Scheveningen Beach
The beach. When you think of the Netherlands, you probably don’t think of the beach. I didn’t. I pictured canals in Amsterdam, tulips, windmills and bikes – the stereotypical images we see in pictures. Well, I am happy to report that the Netherlands does indeed have an awesome beach. A seriously awesome beach. Scheveningen beach is located just outside of city of The Hague, just over 30 miles west of Amsterdam. This beach is a very popular Dutch vacation spot and is typically very crowded on warm days. If you’re looking for something secluded, this is not the place for you. If you’re looking to be part of the action, have plenty of entertainment options and endless beach bars/restaurants for as far as you can see, this IS the place for you.
Getting there
We took a train from Amersfoort to The Hague. The ride was just under an hour with 2 intermediate stops. The trains are really nice, easy to navigate and always on time. Ours had clean seats (minus the sunscreen we accidentally dripped on one of them), clean bathrooms (for a train), and they feel very safe and secure. Everyone rides trains here. It’s not just for the rich or poor. It’s just how you get around. The ride there went pretty quick. Jack and Ben liked looking out the window and Ben kept saying “choo choo” over and over. It was also fun to see the Dutch countryside.
After we got off the train in The Hague, we walked out the front door of the train station and there was a tram (#9) waiting to take us from the train station to Scheveningen beach. I would describe the tram as a streetcar line – that’s what it looked like to me since we don’t really use the word tram in the U.S. We only had to wait 1 minute before the tram arrived, and if we would have missed that one, another was coming 5 minutes later. With frequency like that, you don’t even need to know the tram schedule – you just show up at the stop and wait a few minutes until it arrives.
We got off the tram at the Kurhaus stop which is right next to the enormous Kurhaus hotel. This hotel is a landmark. The building was built in 1818 and today it’s a 5-star luxury hotel. Even if you’re not staying here, it’s cool to take a look around the lobby. Right behind the hotel is the beach. It’s impossible to get lost once you get off the tram – the beach is right there and everyone else is going to the same place. If you’re looking for a quieter section of beach, there is one final stop on the tram, Zwarte Pad, which is a quieter section of the beach a little further north.
So many beach bars
I’m not a big fan of laying out at the beach. I have super pale skin, I get hot easily and I have no desire to swim in the ocean. I’d much prefer to be sitting at a beach bar with good food, a cold drink and a great view. My kids would prefer to be playing in the sand, climbing on playgrounds or eating snacks. Or doing all three of those things at the same time (Ben tried this…I think he ate a lot of sand…). So you can imagine how excited I was when we walked down to the boardwalk along the beach and there was an endless number of beach bars/restaurants right next to the sand. It was like a little fairy had heard my wish for a beach for parents with little kids and poof…Scheveningen beach was created.
Some areas of the beach had playgrounds that were best suited for toddlers and others had larger play structures for older kids. They also had these little bracelets (like the kind you would get at Noah’s Ark) that you could get at the lifeguard stations where you could write your name and phone number on them and put them on your kid’s wrist in case they got lost. Another thing I liked was the location signs all over the beach. They were little trains, bunnies, umbrellas, etc. and they could be used to help your child understand where your spot on the beach was.
We had lunch at The Blue Lagoon (picked this one because we had a coupon – I would have been happy eating anywhere) and then walked closer to the pier and sat down at a restaurant next to a play area we thought the kids would like and ordered drinks while the kids played in the sand with other little kids. It was great. If you just wanted to drink, you could have sat down at pretty much any restaurant as they all had beer and other options. So pick a place by a play area your kids will like or pick a place with the type of food you want to eat. You can also bring a picnic lunch to eat on the beach and spend your money on drinks at the bar. There was reasonably priced beer, but the mixed drinks were expensive. It’s also acceptable to bring your own drinks to enjoy on the beach.
The pier
There is a gigantic pier at Scheveningen beach that is home to tons of restaurants, little shops, a HUGE Ferris wheel, a bungee jumping area, zip line and many more activities for the whole family. The pier is actually two stories, with the lower level fully enclosed and air conditioned. This is where a lot of the restaurants and small shops were. Many had outdoor balconies where you could sit and look at the beach. Jack was really excited to ride on the big Ferris wheel, and, after reading about it, I was too. At first, I thought the price was pretty steep for a fancy Ferris wheel ride. Ben was free, but it cost the rest of us a total of 25 Euros (about $29) to ride. However, once we were in the fancy, fully enclosed, air conditioned Ferris wheel car and saw the views, it was worth it. The kids loved it. I loved it. It was a great way to see the whole beach and really take in just how cool of an area it is. The ride lasted about 15 minutes.
We didn’t go on the zip line because we had the kids with us, but if we had visited by ourselves or with another group of adults, the zip line looked awesome. You flew from the end of the pier towards the shore over the water and it was possible for two people to go side-by-side.
We loved our day at Scheveningen beach. The weather was perfect. The breeze was cool. The kids were happy and had enough energy to stay up way past their normal nap times. Ben did fall asleep immediately as soon as we left, but after a quick nap he was up and ready to drive everyone nuts on the train on the way home! Just like the flight here 🙂 We’re thinking about returning again to Scheveningen beach before we leave!
