The Hague Audio Tours

The Hague has the unusual quality of being the seat of the Dutch government without being the capital city, which is Amsterdam, and the seat of international justice for most of the world's major courts without being the capital of anything at all. The International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court, and several other international tribunals are all based here, giving the city a density of diplomatic gravitas that does not usually coexist with good beaches. The North Sea coast is 5 kilometres west, and the beach town of Scheveningen is connected to the city by tram.

The old city centre around the Binnenhof, the medieval complex that has housed Dutch government since the 13th century, is compact and walkable.

The Mauritshuis museum, a 17th-century townhouse on the Hofvijver pond, houses Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring and several other golden age Dutch paintings in a setting that remains genuinely intimate despite the fame of its collection. The Passage, a Victorian-era glass-covered shopping gallery on Spuistraat, is one of the most beautiful arcades in the Netherlands. The Hague lacks Amsterdam's canal theatrics and Vermeer's hometown of Delft is a short tram ride away.