The Hague
 

We are flying into The Netherlands in mid-July. We have our accommodation booked in Amsterdam but thinking of taking the train to The Hague for two days beforehand.

Questions:

Can you take a train directly from the airport in Amsterdam to The Hague?
What part of The Hague should we stay?
Any boutique hotels you might recommend?
Any "must see" places?

Thanks,

Rick & Sherry

Yes you can get a train straight to Den haag. It takes 30-40 minutes depending on the train.

Must see places? Binnenhof, Mauritshuis, Peace Palace, Panorama Mesdag, Madurodam, Scheveningen, a day in Rotterdam, or Delft or Gouda or Dordrecht.

There are endless questions in this forum asking about train connections in Europe. Practically all the train companies have web sites. For Netherlands, it is http://www.ns.nl/. This gives you the routes, the schedule and the prices. For routes and schedule info, www.bahn.com is easier to use.

You can even use google for this. Google "Schiphol to Den Haag train" and it shows you the driving, train, walking (!), and bike(!) info.

If you googled "Netherlands train", you get the www.ns.nl as the first hit.

Hotel Des Indes is lovely, historic and in the nicest location in The Hague. Even if you don't stay there, go for a drink or tea.

I absolutely second Des Indes for tea

The Hague is something I had to learn to value. I lived there for 5 years and after a while you find out that The Hague wears nothing on its sleeves. Those who don't see through this, call this boring.

But The Hague is a city of hidden despair and perversion, while being ostensibly proper and well presented on the surface.

Apart from Des Indes, the true The Hague can be glimpsed in

Bodega De Posthoorn on Malieveld.
The entire Malieveld (Unter den Linden in Berlin was modeled after it)
The area along Dennenweg
The Hague's many Indonesian restaurant, but most of all its tokos, Indonesian takeaway places, of which Onze Toko (Our Toko) on Beeklaan is perhaps the best and the most authentic.
The Archipel area

Or on a walk through Scheveningse Bosjes to Scheveningen (a separate fishing village on the coast)

And please do visit Panorama Mesdag. I'll never forget the look on my son's face, then eight, when we mounted the stairs to the viewing platform and he saw Mesdag's work in its entirety. Rumor has it that even Van Gogh lent a hand painting it.

After Panorama you can visit the real Seinpostduin and shed a tear at what it has become.

The Hague in a nutshell: an adaptation of Couperus' novel Eline Vere:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6f2wgp52uY

Funny you say that about Panorama Mesdag. My son had a school trip to Den Haag when in Basisschool. He insisted we went to see it. He said nothing about it, just said we had to see it.
I will never forget that first time.
I take visitors there now, again without saying anything.

Yes, I do too. Also because the entrance to it promises nothing.

Thanks all.
One more question. For the train from Amsterdam airport to The Hague is it necessary to book in advance or OK to buy a train ticket at the station then board the next train?

Just buy a ticket at Schiphol. No need to book ahead. It's a regular commuter route.

Do make sure your destination is Den Haag Centraal or Den Haag CS and not Den Haag Hollands Spoor or Den Haag HS. Also pay attention to this when boarding your train. CS is the Central Terminus, HS is a through station in the southern part of town.

When I was last in the Netherlans both the Rijiksmuseum in Amsterdam and Mauritshuis were closed for major rennovations. The results have been pretty much universally acclaimed:

http://www.mauritshuis.nl/en/discover/news/

Mauritshuis is gorgeous! An undiscovered gem is the Prince Willem V gallery

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractio..._Province.html

It's a historical re-creation of what was the first public art gallery in The Netherlands.

http://denhaag.com/en/location/12694...prins-willem-v

And it is this collection that formed the nucleus of the then new Mauritshuis collection.

And there's another way of getting into The Hague's courtly houses: for instance a visit to Museum Meermanno Westreenianum on Prinsessegracht.

http://www.meermanno.nl/index/-/p-be...sinformatie288

The synagogue where we were members is its almost neighbour. Try if you can find it on Prinsessegracht! In fact, you'd have to walk around the block to the Jan Evertstraat to find the entrance. And even there it's hidden behind a wall, but behind that wall is a beautiful sephardic synagogue, a close relative to the Portugese synagogue in Amsterdam.

http://www.denhaagzoalshetwas.nl/jan-evertstraat/

In fact, this area of Den Haag is one of the most genteel: it includes the Nieuwe Uitleg, and Denneweg. The grand houses were on Nieuwe Voorhout and the canals, including Prinsessegracht, the coach houses and workshops were in the lesser streets. If you walk along Smidswater you can still see this pattern.

Hmmm, if you want a city walking tour, let me know, haha.

Please take a look at Hotel Paleis in The Hague. It is a marvelous small boutique hotel, on an interesting street with shops and restaurants, but still in th emiddle of things, and not noisy. (we had a room in the front.) I think much less expensive than Des Indes, which is lovely but larger.

I LOVE the Hague. It is civilized,but ..... ( we have friends who live there most of their lives) Panorama Mesdaq is fabulous at any age. Museums are super. They say best Indonesian food is here, but NOT necessarily at fancy places.

Yes, I second Hotel Paleis. Close to the palace gardens too.

@taconictraveler: Onze Toko on Beeklaan is the best. Not a fancy location at all. ;)

Another wonderful spot is Pulchri, on Lange Voorhout

http://www.pulchri.nl/

I know that Van Gogh saw the Panorama Mesdag, but I think any stories about him having a hand in painting it are apocryphal. (I ate in a delicious Iranian restaurant there, whose name I forget.)

Unless I missed it, no one in this thread has mentioned the Gemeentemuseum, which has one of the largest and most important collections of works of De Stijl and Mondrian anywhere in the world. It's really very impressive if you enjoy art and art history.

I know Sandralist. hence "rumored"

Of course, with the Gemeentemuseum you also get great architecture. It is perhaps Berlage's finest creation.