The Hague

Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring, Rembrandt's Anatomy Lesson and Fabritius's Goldfinch in a seventeenth-century house on the Hofvijver. EUR 21 adult, free under 19, and a time slot is strongly advised. Note that the museum closes for maintenance for several weeks in late summer, and individual paintings travel.

The city's own North Sea resort at the end of trams 1 and 9: a long sand beach, a pier carrying a zip line and a bungee tower, and the Kurhaus of 1886 standing behind it all.

Among the oldest parliament buildings in the world still in use, and closed for a full renovation since autumn 2021 with no interior tours until it is finished. The Hofvijver, the Ridderzaal facade and the walk around the outside are all still there.

A cylindrical seascape of Scheveningen over 14 metres high and 120 metres round, painted in 1881 and still standing in the building put up for it, the oldest surviving panorama in its original place. Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm.

Over 120 Escher prints in Queen Emma's former winter palace on the Lange Voorhout. Tuesday to Sunday 11am to 5pm, with the ticket desk closing at 4.30pm.

Den Haag Centraal is a terminus beside the government quarter. Den Haag HS, a kilometre south, sits on the through line towards Rotterdam. Check which one your train uses and which one your hotel is near.

HTM trams 1 and 9 run from the centre out to Scheveningen, 9 also passing Madurodam, while 11 goes to Scheveningen harbour. An HTM day ticket starts at EUR 8.60, and a South Holland tourist day ticket covering The Hague, Delft and Rotterdam starts at EUR 17.50.

RET's line E runs from Den Haag Centraal through to Rotterdam Centraal, which makes the two cities usable as one. The Intercity is faster; the metro is what you want for everything in between.

May to September for the coast, since Scheveningen only really earns the trip when the sea is warm enough to bother with.

October to March, when rooms fall to business-week rates and the museums are quiet on any weekday.

July and August weekends, and the third Tuesday of September, when Prinsjesdag fills the whole centre.

Walk the Hofvijver and round the outside of the Binnenhof, then into the Mauritshuis on an early slot before the school groups arrive.

Ten minutes up the Lange Voorhout to Escher in Het Paleis, in the old winter palace.

The Plein or the Grote Markt. The first is full of civil servants and the second is full of students, and they cost accordingly.

Panorama Mesdag, then tram 1 or 9 straight out to Scheveningen for the beach and the pier.

Eat at the harbour end of Scheveningen, or come back in for the Grote Markt, where the city actually goes out.

A short hop by train, or the slow scenic version on tram 1: Vermeer's town, the Nieuwe Kerk with William of Orange's tomb, and a market square worth an afternoon.

Twenty minutes north to a university town of canals, hofjes and the national antiquities museum, with far fewer visitors than it deserves.