The Hague and the Mauritshuis

Seat Of Government And The International Courts; The Mauritshuis Holds Vermeer'S Girl With A Pearl Earring And View Of Delft · The Hague, South Holland

The Hague is the Netherlands' seat of government and the home of the King's working palace, the international courts and the Peace Palace, but not the capital - that is Amsterdam. At its heart, on a pond beside the old parliament buildings of the Binnenhof, stands the Mauritshuis, a small 17th-century palace turned museum in 1822 that holds one of the finest collections of Dutch Golden Age painting anywhere: Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring and View of Delft, Rembrandt's Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp, and Carel Fabritius's tiny Goldfinch. People come for those paintings, which can be seen in an hour or two without Amsterdam's crowds, then walk the grand streets of the Lange Voorhout, visit Escher in The Palace or the Peace Palace, and ride the tram to the sea at Scheveningen, the city's own beach with a pier and a Ferris wheel. The honest caveats: the Binnenhof is wrapped in a long renovation that has moved parliament out and fenced much of the complex, the Peace Palace itself opens only for limited tours, and the Mauritshuis is small - an hour or two, not a day.

Mauritshuis, Plein 29, beside the Binnenhof, The Hague, The Hague, South Holland, Netherlands

The Mauritshuis is open daily, usually from mid-morning to about 18:00, with a later start on Mondays and one late evening a week - confirm current hours. Book a timed ticket online in busy seasons. Den Haag Centraal is a short walk away and has trains from Schiphol (about 30 minutes), Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Delft. HTM trams run to Scheveningen and Delft; tap in and out with OVpay. The Peace Palace visitor centre is free but closed Mondays (confirm); tours of the building itself are limited and must be booked well ahead.

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