DISCOVER THE HAGUE

It is located in the west of the country, in the province South Holland, of which it is also the provincial capital.

The Hague is the seat of government, but, somewhat anomalously, not the capital of the Netherlands, a role set aside by the Dutch constitution for Amsterdam. The Hague is the home of the "Eerste Kamer" (literally "First Chamber") or "Senaat" and the "Tweede Kamer" (literally "Second Chamber"), respectively the upper and lower houses forming the "Staten Generaal" (literally the "Estates-General").

Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands lives and works in The Hague. All foreign embassies and government ministries are located in the city, as well as the Hoge Raad der Nederlanden (The Supreme Court) and many lobbying organisations, including the Association of Netherlands Municipalities VNG.

THE CITY OF THE HAGUE

City life concentrates around the Hofvijver and the Binnenhof, which is where the Parliament is located.

The city has a reputation in the Netherlands for being boring since it lacks a large student culture. There is a university of higher professional education known as Haagse hogeschool also known as The Hague University. The city has many civil servants and diplomats (see below). In fact, the number and variety of foreign residents (especially the expatriates) makes the city culturally quite diverse, with many foreign pubs, shops and cultural events.

The Hague is the largest Dutch city on the North Sea and comprises two distinct beach towns.

The main beach resort Scheveningen, in the northwestern part of the city, is a popular destination for tourists and young people. With 10 million visitors a year it is the most popular beach town in the Benelux. It's perhaps for this reason that many, even some Dutch people, mistakenly believe Scheveningen is a city in its own right. That is not the case: Scheveningen is one of The Hague's eight districts ("stadsdelen"). Kijkduin, in the southwest, is The Hague's other beach resort. It is a lot smaller and attracts mainly local people.

The former Dutch colony of Netherlands East Indies ("Nederlands-Indië", current-day Indonesia) has left its mark on The Hague. Many streets are named after places in the Netherlands East Indies and there is a sizable "Indisch(e)" or "Indo" (i.e. mixed Dutch-Indonesian) community. Since the loss of these Dutch possessions in December 1949, "Indisch(e)" or "Indo" people often refer to The Hague as "the Widow of the Indies".

The older parts of the town usually have characteristically wide and long streets. Houses are generally low-rise (not more than three floors), and quite elegant. The layout of the city is more spacious than other Dutch cities. There are only a few canals in The Hague, as most of them were drained in the late 1800s.

Some of the most prosperous and some of the poorest neighbourhoods of the Netherlands can be found in The Hague. The wealthier areas (The Vogelwijk, Statenkwartier, Belgisch Park and Benoordenhout) are generally located in the northwest part of the city. The poorer areas (Transvaal, Moerwijk, the Schilderswijk) can be found in the southern and eastern areas. This division is reflected in the local accent:

The more affluent citizens are usually called "Hagenaars" and speak so-called "bekakt Haags" ("Bekakt" is Dutch for "stuck-up"). This contrasts with the "Hagenezen", who speak "plat Haags" ("plat" meaning "flat" or "common"). There is relatively little social interaction between these groups.

The tallest building is the Hoftoren

CULTURE IN THE HAGUE

The Hague has its share of museums and cultural institutions:

• "Madurodam" is a miniature city, containing hundreds of scale-models of Dutch landmarks in a typically Dutch miniature landscape.
• The "Mauritshuis" exhibits many paintings by Dutch masters, such as Johannes Vermeer, Rembrandt van Rijn and Paulus Potter.
• The "Escher Museum" is located in the former Royal Palace on the Lange Voorhout.
• The "Haags Historisch museum" showcases the history of the city from the Middle Ages to the present day.
• The "Museum Bredius" houses part of the collection of 19th century art historian Abraham Bredius, containing antique furniture, silverware and porcelain.
• Museum "de Gevangenpoort" (lit. the "Prison Gate") is a former prison housed in a 15th century gatehouse, with genuine mediaeval dungeons and torture chambers.
• The "Gemeentemuseum" (Municipal museum) is home to the world's largest collection of works by the Dutch painter Piet Mondriaan as well as other modern art.
• The Museon is an interactive and historical science museum.
• The Omniversum is Europe's first 360° IMAX-cinema.
• Panorama Mesdag houses a cylindrical 360° "panoramic" painting, 14 meters high by 120 meters long, depicting the sea-front at Scheveningen in the late 19th century, made by Hendrik Willem Mesdag. It is presented in such a way that it is almost as if one is looking at a real scene rather than a painting.
• The "Museum voor Communicatie" (formerly the "PTT Museum") is the national postal museum and houses interactive exhibits as well as one of the country's best collections of stamps.
• The "Louis Couperus Museum" is devoted to the life and works of the great author (1863-1923).
• The museum "Beelden aan Zee" in Scheveningen has a large collection of sculptures, mainly from 20th century artists.
• The "Koninklijke Schouwburg" ("Royal Theatre"), located on the Korte Voorhout, is the home of the "Nationaal Toneel" ("National theatre-group").
• The Lucent Danstheater is home to the internationally celebrated Nederlands Dans Theatre, a modern dance company. The building was designed by the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas in 1988. It shares a lobby with the Anton Philipszaal, home of the Residentie Orkest, the city's most important symphony orchestra.

• The historic Binnenhof ("Inner Court") and Medieaval Ridderzaal ("Knights' Hall"), which now contains the Houses of Parliament and government offices. A good view can be obtained from the leafy Lange Vijverberg on the other side if the adjacent lake called the "Hofvijver" (lit. "Court Pond").
• The Lange Voorhout is a wide avenue containing many splendid houses (now home to several embassies) as well as The Hague's oldest and narrowest house and the famous "Hotel des Indes", the city's most luxurious hotel.
• The "Passage" was The Netherlands' first covered shopping mall. Dating from the late 19th century. it contains many expensive and speciality shops.
• The "Paleis Noordeinde" is Queen Beatrix' official work-palace. It is closed to the public but the Palace Gardens ("Paleistuin") forms an oasis of calm in the city.
• The Clingendael Park is an old landed estate with a famous Japanese Garden. Nearby one can also find the home of the Clingendael Institute of International Relations.
• Queen Beatrix' residential Palace, "Paleis Huis ten Bosch", can be found a little outside the city in the "Haagse Bosch" forest.

The Hague does not have a reputation for a bustling night life, most probably because it has no university and thus little student life. What night life there is centres around the three main squares in the city centre: "Het Plein" (literally "The Square"), the Grote Markt (literally "Large Market") and the "Buitenhof" (literally the "Outer Court", which lies just outside the Binnenhof).

The Buitenhof contains the popular Pathe Buitenhof cinema and a handful of bars and restaurants in the immediate vicinity. A similar pattern of night life centers on the cinema in Scheveningen, although, especially in summer, night-life concentrates around the sea-front boulevard with its bars, restaurants, gambling halls and other entertainment.

INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

As a result of its rich legacy in international politics, The Hague is home to over 150 international (legal) organisations. These include the Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the International Court of Justice.

The foundation of The Hague as an "international city of peace and justice" was laid over a hundred years ago in 1899, when the world's first Peace Conference took place in The Hague, followed by a second in 1907. A direct result of these meetings was the establishment of the world's first organisation for the settlement of international disputes: the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA). Shortly thereafter the Scottish-American millionare Andrew Carnegie made the necessary funds available to build the Peace Palace ("Vredespaleis") to house the PCA.

After the establishment of the League of Nations, The Hague became the seat of the Permanent Court of International Justice, which was replaced by the UN's International Court of Justice after the Second World War. The establishment of the Iran-US Claims Tribunal (1981), the ICTY (1993) and the ICC (2002) in the city further consolidated the role of The Hague as a centre for international legal arbitration.

Currently the city authority is seeking to establish an image of the city as the "legal capital of the world" and "international city of peace and justice". Major international organisations based in The Hague include:

• International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, (ICTY)
• Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, (OPCW)
• International Court of Justice, located in the Peace Palace.
• International Criminal Court, (ICC).
• European Police Office, (Europol)
• Hague Academy of International Law, center for high-level education in both public and private international law.
• Permanent Court of Arbitration, the oldest institution for international dispute resolution.
• The Iran-United States Claims Tribunal
• Eurojust, European Union body composed of national prosecutors.
• Carnegie Foundation

TRANSPORTATION IN THE HAGUE

Public transportation in The Hague consists of a sizeable number of tram and bus routes, operated by HTM Personenvervoer. Plans for a subway were shelved in the early 1970s. However, in 2004 a tunnel was built under the city centre with two underground tram stations ("Spui" and "Grote Markt"); it is shared by tram routes 2, 3 and 6.

A regional light rail system called Randstadrail is currently under construction; it will connect The Hague, Rotterdam, Zoetermeer and their suburbs. In The Hague, Randstadrail will connect up with the present tram network at the central station. It will then run through the tunnel under the city centre and out to the suburbs on specially converted tram routes.

There are two main train stations in The Hague: Den Haag Hollands Spoor (HS) and Den Haag Centraal. It is somewhat confusing that many trains bypass the central station because it is a terminus. For instance, the international Thalys and Benelux trains to Paris and Brussels stop at Hollands Spoor.

The central station does, however, offer good connections with the rest of the country, with direct services to most major cities. With the inception of the Dutch High Speed Line (HSL-Zuid) in 2008/9, high speed trains will run from the central station to Breda, Antwerp and Brussels; Hollands Spoor station, however, will lose its direct connection with Paris and hourly service to Brussels.

The nearest airport to The Hague is Rotterdam Airport. It is, however, not easily reachable by public transport. With four direct trains per hour from Hollands Spoor or Centraal, Amsterdam Schiphol Airport is more frequently used by people travelling to and from The Hague by airplane.

Major motorways (freeways) connecting to The Hague include the A12 (the first motorway in The Netherlands), running to Utrecht and the German border. The A12 runs directly into the heart of the city in a cutting. Built in the 1970s, this section of motorway (the "Utrechtse Baan") is now heavily overburdened. Plans were made in the late 1990s for a second artery road into the city (the "Trekvliettrace") have continually been put on hold. Other connecting motorways are the A4, which connects the city with Amsterdam, and the A13, which runs to Rotterdam and goes toward the Belgian border.

THE HAGUE HOTELS & ACCOMMODATION

NETHERLANDS TOURS, TRAVEL & ACTIVITIES