We'll have 24 hours in The Hague next month. (Disembarking a cruise in Rotterdam then spending the day and overnight in The Hague. We'll be flying out of Schippol the next morning.)
I'm trying to prioritize since we will not have much time. Things that look interesting are:
Maurithuis (to see Girl With The Pearl Earring)
Escher Museum
Panorama Mesdag
The Peace Palace
Madurodam
Delft
Of course, we'll only have time to do two or three of these. What do you recommend?
The Maurithuis (to see Girl With The Pearl Earring) is an EASY museum to visit and enjoy. A couple hours and you've seen it all, and in very pleasant surroundings. That would be my primary attraction.
Delft, where we stayed for several days last year (and side-tripped to Rotterdam and the Hague) was lovely and a nice home base for day trips - often on bike - as well as some nice places to eat and drink and relax. Tourism wise, Delft gets 20 pages or so in the RS guidebook, and has a walking tour (which we did). There is plenty of non-essential stuff to do there unless something very specific is one of your interests.
Coming off a cruise, where you will hopefully have eaten well and gotten some time to relax, I think the Hague is a nice speed to get you ready for a return home. Of course, the flip side is that the cruise may have been museum and city-centric, so maybe a visit to Delft and some slower paced activities might make more sense for you. Since you will be passing Delft on the way to the Hague, it would be back tracking, so maybe instead, from the Hague, a trip to the coast and Scheveningen would be fun.
Be advised that The Mauritshuis (correct spelling) has three Vermeer paintings in their permanent collection—not just the Girl with a Pearl Earring. View of Delft was a painting I never truly appreciated until I saw it in person there. Also, if you are a fan of Vermeer (or even if you aren't), I feel Delft is a much more charming town to stay in with many more sights to see—including the Nieuwe Kerk ("New Church," meaning 1496), the Oude Kerk (i.e., "Old Church," 1246), Museum Prinsenhof Delft, and the Vermeer Centrum Delft. I personally found it wonderful to just have lunch in a café on the main square between the Nieuwe Kerk and the Stadhuis Delft. Plus, the small canals around the town are great to walk along, and if it is summer, there are floating restaurants in the canals for very peaceful dining.
Agree with Maurithuis as priority one. Escher Museum has a nice collection and interesting info about MC himself. They play-up that it is in an old palace, but the building is (imho) just a nice big brownstone. Not a palace in the context of Buckingam, Windsor or Versailles. Also, nice walk from one to the other.
“They play-up that it is in an old palace, but the building is (imho) just a nice big brownstone.”
Play-up? I’m sorry, but just because your idea of a palace wasn’t met by this building doesn’t mean that the Escher Museum pretends to be located in a palace. The building the museum is located in, has actually been used as a palace by all 4 of our most recent reigning queens: Emma, Wilhelmina, Juliana and Beatrix.
A small church that’s a fraction of the size of big churches like the Notre Dame in Paris, is still a church. Likewise, a building that’s in use by a monarch to work or live, is a palace, no matter the size.
“Of course, we'll only have time to do two or three of these. What do you recommend?”
What I recommend you to do, is to do the things that YOU find interesting. Not the things that others think are must-sees. If you have no interest in art whatsoever, why go to the Mauritshuis? If you like to see a miniature version of the Netherlands,; go to Madurodam! Don’t let anyone stop you from enjoying the things that interest you.
If you tell us something about you and your interests, we may even come up with other things that might interest you even more than the 5 things you’ve listed in your opening post.
My husband and I are currently staying in The Hague. We very much enjoyed both the Mauritshuis (use their excellent app to do the highlights tour) and the Escher Museum. Besides the art, the Escher Museum has very unique and beautiful chandeliers. There are some excellent restaurants not far from the Escher on Denneweg Street.
I wouldn't normally attempt two museums in one day, but they are on the smaller side and are also within walking distance of each other.
The Hague is a wonderful, easy to navigate, relaxing city. We are so glad we opted to stay here.
I love the Panorama Mesdag and highly recommend it as unlike anything else.
I was there in June a couple of years ago, and tried to go to the Mauritshuis first thing, but it was really busy. So I walked to Panorama Mesdag then - as it was a lovely day - caught the tram to Scheveningen and sat on the beach for a bit, then tram back into the centre and went into the Mauritshuis at about 3pm when it was really quiet - and had about ten minutes ALONE in the room with Girl with a Pearl Earring. The rest of the museum is lovely but quite small, and I spent about 90 minutes in total there.
So while the Mauritshuis should probably be your priority, you might not necessarily want to go there first thing.
Delft is also lovely - I went there on a separate day. If I had just one day I’d do that instead of Scheveningen, which is nice but just a beach town like many others.
