Museums in The Hague

The Hague has 27 museums, and one of the highest concentrations of first-rank art anywhere in the country.

The Mauritshuis alone holds Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring and Rembrandt’s Anatomy Lesson in a house you can walk round in ninety minutes. That density is the point of the city: it is a court town rather than a merchant one, and the collections reflect it.

Sixteen of the 27 accept the Museumcard, the highest proportion of any large Dutch city. None open seven days a week, so The Hague is a place to check opening days before you travel.

The ones most visitors come for

• Mauritshuis. Small, perfectly hung, and the reason most people come. Vermeer, Rembrandt, Fabritius’s Goldfinch.
• Kunstmuseum Den Haag. The world’s largest Mondrian collection, in a Berlage building that is itself worth the visit.
• Escher in Het Paleis. The complete Escher, hung in a former royal palace, which is a stranger and better setting than it sounds.
• Panorama Mesdag. A 360 degree painted panorama of Scheveningen from 1881, still in its original rotunda. There are very few of these left in the world.
• Louwman Museum. One of the oldest private car collections anywhere, and far more interesting than a non-enthusiast expects.

Worth going out of your way for

• Gevangenpoort. A medieval prison gate, shown as a prison, with the instruments intact.
• Beelden aan Zee. Modern sculpture in a pavilion buried in the dunes at Scheveningen.
• Kinderboekenmuseum. Children’s literature made physical, and the best museum in the country for readers under twelve.
• Museum Bredius. One collector’s old masters in a canal house, quiet even when the Mauritshuis is full.
• Galerij Prins Willem V. An eighteenth-century picture gallery hung floor to ceiling in the original manner, next to the Mauritshuis.

A day of museums in The Hague

Morning, the Hofvijver

Start at the Mauritshuis at opening. It is small enough that arriving first genuinely changes the experience, particularly in the Vermeer room. Galerij Prins Willem V is a two minute walk and takes half an hour, and the Gevangenpoort is on the same square if you want the contrast between the court and what sat beneath it.

Afternoon, Zeestraat and beyond

Walk north to Panorama Mesdag, which needs no more than an hour and works best after you have seen the paintings that made Mesdag’s reputation. From there the Kunstmuseum is a short tram ride, and if you still have energy, Beelden aan Zee and the sea are fifteen minutes further.

If the Mauritshuis is closed

It shuts for maintenance periods from time to time, and its most famous paintings occasionally travel. When that happens, start at the Kunstmuseum instead, give Panorama Mesdag the middle of the day and finish at Beelden aan Zee. Galerij Prins Willem V, next door to the Mauritshuis, usually stays open regardless and holds the same period of painting.

With children

Kinderboekenmuseum and Museon-Omniversum, which sit close together, and neither expects children to be quiet.

If you have one afternoon only

The Mauritshuis, and nothing else. Trying to add a second museum to a short visit is how people end up remembering neither.

Before you go

• None of the 27 open every day. The Hague closes more thoroughly on Mondays than most Dutch cities.
• Sixteen take the Museumcard, including the Mauritshuis, the Kunstmuseum, Escher and Panorama Mesdag. For The Hague specifically, the card is unusually good value.
• The Mauritshuis is small. Ninety minutes is a full visit, not a rushed one, so it pairs well with something else.
• Scheveningen is part of the city. Beelden aan Zee and the beach are fifteen minutes by tram, not a separate trip.

Visiting with a private guide

We arrange private guided visits at many of the museums on this page, with tickets and timed entry handled for you and the route built around opening days rather than around a fixed itinerary.

Plan your tour, or see all our private tours.

This page is part of our complete guide to museums in the Netherlands, covering all 1,167 of them.