, trampolines and a toddler area. Prices are not published
• De Klimmuur Den Haag Hollands Spoor (deklimmuur.nl): “Waldorpstraat 15, 2521 CA Den Haag”; Monday to Thursday 13:00 to 23:00, Friday 9:00 to 23:00, Saturday 9:00 to 18:00, Sunday 9:00 to 21:00; a second hall at De Uithof. Prices are not published on the venue page and are not quoted
• Ballorig (ballorig.nl): the location list contains no branch in Den Haag, Rijswijk, Zoetermeer, Delft or Wassenaar. Jump XL (jump-xl.com/nl/den-haag): the page is titled “Jump XL Den Haag (closed)”; the successor chain You Jump lists Rijswijk but no Den Haag
• Literatuurmuseum and Kinderboekenmuseum (literatuurmuseum.nl/nl/kom-op-bezoek/tickets-en-openingstijden): Monday “gesloten”, “Dinsdag t/m vrijdag 10:30-17:00”, “Zaterdag en zondag 9:00-17:00”; 0 to 1 free, “Iedereen vanaf 2 jaar 14,00”, students and CJP 10,50, Museumkaart free, “Familieticket (4 personen) 48,00”; “Het museum is alleen te bezoeken met een vooraf besteld online ticket”; closed on New Year’s Day, King’s Day, Liberation Day and Christmas Day, and closing at 15:00 on 5, 24 and 31 December
• Children’s admission at the other museums, from their own pages: Mauritshuis “Youth (under the age of 19) Free”; Kunstmuseum youth under 19 free; Panorama Mesdag ages 0 to 18 free; Beelden aan Zee “Kinderen t/m 12 jaar gratis”; Museon-Omniversum “Dagkaart Kind 4 t/m 11 jaar 14,95”; LEGOLAND Discovery Centre Scheveningen “voor gezinnen met kinderen van 4 tot en met 12 jaar”, “online vanaf 21”, entry closing at 14:30. Museumkaart (museum.nl): “39 voor jongeren tot en met 18 jaar en kinderen” against 75 for adults, covering “meer dan 500 musea”
• Drievliet (drievliet.nl/bezoek-plannen): day ticket from 90 centimetres, regular 33,50 with an offer price of 24,50; parking 9,95; “Familiepark Drievliet, Laan van ‘s-Gravenmade, 2495 BD Den Haag”; tram 15 from Den Haag HS or Centraal to halte Laan van ‘s-Gravenmade. The 2026 opening calendar loads dynamically and is not quoted
• Zuiderpark (zuiderparkdenhaag.com/bezoekers-informatie/): laid out in 1923 and officially opened in 1936; “3 speelweides” totalling 14 hectares; playgrounds, the Zuiderpret nature playground, a skate park, a western-themed play area, a six-metre play castle and pony riding at the manege. Gemeente Den Haag on the parks (denhaag.nl/nl/natuur-en-milieu/groen-en-bomen/parken-bossen-en-duinen/): the Zuiderpark arboretum with 695 tree species, and Park Sorghvliet as a rijksmonument requiring an annual pass
• Haagse Bos (staatsbosbeheer.nl/uit-in-de-natuur/locaties/haagse-bos): “Het oudst beschermde bos van West-Europa”, protected by the Akte van Redemptie, which says it “nimmer en te nooit mag worden gekapt met het doel om het hout te verkopen”; Speelbos Robin Hood and Speelbos Huttenbos; fallow and red deer and the Koekamp; Boslaan 10-12, 2594 NB, three minutes’ walk from the central station
• Dunea, duintarieven (dunea.nl/duinen/duintarieven): “De toegang tot een groot deel van duingebied Meijendel (Den Haag/Wassenaar) is gratis, ook het parkeren op de parkeerterreinen bij de ingang aan de Meijendelseweg is gratis”; “Een dagkaart voor het gebied Kijfhoek & Bierlap kost 2,00” and the same for Solleveld at Monster
• Bibliotheek Den Haag (bibliotheekdenhaag.nl/word-lid.html and /jeugd.html): the Jeugdpas is “Gratis” for everyone under 18, with 15 items at a time and “10 jeugd e-books en 10 luisterboeken per 3 weken”. Free membership for all Hague residents from 4 January 2027, with fines abolished, is reported by regional press (rodi.nl and voorburgsdagblad.nl) and is not yet stated on the library’s own membership page
• Kunstmuseum Den Haag, Stad naar het Museum (kunstmuseum.nl/nl/stad-naar-het-museum): “Het busvervoer, de toegang, alle activiteiten en de drankjes zijn gratis”; dates 21 October 2026 (Escamp), 11 November 2026 (Laak), 9 December 2026 (Centrum and Scheveningen), 20 January 2027 (Leidschenveen-Ypenburg and Segbroek) and 3 February 2027 (Haagse Hout and Loosduinen)
• NS consumer rates 2026 (ns.nl): “Railrunner: 2.50”. Gemeente Den Haag on beach safety (denhaag.nl): “Van mei tot september is een reddingsbrigade aanwezig. Ook is er op het strand opvang voor kinderen die hun ouders kwijt zijn. Er worden polsbandjes uitgedeeld”
• Deliberately not asserted: no street addresses for the swimming pools, because the gemeente’s page loads them dynamically; no separate diploma A, B and C examination fees, because none are published; no Drievliet opening calendar; and no prices for Zuiderparadijs or De Klimmuur, because neither publishes them