The Hague, South Holland, Netherlands

Economy | Culture | Transport : Air : Rail : Urban : Road

🇳🇱 The Hague is a city and municipality on the western coast of the Netherlands on the North Sea. It is the administrative and royal capital of the Netherlands and its seat of government, as well as the capital of the province of South Holland. It hosts the International Court of Justice and International Criminal Court, two of the most important courts in the world.

It is the third-largest city in the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam. The Hague is the core municipality of the Greater The Hague urban area, which comprises the city itself and its suburban municipalities, containing over 800,000 people, making it the third-largest urban area in the Netherlands, again after the urban areas of Amsterdam and Rotterdam. The Rotterdam–The Hague metropolitan area is one of the largest metropolitan areas in Europe and the most populous in the country; the area holds the Rotterdam The Hague Airport. Situated on the west coast of the Netherlands, The Hague lies at the south-west corner of the larger Randstad conurbation, one of the largest conurbations in Europe.

The Hague is the seat of the Cabinet, the States General, the Supreme Court and the Council of State of the Netherlands, but the city is not the constitutional capital, which is Amsterdam. King Willem-Alexander lives in the Huis ten Bosch and works at the Noordeinde Palace in The Hague, together with Queen Máxima. Most foreign embassies in the Netherlands are located in the city. The Hague is also home to the headquarters of many Dutch companies, with Shell plc having major offices in the city as well.

The Hague is known as the home of international law and arbitration. The International Court of Justice, the main judicial arm of the United Nations, is located in the city, as are the International Criminal Court, the Permanent Court of Arbitration, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Europol, and approximately 200 other international governmental organisations.

1

Economy The Hague has a service-oriented economy. Professional life in the city is dominated by the large number of civil servants and diplomats working in the city; as of 2006, 26% of the jobs in The Hague are those offered by the Dutch government or the international institutions. Large employers in this sector include the ministries of Defence, Justice, Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment, Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations and Transport, Public Works and Water Management.

Several large international businesses have their headquarters in The Hague, including Royal Dutch Shell, the world's fifth largest company in terms of revenue. Other significant companies headquartered in The Hague include Aegon, APM Terminals, Damco, NIBC Bank, Chicago Bridge & Iron Company and PostNL. The city is also host to the regional headquarters of Siemens, T-Mobile, AT&T, Huawei, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, Saudi Aramco and Total S.A. There has never been any large-scale industrial activity in The Hague, with the possible exception of the fishing activities of the harbour in Scheveningen. Many of the city's logistical and minor-industrial services are located in the Binckhorst in the Laak district, which contains many sizeable warehouses.

Tourism is an important sector in The Hague. The city is the second biggest Dutch tourist destination, after Amsterdam. In 2012, The Hague welcomed 1.2 million tourists (an increase of 80,000 compared to the previous year), half of whom came from abroad. The number of hotel nights in the city increased by 5%; in particular, visitors from neighbouring countries are finding their way to The Hague. Compared to 2011 Belgians booked 27% more hotel nights, while the Germans were good for 24% more hotel nights, and the French booked 20% more hotel nights. The 14% average increase in visits by foreign tourists more than compensated for the slight decrease of less than 1% by Dutch visitors. Tourists spend an average of €2 billion a year in the local economy. Today 1 in 10 residents make their living from the tourism sector.

1

Culture The Hague originated around the 13th century Binnenhof, and this is still considered the cultural centre of the city. Nightlife centres around the three main squares in the city centre. The Plein (literally "Square") is taken by several large sidewalk cafés where often politicians may be spotted. The Grote Markt (literally "Great Market") is completely strewn with chairs and tables, summer or winter. The Buitenhof (literally "Outer Court", located just outside the Binnenhof) contains a six-screen Pathé cinema and a handful of bars and restaurants in the immediate vicinity. Adjacent to the Buitenhof is De Passage, the country's first covered shopping mall. Dating from the late 19th century, it contains many expensive and speciality shops. One of the country's largest music venues, Paard van Troje, can be found in the centre of The Hague. Another popular music venue in The Hague is Muziekcafé de Paap.

The Spuiplein is a modern fourth square in the city centre, opposite the Nieuwe Kerk. Besides the City Hall, this was also the location of the Dr. Anton Philipszaal, home to the Residentie Orchestra, and the Lucent Danstheater, home to the internationally celebrated modern dance company Nederlands Dans Theater. These buildings, designed by Rem Koolhaas in 1988, have been demolished to make space for a new theatre, the Spuiforum, which would house both institutes as well as the Royal Conservatory. Despite efforts of the municipality, public support for the proposed theatre remains low. At the heart of the city centre across the palace gardens is the home of Summerschool Den Haag, an international school for dance with guest teachers such as Valentina Scaglia, Igone de Jongh, and Maia Makhateli. The Koninklijke Schouwburg, home to Het Nationale Theater, can also be found in the city centre – on the Korte Voorhout. New European Ensemble is a collective for contemporary music consisting on international musicians. The ensemble has its main base in the city.

Scheveningen forms a second cultural centre of The Hague, having its own Pathé cinema as well as the musical theatre Circustheater although, especially in the summer, most night life concentrates around the sea-front boulevard with its bars, restaurants and gambling halls. Several other attractions can be found in Scheveningen, such as the miniature park Madurodam, the Beelden aan Zee museum, and a Sea Life Centre.

The Hague is the residence of the Dutch monarch, and several (former) royal palaces can be found in the city. King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands live in Huis ten Bosch in the Haagse Bos and work in the Noordeinde Palace in the city centre. Moreover, there are two former royal palaces in The Hague. The Kneuterdijk Palace, built in 1716, is now home to the Council of State of the Netherlands, and the Lange Voorhout Palace is now occupied by the Escher Museum, dedicated to Dutch graphical artist M. C. Escher.

The Hague has its share of museums, most notably the Mauritshuis, located next to the Binnenhof, which exhibits many paintings by Dutch masters, such as Johannes Vermeer, Rembrandt van Rijn and Paulus Potter. Other museums include the science museum Museon, the modern art museum Kunstmuseum, the historic museum Haags Historisch Museum, the national postal museum Museum voor Communicatie, the Museum Bredius, the Louis Couperus Museum, the museum Beelden aan Zee in Scheveningen, and the Gevangenpoort, a former prison housed in a 15th-century gatehouse. Since early times, possibly as far back as the 16th century, the stork has been the symbol of The Hague.

1

Transport: Air The Hague shares an airport with Rotterdam. It can be reached from Central Station by RandstadRail Line E, with an Airport Shuttle to and from Meijersplein Station. However, with several direct trains per hour from the railway stations Hollands Spoor and Centraal, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is more frequently used by people travelling to and from The Hague by air.

1

Transport: Rail There are two main railway stations in The Hague: Hollands Spoor and Centraal Station, 1.5 km (1 mi) apart from each other. Because the two stations were built and run by two different railway companies in the 19th century, services have traditionally been split between the two: east–west lines terminate at Centraal Station, whereas north–south lines run through Hollands Spoor. However, Centraal Station now offers direct services to most major Dutch cities, such Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Utrecht.

Other destinations include Leiden, Haarlem, Zwolle, Groningen, Leeuwarden, Amersfoort, Enschede, Breda, Tilburg and Eindhoven. There is an international service to Antwerp and Brussels.

1

Transport: Urban Public transport in The Hague consists of a tramway network and a sizeable number of bus routes, operated by HTM Personenvervoer. Plans for a subway were shelved in the early 1970s. However, in 2004 a tunnel was built under the city centre with two underground tram stations (Spui and Grote Markt); it is shared by RandstadRail lines 3 and 4 and tram routes 2 and 6.

RandstadRail connects The Hague to nearby cities, Zoetermeer, Rotterdam and Leidschendam-Voorburg. It consists of four light rail lines (3, 4 and 19 to Zoetermeer, Rijswijk, Delft and Leidschendam-Voorburg) and one subway line (E to Rotterdam).

1

Transport: Road Major motorways connecting to The Hague include the A12, running to Utrecht and the German border. The A12 runs directly into the heart of the city in a cutting. Built in the 1970s, this section of motorway (the "Utrechtsebaan") is now heavily overburdened. Plans were made in the late 1990s for a second artery road into the city (the "Rotterdamsebaan", previously called the "Trekvliettracé") which is due to be built between 2016 and 2019. Other connecting motorways are the A4, which connects the city with Amsterdam, and the A13, which runs to Rotterdam and connects to motorways towards the Belgian border. There is also the A44 that connects the city to Leiden, Haarlem and Amsterdam. In the 1970s, plans of building another motorway to Leiden existed. This "Leidsebaan" was supposed to start in the city centre and then follow the railway line from The Hague to Amsterdam. Some works had been executed, but had been removed by the 1980s.

1
The Hague, South Holland, Netherlands 
<b>The Hague, South Holland, Netherlands</b>
Image: Adobe Stock lamio #130290767

The Hague is rated High Sufficiency by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC) which evaluates and ranks the relationships between world cities in the context of globalisation. High Sufficiency level cities are cities that have a sufficient degree of services so as not to be overly dependent on world cities.

The Hague is ranked #109 and rated D+ by the Global Urban Competitiveness Report (GUCR) which evaluates and ranks world cities in the context of economic competitiveness. D+ cities are strong regional hub cities. The Hague has a population of over 1,103,368 people. The Hague also forms part of the wider Rotterdam-The Hague metropolitan area which has a population of over 3,250,000 people. The Hague is the #137 hipster city in the world, with a hipster score of 4.03 according to the Hipster Index which evaluates and ranks the major cities of the world according to the number of vegan eateries, coffee shops, tattoo studios, vintage boutiques, and record stores. The Hague is ranked #123 for startups with a score of 4.644.

UBI Lab Den Haag Web: https://www.ubilabnetwork.org/ubi-lab-the-hague Twitter: https://twitter.com/UBILabDenHaag

Twin Towns, Sister Cities The Hague has links with:

🇲🇦 Al Hoceima, Morocco 🇳🇮 Juigalpa, Nicaragua 🇮🇱 Nazareth, Israel 🇮🇩 Palembang, Indonesia 🇵🇱 Warsaw, Poland
Text Atribution: Wikipedia Text under CC-BY-SA license | GaWC | GUCR | Hipster Index | StartupBlink

Antipodal to The Hague is: -175.7,-52.067

Locations Near: The Hague 4.3,52.0667

🇳🇱 Den Haag 4.3,52.067 d: 0  

🇳🇱 Scheveningen 4.307,52.116 d: 5.5  

🇳🇱 Delft 4.359,52.012 d: 7.3  

🇳🇱 Leidschendam-Voorburg 4.4,52.083 d: 7.1  

🇳🇱 Naaldwijk 4.2,51.983 d: 11.5  

🇳🇱 Vlaardingen 4.35,51.9 d: 18.8  

🇳🇱 Katwijk 4.417,52.2 d: 16.8  

🇳🇱 Schiedam 4.398,51.919 d: 17.8  

🇳🇱 Zoetermeer 4.493,52.06 d: 13.2  

🇳🇱 Leiden 4.485,52.16 d: 16.4  

Antipodal to: The Hague -175.7,-52.067

🇹🇴 Nuku'alofa -175.216,-21.136 d: 16575.5  

🇦🇸 Pago Pago -170.701,-14.279 d: 15789.8  

🇼🇸 Apia -171.76,-13.833 d: 15749.2  

🇵🇫 Papeete -149.566,-17.537 d: 15546.2  

🇺🇸 Hilo -155.089,19.725 d: 11785.3  

🇺🇸 Maui -156.446,20.72 d: 11708.1  

🇺🇸 Maui County -156.617,20.868 d: 11695.8  

🇺🇸 Wailuku -156.505,20.894 d: 11690.5  

🇺🇸 Kahului -156.466,20.891 d: 11689.9  

🇺🇸 Honolulu -157.85,21.3 d: 11674.5  

Bing Map

Option 1