Tour of The Hague

Prepare for a day of getting some fresh air on the coast and visiting lively The Hague. The capital of the province of South Holland is the second largest city in the Netherlands and is also the beating heart of our politics. Even though The Hague is not the capital of the Netherlands, the city still fulfills that role to a large extent. Most embassies and ministries are located in this city, but The Hague is also known as a center for international justice and peace policy. In that respect, the city can compete with international greats such as New York and Geneva. For this reason, the municipality of The Hague added the motto "peace and justice" to the municipal coat of arms in 2012.

Scheveningen is a seaside resort near The Hague. The village is mainly known as a coastal region where there is a lot of tourism in the summer. The most characteristic part of Scheveningen can be found near and behind the Oude Kerk. Scheveningen has been ravaged several times by storm surges over the years, which is also the reason that the church is located on the edge of the village, instead of in the middle, where it was originally located.

During this tour you can visit nice museums and view beautiful buildings. Muzee Scheveningen is close to the hotel. Here, nature and culture are brought together in a fun, accessible way and you can learn everything about life from, on and in the sea.

You cycle sixteen kilometers through the pleasant The Hague and find your way to Rijswijk, where the Te Werve estate is waiting for you. The site is partly constructed on a nutrient-poor beach wall that is 5,000 years old and partly on a nutrient-rich soil of peat, sand and clay. In the park on the estate there are stinsen plants such as primrose, spring bell, wood anemone, wild garlic and Italian arum. You also occasionally see purple scale root. Various garden types are featured, from an English landscape garden to a fern garden and a woodland garden. There is a lot of water on the site, which makes it easy for birds to find their way to Te Werve and many mushrooms sprout from the moist soil.

The house that belongs to the estate was built as early as 1280. Over the centuries, the house was renovated and expanded for private residence, but in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries it became a refuge for Catholics, who at that time were not yet allowed to practice their faith in public. In the eighteenth century the house fell into disrepair and the canal was filled in, but in 1824 the building was converted back into a mansion. The house has a pigeon tower that was probably built in 1448. This is the only element on the estate, with the exception of certain unrecognizable parts of the walls, that dates from the Middle Ages.

In the heart of Rijswijk, Museum Rijswijk is housed in a stately mansion built at the end of the eighteenth century and called the Tollenshuis. The museum was founded in 1940 as an archaeological museum at a different location. Because the collection grew rapidly, another home was sought and in 1970 the museum moved to its current location. In the museum you can view historical objects, but also paintings, drawings and prints. There is also an exhibition about the building's namesake: the poet Hendrik Tollens.

The next stop is the Laakmolen, which is located in the Laakkwartier. The mill is surrounded by trees and tall buildings and is the odd one out among all those modern buildings. Because the wind cannot reach it properly, the ground sailor usually stands still. The octagonal polder mill from 1699 was built on the remains of an earlier mill. The Laakmolen has been on the monument list since 1966, but in 1982 a fire broke out that severely damaged the mill. Towards the end of the restoration in 1985, part of the mill went up in flames again. Nevertheless, the mill was restored.

You cycle further to Huis ten Bosch. This beautiful palace, which is the residence of Princess Beatrix, is in the Top 100 of the Dutch UNESCO monuments. The palace was built in 1645 as a summer residence for Frederik Hendrik and his wife Amalia van Solms, who also owned Noordeinde Palace. Huis ten Bosch Palace also fell into the hands of the French, but when the Netherlands became a monarchy in 1815, Huis ten Bosch again became the home of the House of Orange and King William I came to live there. The palace was almost demolished during the Second World War because the German occupiers wanted to build an anti-tank ditch to defend The Hague, but this was barely prevented.