Hague is a beautiful, peaceful city in the province of South Holland in Netherlands. Internationally, it is often known as ‘Judicial capital of the world’ because of the presence of the Peace Palace or International Court of Justice.
Dinesh and myself visited Hague this Easter (Easter 2019) as a part of our Netherlands visit. It was a very clear sunny day, and I could catch glimpse of the entire route from Munich to Amsterdam from the flight.
Amsterdam, as appropriately addressed as ‘City of canals’, we could recognize those numerous canals even before we landed.
We reached Hague through Netherlands rail line. The travel time was very short and Netherlands have a very supportive system while purchasing train tickets online. You don’t have to fix your time of travel, the ticket is valid for one way journey anytime on that day. That way, you can reach your destination faster once you have landed in the city.
We started exploring the city from the area around Binnenhof (Parliament). Constructed in Gothic style, the neighborhood was so adorable. Just before the entrance, we found Mauritshuis Museum. On the other side of the museum, we have a small pond with fountain which was captivating.
After exploring the neighborhood of Binnenhof, we walked towards Lange Voorhout. A long street in the shape of ‘L’ in the old city centre. It has rows of trees on either side of the street, with a few small rides at the middle and many small shops from exhibits.
After a walk on sunny day, we settled in for some cool customized bubble tea at Sisi Bubble Tea House in the China Town, which is right near Den Haag HS (HS meaning Holland Spoor (Holland’s Rail), for those of you who might be curious)
Then came our visit to the Peace Palace, which houses the International Court of Justice. Just near the entrance to the museum of Peace Palace is the Peace Tree which holds the peace messages from it’s visitors. There is also a peace flame that is placed beside the palace and is surrounded by World Peace Pathway, made of stones from 196 nations.
Next hop was the beach 🙂 we chose Scheveningen Beach. There was so much greenery around we thought we could walk to the beach, which was a bad idea btw 😀 . We ended up with 21k steps at the end of the day. You can only purchase 2 hour ticket in Hague which we definitely bought on our way back. I did not find an option to buy a one way ticket!
The water was still chill. A few upper layers of sand were warm enough to lay down on the beach and enjoy some wind against your face. Though we thought we can stay until sunset, the weather got a bit cooler near the beach well before sunset time. So, unfortunately we couldn’t stay until the nightfall. An end to our one exciting day at The Hague 🙂 .
We could walk around almost everywhere in the city, except to the beach. A sunny day made it much pleasurable after the winter (Though I did not end up with many good pictures 😉 ). It was a bit more for one day! If I had an another day, I would have loved to watch the fountains near Binnenhof lit and hopefully get some good clicks 😀 .
Veena Dinesh
The Humble Enthusiast 
Leave a comment