About a ten-minute bicycle ride from the city centre, you'll find several large forests, one of them as part of Clingendael Landholding. Clingendael Landholding is holder of many things: ponds, playgrounds, a Japanese garden (great for wedding photos), a refurbished mansion (where colleagues at the Clingendael Institute, an international development-oriented NGO, meet to save the world), and my favourite thing about Den Haag, its military bunkers.
You'll find them all over the Bos, but the deeper you explore, the more interesting they get. One bunker holds an experimental radio station (I will admit I have never tuned in). Several are so big that their tops are covered in trees and grass, creating mini-forests of their own; climbing up the bunkers by tree roots is an adventure in itself. But it's the opportunity to explore the interior of the military bunkers that brings me the most joy. I'll play hide-and-seek with my daughters, and before I know it they have discovered some secret room where, in the darkness, there might be some electrical wiring and a fuse box left over from World War II. On the way home, my girls will ask where all that hi-tech, sci-fi gear came from, and I'll get to decide whether to tell them the truth, or simply weave this information into a fantasy story about monsters hiding under the mountains of "De Bos."
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Whether you enjoy your cappuccino with cow’s milk or oat milk—Tigershark’s baristas perform their magic and make it taste absolutely delicious.
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Papan serves outstanding coffee, grilled cheese toasties and breakfast burgers. It's spacious and relaxed, there's wifi and you can work on your laptop.
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The "Louwman Museum" in The Hague houses the world's largest pre-1910 automobiles, and more than a few specialty cars from the period after!
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Its a restaurant and wine bar in the modern French-Mediterranean style. Open for breakfast, brunch, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner or even just drinks.
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Try the “Loft breakfast” between 10:00 and 11:30 for a delicious, nourishing start to the day. If you’re swinging by later, make sure to try out the “Loftini” cocktail.
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De Vulkaan is the highest peak of the picturesque Westduin Park, located to the west of the city and one of my favorite lookout spots in The Hague.
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Pompernikkel is where you walk past in the mornings, spontaneously grab a coffee, devour an artisanal pastry, and bump into your neighbours.
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Emma’s Hof has a free library, a playground for kids, lots of benches and sunchairs, an abundance of flowers and herbs, and more and more birds...
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The place is stylish yet comfy, and the staff make you feel welcome. Most importantly, their pastries look exquisite and they make their own boterkoek!
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Opvang can be translated as shelter, so we’re talking about a shelter for hedgehogs between the woodlands and dunes of the western boroughs of The Hague.
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At Achtung! Lady. the atmosphere is calm, the staff are relaxed yet always happy to help and the items you can score there are always of great quality.
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Have you ever heard of specialty chocolate? Single origin, bean-to-bar, craft chocolate — that’s what they promise and that’s what they deliver!
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121 Insider Tips from our local Spotters
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