Madurodam and Youth Events: Kids’ Days Out in The Hague

This guide is for international residents of The Hague who want an easy, well-planned day out with children, whether you moved here with a family or are hosting visiting nieces, nephews or friends’ kids. You will learn how a Madurodam visit works in practice, from tickets to parking, and how to use the city’s youth agenda to find events that suit your children’s ages and interests.

• Madurodam in practice
• Tickets, cards and group visits
• Parking, facilities and accessibility
• Finding children’s events in the city agenda
• Choosing events by age and language
• FAQ

Madurodam in practice

Madurodam is the miniature park that most families in The Hague visit sooner or later, often when relatives come to stay. For planning, the useful fact is on its practical information page: the park is open 365 days a year. That makes it a dependable option for school holidays, a rainy autumn break or the quiet days between Christmas and New Year.

Knowing that the park opens every day still does not tell you when it opens and closes. The overview page links to a separate opening hours section but does not list times itself, so check the park’s own site for current hours before you set off, especially if you are planning an afternoon visit.

The park also carries out maintenance from time to time. Madurodam says it schedules this during quieter periods so visitors can still enjoy the day. A map of the park is available on the Madurodam website, and looking at it together the evening before is a simple way to let children pick what they want to see first. It gives them a sense of ownership over the day and saves a few arguments at the entrance.

Tickets, cards and group visits

If you have bought a Museumkaart (Museum Card) since moving here, it will not help you at Madurodam: the park states plainly that the Museum Card is not valid there. Prices are not listed on the practical information page, so look at the ticket section of Madurodam’s site for current rates.

You do not need a printer. Madurodam asks visitors not to print their tickets if they can avoid it. Instead, you show the barcode of your online ticket on a smartphone or tablet at the counter. Have the ticket open and your phone charged before you reach the entrance, because juggling a buggy, a snack bag and a screen at once is nobody’s favourite part of the day.

Group visits and school trips can be booked. If you are organising an outing for a birthday party, an international school class or a few families from your street, the park offers options for groups and school trips that you can reserve directly. The overview page does not set out the group terms, so read the conditions on the booking page before you commit.

Parking, facilities and accessibility

If you drive, two parking rules from Madurodam’s FAQ are worth knowing. It says you are able to enter the parking area 1 hour prior to closing, and that you must leave the area no later than 1 hour after the park closes. The FAQ gives the entry rule in a single short sentence, so if you are arriving late in the day, check the parking details and that day’s opening hours on the site rather than taking a chance.

The park lists a set of facilities that make a long day with children easier:

• Free WiFi, handy for pulling up tickets or finding a partner who has wandered off with one of the kids.
• Lockers, useful for coats, spare clothes and the bag of things you were sure you would not need.
• Parking information and EV charging stations, if you are coming by electric car.

Madurodam says it wants everyone to have a good time and aims to make the park as accessible as possible for all visitors. If anyone in your group uses a wheelchair or has other access needs, the accessibility section of the site is the place to check specifics. For route planning, use the address and route section rather than relying on a map app alone.

Lost a cuddly toy or a glove? Madurodam keeps lost items safe and uses iLost, a service where you can track down your item and arrange to pick it up.

Finding children’s events in the city agenda

Madurodam fills one afternoon. For the rest of the year, the most useful bookmark for parents is the Youth agenda on DenHaag.com, the city’s events listing. It gathers museum activities, films, theatre, workshops and seasonal events in one place.

The page works best when you use its filters:

• Date, to see what is on this weekend or during a school holiday.
• Category, including Excursions, Festivals, Cinema, Youth, Music, Sports, Exhibition, Show and Workshops.
• Area, with options for the City centre, Scheveningen, Kijkduin, the International zone, other neighbourhoods and surrounding municipalities.

The area filter is the one many international families overlook. If you live near the coast, filtering on Scheveningen or Kijkduin can turn up something close to home, which matters a lot with small children and short attention spans. You can also save events to your favourites, which makes it easier to compare options with a partner before you decide.

At the time of writing, the listing included a wide mix of venues and formats: Omniversum films at Museon, CORPUS (a journey through the human body), the Louwman Museum (the National Automobile Museum), a scavenger hunt at the panorama, Happy Halloween at Drievliet, Papiria, a Behind the Scenes Tour, Chambers of Wonders and Festival De Betovering (The Enchantment). The agenda changes all the time, so treat this as a picture of the variety rather than a fixed programme.

Choosing events by age and language

Some listings put an age guide straight into the title, which saves a lot of guesswork. Recent examples include an Open Studio for crafting, drawing or painting (4+), a session to create your own linocut (7+) and Wonder by Achref Adhadhi (listed as 2,5+, the Dutch way of writing two and a half). Where no age appears in the title, open the event page and look for it before you book.

Language is the other question for international families. Several titles are in Dutch, such as Ellie de Olifant, Verhalen uit de Magische Tuin and Ik wil geen nieuwe broek, while others carry English names, such as Shaun the Sheep and Shenanigans. A title alone does not tell you the language of a performance, so check the event details. Visual and musical shows, such as the A.vontura Silent Disco Theater production De Dinoshow, may suit children who are still learning Dutch, but confirm with the organiser if language matters to you.

The wider city agenda also covers adult categories such as Clubbing. If you are browsing for the children, stay on the Youth page, and save the grown-up plans for a night when you have a babysitter.

FAQ

Can I use my Museum Card at Madurodam?

No. Madurodam states that the Museum Card is not valid at the park, so you will need a regular ticket. Current prices are on Madurodam’s own website.

Do I need to print my Madurodam ticket?

No. Madurodam prefers that you do not print it. You can show the barcode on your online ticket on a smartphone or tablet at the counter.

Is Madurodam open on public holidays?

Madurodam says it is open 365 days a year. Check the opening hours section on the park’s website for times before you go.

How do I find children’s events close to home in The Hague?

Use the Youth agenda on DenHaag.com and set the area filter to your part of the city, such as Scheveningen, Kijkduin, the City centre or the International zone. Add a date filter to see what is on during a particular weekend or school holiday.

Official sources: madurodam.nl · denhaag.com

Last checked: 16 October 2026 against the pages linked above. Prices, opening hours and programmes change; the venue’s own site always has the current details.