The Hague Travel Guide

Peace Palace is the symbol of international law and peace. Built 1907-1913 with Carnegie funding, it houses the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) — The Hague's most important building. Built 1907-1913; Carnegie-funded. Neo-Renaissance style. Houses ICJ and PCA. Gifts from nations worldwide. Visitor center with multimedia exhibits.

The Mauritshuis, housed in a 17th-century mansion in the heart of The Hague, is a small museum of superlative quality. It holds the crown jewels of Dutch Golden Age painting: Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring, Rembrandt's The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp, and Vermeer's View of Delft and The Little Street. The mansion itself is a treat — honey-stone facades, classical loggias and carved period rooms evoke aristocratic life of the era. Compact galleries mean you can see every masterpiece properly within an hour or two.

The Escher Museum is housed in a former palace in The Hague, devoted to the work of the Dutch print master M.C. Escher. Escher is world-famous for prints full of mathematical whimsy and visual illusion—impossible staircases, infinitely looping spaces, gradual patterns and mirrored worlds that challenge the eye and the mind, astounding all who see them. The museum also has interactive illusion exhibits—great fun. The palace's ornate crystal chandeliers contrast charmingly with Escher's fantastical imagination. For lovers of art, mathematics and visual play, this is a unique museum full of wonder and delight.

Mauritshuis is a world-class art museum in The Hague, Netherlands. Housed in a 17th-century Dutch Classical mansion, it centers on Dutch Golden Age painting — highlights include Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring and Rembrandt's The Anatomy Lesson, plus works by Fabritius, Steen and de Hooch — the best museum for Dutch Golden Age painting. Built 1636-1641 for John Maurice of Nassau in Dutch Classical style by Jacob van Campen, with refined interiors. The collection of ~800 paintings centers on the Dutch Golden Age (17th century) — highlights include Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring (c. 1665, "the Mona Lisa of the North"), Rembrandt's The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Tulp (1632) and self-portraits, Fabritius's The Goldfinch, Steen's genre scenes. The museum was renovated and expanded 2012-2014. Visiting to admire Vermeer and Rembrandt's Dutch Golden Age masterworks up close in a refined 17th-century mansion is an elegant, profound art experience in The Hague.

Museon is The Hague's family science museum on Stadhouderslaan, right beside the Kunstmuseum. Hands-on galleries cover the Earth, life, the human body and technology, and in keeping with The Hague's identity as an international city of peace and justice, sections on climate change, migration and conflict are pitched at younger visitors. It is a dependable choice for rainy days and easy afternoons with children.

Tucked along the Buitenhof by the Hofvijver pond, the Galerij Prins Willem V was built in 1774 for Prince Willem V of Orange to display his paintings, making it one of the Netherlands' oldest purpose-built galleries. Works by old masters still hang salon-style, stacked from floor to ceiling exactly as in the eighteenth century. The prince even lit the space so townspeople could peer in at night, a story guides still tell, and the Mauritshuis is barely two minutes away on foot.