Scheveningen

Scheveningen was a fishing village that became a bathing resort from 1818, when the first bath house opened, and it is now the largest seaside resort in the Netherlands - a long boulevard with the Kurhaus of 1885 at the centre, a grand hotel with a domed concert hall where the Rolling Stones played in 1964 and the audience wrecked the interior, an event the Dutch still talk about. The pier, a second one built around 1960 to replace the first of 1901, carries a Ferris wheel over the water and a bungee tower. The beach runs for kilometres with beach clubs, and the sea here is used for surfing, kitesurfing and a New Year's Day plunge that draws thousands. It is also where the fishing harbour still works and where herring comes ashore for Vlaggetjesdag, the flag day marking the start of the season.

History

The name Sceveninghe first appears around 1280, and fishing was long the village's living; its flat-bottomed bomschuiten were pulled up on the beach until a harbour was built in 1904. In 1818 Jacob Pronk put up a wooden building on a dune where people could bathe from four separate rooms, the start of the resort, and the International Skating Union was founded here in 1892 (Wikipedia, Scheveningen).

The main sights

• The Kurhaus of 1885 - the grand hotel and concert hall on the boulevard.
• A pier with a wheel - the rebuilt structure with a Ferris wheel and bungee tower.
• Kilometres of beach clubs - the seasonal bars and restaurants along the sand.
• A working fishing harbour - with Vlaggetjesdag opening the herring season.

When to go

May to September. A day.

What to expect

Very crowded on hot days and the trams are packed. The North Sea is cold and has rip currents - swim between the flags. The boulevard is heavily commercial. Parking is expensive and fills early.

Nearby

Beelden aan Zee is on the boulevard; The Hague centre is twenty minutes by tram.