Madurodam

Madurodam is the Netherlands built at one twenty-fifth scale and laid out in a park on the edge of The Hague: canal houses, cathedrals, the airport, a container port, drawbridges and windmills, with model trains running between them and ships moving on real water. It opened in 1952 and has kept adding, so alongside the old model village there are now indoor sections explaining how the country keeps the sea out and how it traded, aimed squarely at children. Adults tend to spend their time picking out buildings they recognise from elsewhere in the country and noticing what the model makers got right. Two hours covers it, and the beach at Scheveningen is a short tram ride further on.

History

Bep Boon-van der Starp, a member of a foundation for a sanatorium where students with tuberculosis were treated, heard of Bekonscot, a miniature park in England that gave much of its profits to a London hospital. George Maduro's parents gave the money for a Dutch version as a memorial to their son, the park opened in 1952, and all its net proceeds still go to Dutch charities (Wikipedia, Madurodam).

The main sights

• The model city centres - Amsterdam canals, Delft, Utrecht and other townscapes at one twenty-fifth scale.
• The working infrastructure - model trains, ships, a container terminal and an airport with moving aircraft.
• The water management section - indoor exhibits on dykes, pumps and flood defence, built for children.
• The miniature windmills and polders - small-scale versions of the landscape the rest of the country is famous for.

When to go

April to October, since almost all of it is outdoors and rain ruins the visit. Weekday mornings outside school holidays are calmest. Booking online is cheaper and avoids the queue at the gate. Summer evenings in the long light are pleasant, and some periods have later closing times worth checking.

Good to know

It is expensive for what is, at heart, a model village, and adults with no particular interest can walk the whole circuit in under an hour. It is built for children, and the newer interactive sections feel like a corporate science exhibition. School holidays are crowded and the paths are narrow. Photographs flatten the models unless you crouch to their level.

Nearby

Scheveningen beach is a few tram stops away, and central The Hague is close in the other direction.

Key facts