The Mauritshuis

The Mauritshuis is the opposite of an exhausting museum: a compact classical mansion beside the old parliament pond in The Hague, where a few dozen rooms hold one of the most concentrated collections of Dutch Golden Age painting anywhere. Its most famous resident is Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring, small, luminous and endlessly reproduced, hanging in a room where the crowd gathers and leaves in waves. Around her are Rembrandt's Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp, Fabritius's tiny Goldfinch, Jan Steen's chaotic households, Ruisdael's skies and Potter's monumental Bull, along with the house itself, all panelled rooms and painted ceilings. Because it is small you can see it properly in a morning without the fatigue that a vast gallery brings, which is exactly why many people prefer it to bigger collections.

What you actually see

• Girl with a Pearl Earring - Vermeer's most famous painting.
• The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp - Rembrandt's early group portrait.
• The Goldfinch - Fabritius's small, much-loved panel.
• The house itself - the seventeenth-century mansion and its painted rooms.

When to go

Open year-round and ideal on a wet day. Mornings on weekdays are calmest; the room holding the Vermeer is busiest in the middle of the day and at weekends. Booking a timed ticket in advance avoids queuing, especially in summer and during special exhibitions.

Honest expectations

It is small, which is its charm but also means a couple of hours is enough, so pair it with the rest of The Hague. The Girl with a Pearl Earring is much smaller than most visitors expect and draws a standing crowd, so patience helps. The painting occasionally travels to exhibitions abroad, so check that it is at home before making a special trip.

Nearby

The Escher museum and the Binnenhof are minutes away; the beach at Scheveningen is a short tram ride.