Madurodam
The Netherlands In 1:25 Scale, Opened 1952: Canal Houses, Schiphol, The Delta Works And Moving Trains And Ships, With Interactive Exhibits · The Hague, South Holland
Madurodam is the Netherlands in miniature: a park of scale models at 1:25 on the edge of Scheveningen in The Hague, where you walk among knee-high canal houses, windmills, the Rijksmuseum, the Binnenhof, Schiphol airport with taxiing planes, the port of Rotterdam and the Delta Works, all with moving trains, ships and cars. It opened in 1952 and is named after George Maduro, a young law student from Curacao who fought the German invasion in May 1940, joined the resistance and died in Dachau concentration camp in 1945; his parents gave the money to build it in his memory, and the park still runs on a charitable basis (confirm details). Today it is more interactive than it was: you load containers onto a ship, raise the storm surge barrier against a flood, and help the models tell the story of how the Dutch live with water. It is best with children and takes about two hours. The honest caveats: it is a small park and not cheap, adults without children may find it quick, and it is outdoors, so rain spoils much of the fun.
George Maduroplein 1, Scheveningen, The Hague, The Hague, South Holland, Netherlands
Open every day of the year, roughly 09:00-20:00 in summer and about 11:00-17:00 in winter (confirm current hours, holiday times and the last entry, usually an hour before closing). Buy tickets online in advance - it is usually cheaper than the gate and may need a date. From Den Haag Centraal a tram towards Scheveningen stops near the entrance in about 10-15 minutes (tram 9 - confirm line); tap in and out with OVpay. There is a paid car park next to the park.