Really going Dutch: why I chose The Hague and Delft over Amsterdam

Canals, architecture, art, an enviable cycling culture … There are lots of reasons to take a city break in the Netherlands, without needing to set foot in the overtouristed ‘other’ capital

We leave the Amsterdam-bound Eurostar at Rotterdam, just 3½ hours from London, and swap platforms for a 23-minute ride to The Hague. The “city of peace and justice” (who wouldn’t love that?) is home to the Dutch parliament – in the 13th-century gothic Binnenhof – two of the royal family’s three residences, and the international court of justice, housed in the neo-Renaissance Peace Palace. What’s more, several of the Netherlands’ most famous paintings are in the Mauritshuis, the best-known of The Hague’s many art galleries.

It feels as if there can be barely anything left over for Amsterdam, but The Hague has a further asset that for many would trump the rest: miles of wide sandy beach 15 minutes away by (of course) bike, at Scheveningen.