Trenes a La Haya

The Hague is a place with capital-city pretensions. It is the seat of government for the Kingdom of the Netherlands and that guarantees that this city of half a million has more than its fair share of politicians, diplomats and movers and shakers in the policy community. In terms of the tourist scene, The Hague is curiously overlooked. That’s a pity, as it’s a lively and amiable city with heaps to offer.

First the name: in Dutch it’s called ’s-Gravenhage or more simply just Den Haag. Our booking system recognises the name Den Haag but you can also use the Anglicised variant The Hague. The city has two main railway stations, one is a modern terminus called Centraal station and the other is Den Haag HS. Six trains per hour shuttle between the two stations. Den Haag HS lies about a 20-minute walk south of the parliament complex at Binnenhof; it is much the more important of the two stations, and has at least four trains each hour to both Amsterdam and Rotterdam, as well as occasional direct trains to Antwerp and Brussels.

The Hague is a city of gracious parks and fine museums. Check out the Mauritshuis Museum which showcases the work of Rembrandt and other Dutch painters.

The Hague morphs into the seaside town of Scheveningen – the pretty fishing port which inspired 17th-century Dutch artists is still there, but nowadays surrounded by all the commerce and attractions which sustain Scheveningen’s reputation as a great place for sun, sea and sand. In the other direction, The Hague merges into Delft which is famous for its ceramics and its picture-perfect town centre. Don’t miss it. It’s just a few minutes on the train from either of the two stations in Den Haag.