Swap your everyday for a Holland getaway

Swap watching old repeats for a dash through The Hague’s streets. Join the Dutch at play, with seaside fun, coastal chic and long, lazy brunches by the waterside. As style blogger The Everyday Man found on his Holland adventure, The Hague has a serious surprise – it’s by the sea.

‘Yes, The Hague has a beach resort! We grabbed a cone of chips from one of the many stalls and took a stroll along the prom for a spot of people-watching. We looked at the waves crashing on to the beach and took a walk down on the sand before heading onto the pier, with a viewing gallery and an undercover walkway with cafés, bars, shops and amusements.’

Read on for our Time Out insider’s guide to leaving the old routine behind and doing something truly different in The Hague this weekend.

Don’t spend a weekend on the internet reading tweets from mates having a better time than you. Head to The Hague. It's an elegant, royal city, but while it might look very grand, it also knows how to let its hair down.

You can spend the day at the beach at Scheveningen – strolling along the sand, surfing the waves or taking a heart-thumping bungee jump off the pier. With bars, hotels, harbourside restaurants and surf schools, it’s brilliantly boho, and just 15 minutes by tram from the city centre.

The pier has its own restaurant and casino, and there are often art exhibitions there too. When it’s time for bed, don’t give in to sleep – the laidback spots that line the beach offer bars with firesides for smooching and live DJs for grooving.

Ditch the Oxford Street crowds for a glide along the water and under the bridges of The Hague’s historic canals on a De Ooievaart open boat. But if even that’s a bit too taxing for you, there’s a feast of cafés where you can kick back and watch the world go by.

At ‘t Goude Hooft you can sit on the terrace with a slice of hazelnut cream cake or Dutch apple pie. Or rub shoulders with the locals over a superb brew at Lola’s Coffee and Bikes (cycles not required). De Haagsche Kluis is a former stockbrokers’ office, built in Art Nouveau Hague style in 1905, and today you can drink in its atmospheric old vaults.

As night falls at De Zwarte Ruiter, the café-culture bustle turns a little more rock ’n’ roll, with live bands and DJs, or head to the pier for the food stalls. If you’re just peckish, try borrelhapje (nibbles, to you) with your beer at De Boterwaag.

Who could resist falling in love with the ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’? The Mauritshuis is one of the world’s most incredible art galleries, and alongside Vermeer’s masterpiece there are many must-see works by Rembrandt, Rubens and Van Dyck.

Of course, art isn’t just for seeing. Get a taste for The Hague’s finest spirits at Van Kleef, warming Dutch cockles for over 150 years. Try the jenever (Dutch gin) or their liqueurs and bitters – perfectly matched with fish and meat in their gardens, when the weather’s good.

The restaurants are pretty stunning, too – and one even has views that move. De Hoftrammm is a refurbished vintage tram that serves a four-course dinner as you take a trip around the city.

Swap your Saturday snooze for Rotterdam’s amazing views. Lose yourself in a wonderland of cube houses, galleries with artwork loos and a banquet of wacky places to eat and drink. The port of Rotterdam shelters inland on the river Maas, connecting it to the North Sea, and the water comes in to meet the city. It’s surrounded by canals, with work and leisure centred around and often on the water, giving the whole place a sense of magic and playfulness.

Read on for our Time Out insider’s guide to swapping the same-old for the surprising in Rotterdam this weekend.

… or take a water taxi. Seriously, how can you resist a city that has eco-friendly motorised buggies on its roads and names for each water taxi stop on the quayside? Sure beats trundling through London on a double decker.

Travelling is as good as arriving, thanks to the wild architecture around you. From Piet Blom’s colourful cube houses, which look like a tower of children’s building blocks that’s been knocked over, to the stunning Erasmus Bridge (nicknamed the Swan for its graceful arching ‘neck’) and Rotterdam Zoo, which has an aquarium that lets you walk under the water in transparent viewing galleries.

When you arrive anywhere in this city, allow plenty of time to explore. The Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, for example, is an art gallery that turns everything about your visit into a visual experience – from its Old Masters galleries and inspired exhibitions of modern art to the sculptures that might well turn out to be a real loo or a picnic table.

At the Nederlands Fotomuseum, sure, there are beautiful displays reflecting the history of photography, but it’s an interactive treat, too. In the Dark Room you slip white boards into ‘developing trays’ and the text about the exhibits suddenly appears.

And if you don’t like to waste time refueling when you could be gawping at something new, head for the Markthal – a fabulous, ornately decorated food market housed inside a vast modern building. Stall after stall groans with Dutch delicacies and delights from around the world, while the air is filled with aromas from the cafés and food stands where you can grab lunch on the go.

If you like food, you’re going to love Rotterdam. Gorge on garlic at Look, wash down dinner with a banana beer at Viva Afrika or take a nine-course tour of gastronomy and wine at In de Keuken van Floris. Dine in the colourful Moroccan lounge of Bazar (it’s a hotel, too) or play computer games on the tabletop as you eat sushi at Izkaya.

In a city on the water, your visit isn’t complete without getting afloat. Step back in time on the glamorous old ocean liner the SS Rotterdam. It’s a stylish spot for lunch, dinner or even an overnight stay, and make sure you stop for a cocktail in the original wave-shaped Ocean Bar, with huge fish scales decorating the ceiling. Like everything else in Rotterdam, this place is as good as it looks.

Swap a weekend spent inside for a Utrecht canal ride. A university city with curious delights down every lane, and café culture and galleries along its waterways, Utrecht is a wonderful surprise waiting to be explored. Trade in listening to someone else’s tinny headphones on the tube for the magical sound of hundreds of music boxes at the Museum Speelklok. Or skip your usual step class for a serious climb up the fourteenth-century Dom Tower.

Just two of the unexpected pleasures you could be enjoying instead of trudging through your standard weekend in London, as lifestyle blogger The Everyday Man found out on his own weekend swap. Read on for his favourite hidden gem and our Time Out insider’s guide to swapping your usual routine for a journey of discovery among the charms of Utrecht.

The gothic Dom Tower is the tallest church tower in Holland, with gobsmacking viewing galleries at 70m and 95m. If you’re here on a Saturday you might hear the tower pretty soon after you see it – 50 bells sound the carillon from 11am until noon. Serious sonic stuff, especially if you’re nursing a hangover…

After seeing the city from above, see it from the water. Hire a pedal boat or even a canoe, then stop off for pancakes and a glass of beer or catch a play at the Werftheater.

By day, start your exploring among the canal wharfs that once were used for storage. These days they’re cafés and galleries, each one with its own independent spirit. Miffy creator Dick Bruna was born in Utrecht and the city has a Miffy Museum that’s as colourful and cute as you’d expect, with rooms themed to experiences such as going to the doctor or baking in the kitchen – all entirely devoted to the Miffyesque world.

And when the darkness comes, don’t be too quick to head indoors. The Trajectum Lumen is a self-guided evening tour of key locations across the city, each illuminated by an art installation – hypnotic projections on a clock tower, tunnels filled with colour, and even a bird that appears to fly from a house window.

Then look up higher. The Sonnenborgh Observatory has five large telescopes for stargazing.

Along with heated waterside terraces for drinking to the sound of water lapping against the canalbank, Utrecht has plenty of clubs and bars when you finally want to kick back and have a good night out.

Ekko is one of Hollands favourite music venues, but there’s only room for 300, so dress for a snug session, or go clubbing at the famous Tivoli. Alternatively, if you fancy a drink, there are tastings at the stylish wine bar Wijncafé Lefebvre and the medieval castle Stadskasteel Oudaen has its own steam brewery. Cheers!