The Hague and Delft from Amsterdam: a Day Trip by Train

The day at a glance

The easiest route is a triangle: Amsterdam, Delft, The Hague, then straight back to Amsterdam. NS trains cannot be reserved; you simply board the next one leaving.

NS and HTM fares found in October 2026, full fare, paid by contactless card or e-ticket. The three trains add up to €35.90 per adult; children aged 4 to 11 travelling with an adult ride all day on a Railrunner ticket for €2.50.

A few practical points:

• Two stations in The Hague: Den Haag Centraal, the closest to the Mauritshuis and the Binnenhof, and Den Haag HS (Hollands Spoor), south of the centre, served by the trains that continue to Delft and Rotterdam. A one-way ticket from Amsterdam Centraal to Den Haag HS costs €15.70.
• Contactless check-in: tap the same bank card on the reader at the start and end of every train and tram ride. How it works is explained in our guide to getting around Amsterdam.
• Leiden is on the way: every train to The Hague stops at Leiden Centraal. If you would rather see a quieter university town than The Hague, see our page on Leiden.
• Tram 1 also links the two cities: it starts at the beach in Scheveningen, passes the Peace Palace, central The Hague and HS station, then crosses Delft, six times an hour during the day. It is slower than the train but saves you going back to a station.

Suggested plan: Delft in the morning, The Hague in the afternoon

Starting with Delft has two advantages: the small town is more pleasant before the tour groups arrive, and The Hague keeps its museums open until 5pm or 6pm. This plan assumes you leave Amsterdam around 8.30am on a weekday, Tuesday to Saturday.

Morning in Delft

• 9.30am: arrive in Delft. The historic centre starts behind the station; allow about twelve minutes on foot, along the canals, to reach the area around the Markt.
• 10am: the Nieuwe Kerk, then climb its tower before the queue builds up.
• 11.15am: the Vermeer Centrum Delft, very close to the Markt.
• 12.30pm: lunch around the Markt, then a stop at the Oude Kerk, included in the same ticket as the Nieuwe Kerk.
• 2pm: train to Den Haag Centraal.

Afternoon in The Hague

• 2.30pm: the Mauritshuis, on the edge of the Hofvijver pond. Allow an hour and a half.
• 4pm: walk around the outside of the Binnenhof and along the Lange Voorhout, home to Escher in Het Paleis (last entry 4.30pm).
• 5pm: tram 9 from the central station to Scheveningen to end the day on the beach, then the tram back to Den Haag Centraal and the train to Amsterdam.

If you are more interested in pottery than painting, swap the Vermeer Centrum for Royal Delft, but allow time for the walk there and back (see below).

Delft: the Markt, the two churches and Vermeer

The Nieuwe Kerk and the Oude Kerk

The Nieuwe Kerk closes one end of the Markt, facing the town hall. It holds the mausoleum of William of Orange, the father of Dutch independence, and the crypt where members of the royal family are buried. Its tower, 108.75 m high, is climbed by 376 steps up to a platform at 85 m: that is where the view in the photo above was taken. Backpacks and umbrellas are not allowed in the tower, and neither are children under 6.

The Oude Kerk, a few minutes' walk away on the Oude Delft canal, is easy to spot thanks to its clearly leaning tower. Johannes Vermeer is buried there.

• Opening hours: from February to October, Monday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm; from November to January, 11am to 4pm on weekdays and 10am to 5pm on Saturday. Closed to visitors on Sunday. The tower closes an hour before the churches and may stay shut in bad weather.
• Prices: both churches €10; churches and tower €15; tower only €7.50. Children aged 6 to 11: €4.75 for the churches.
• Combined ticket for the churches and the Vermeer Centrum: €18.50 per adult.

The Vermeer Centrum Delft

Housed at Voldersgracht 21, on the site of the former Guild of Saint Luke of which Vermeer was a member, this centre explains his life, his town and the way he handled light. It shows only reproductions of his paintings: the originals are spread between The Hague, Amsterdam and other museums. Open every day, 10am to 5pm; €15, €7.50 for ages 13 to 18, €2 for ages 7 to 12, audio guide included.

To see real Vermeers on the same day, the Mauritshuis holds three, including Girl with a Pearl Earring and View of Delft; The Milkmaid is in Amsterdam, at the Rijksmuseum.

Royal Delft

The last Delft pottery factory still working since the 17th century, Royal Delft (De Porceleyne Fles) can be visited along with its workshops, where you can watch hand painting, and its collection rooms. It lies outside the centre, at Rotterdamseweg 196: allow 15 to 20 minutes on foot from the station. Open every day, 9.30am to 5pm; €17.50, €7.50 for ages 7 to 12, free up to age 6, audio guide included.

What is closed in 2026

Museum Prinsenhof Delft, the former convent where William of Orange was assassinated in 1584, has been closed for renovation since January 2025 and will not reopen before 2027.

The Hague: the Mauritshuis, the Binnenhof and museums

The Hague is not the capital of the Netherlands, but it is home to the government, Parliament and the international courts. The centre is easy to explore on foot from Den Haag Centraal.

The Mauritshuis

This 17th-century palace at Plein 29 houses a manageable collection that you can see without tiring after a morning in Delft. Highlights include Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring and View of Delft, Carel Fabritius's The Goldfinch and Rembrandt's The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp.

• Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 6pm; Monday, 1pm to 6pm.
• Price: €21, free up to 18. The combined ticket with the Prince William V Gallery costs €24.
• Time slot: the museum works with time slots booked online; at the ticket desk you may have to wait. The €4 rate after 4pm is only for residents of the Netherlands.

The Binnenhof and the Hofvijver

The Binnenhof, the historic seat of Parliament, has been under full renovation since late 2021; according to ProDemos, it is not expected to be fully back in use before 2030. Hoardings hide part of the courtyard, but the most photographed façade, the one reflected in the Hofvijver pond, can still be seen from the Lange Vijverberg.

Meanwhile, ProDemos, whose visitor centre is at Hofweg 1, opposite the Binnenhof, runs guided tours of the House of Representatives in its temporary premises, including an English-language tour, for €7.50.

Escher in Het Paleis and the Kunstmuseum

• Escher in Het Paleis, Lange Voorhout 74: M. C. Escher's prints in a former royal winter palace. Tuesday to Sunday, 11am to 5pm, ticket desk closes at 4.30pm; €14.50, €8 for ages 7 to 12. Tickets are valid for a year, with no booking needed.
• Kunstmuseum Den Haag, Stadhouderslaan 41: some 300 works by Piet Mondrian, from his early landscapes to his abstract compositions. Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm; €22, free up to 18, time slot to be booked. It is away from the centre: keep it for a day devoted to The Hague.

The Peace Palace

The Vredespaleis, Carnegieplein 2, houses the International Court of Justice. Its visitor centre, open Wednesday to Sunday from 12pm to 5pm, is free: an audio guide and an exhibition present the history of the building, with a view of the palace and its gardens. The interior and the gardens can only be seen on a guided tour, put on sale online about two weeks in advance. Tram 1 stops right outside (Vredespaleis stop).

Scheveningen: the beach at the end of the day

Scheveningen, The Hague's seaside resort, is at the end of tram lines 1 and 9. Tram 9 leaves from Den Haag Centraal and serves the Madurodam miniature park, then the Kurhaus stop, in front of the grand Kurhaus hotel and the long sandy beach. The pier (De Pier) reaches out to sea right next to it. In October, come for the walk and the sunset rather than for a swim. For a proper beach day, compare with the beaches closer to Amsterdam in our guide to beaches near Amsterdam.

Variations depending on your day and interests

Prices found in October 2026 on the websites of the museums and churches.

• On Sunday: the Delft churches are closed to visitors. Reverse the plan or spend the day in The Hague and Scheveningen, with just a stroll across the Markt in Delft.
• On Monday: Escher in Het Paleis and the Kunstmuseum are closed and the Mauritshuis only opens at 1pm. Keep Delft for the morning, which is the ideal order on that day.
• With children: the Nieuwe Kerk tower (from age 6, with an adult), Escher's optical illusions and Madurodam, on the tram 9 line, all work well; the Mauritshuis is free for them.
• Over two days: add Rotterdam, about a quarter of an hour by train from Delft, and head home from there; see our guide Rotterdam from Amsterdam.

Further reading

To compare this trip with Haarlem, Utrecht or Giethoorn, see our selection of day trips from Amsterdam. If you are coming to the Netherlands by international train, our guide to getting to Amsterdam by train explains the stations and luggage lockers. Finally, to round off your Vermeer day in Amsterdam, our Rijksmuseum page shows where to find The Milkmaid and the other Golden Age masters.