The Solo Scale:

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The Hague is a mid-sized city in Holland, possibly best known for the Peace Palace. It’s this location that’s often in the news as an international court of justice for some of the more notable figures of the current times. The International Criminal Court sits here and has seen several notable trials. Some of the most famous includes the Nuremburg Trials post World War II. Lately, it’s been host to the most recent trial of Duterte after his arrest in early 2025.

Because this is an actual workplace, this isn’t somewhere that you can visit at any time. Typically, visits are permitted from May to October on weekends, but even this is at the mercy of the courts. If you want more information about that visit, check out the website here.

Typically, what you can do as a visitor is what I did. That means walking around the outside of the palace and seeing what it has to offer. It won’t be a very long visit, but it’s definitely an impactful one if you keep any sort of world events in the back of your mind.

Doing the loop around the small plaza brings you to a couple stops. First, you’ll find the wish tree beyond the gates, with wishes attached to the branches of the trees. These wishes were left by other visitors.

Next, you can take a moment to admire the mosaic benches which are close to the low-lying stone wall which has the word ‘peace’ etched into it in multiple different languages.

Lastly on the walk around the plaza is the Eternal Flame that includes a small stone circle that you walk around while adding your own prayer for peace. I took my own turn and left my silent wishes as I visited.

In general, this is more of a photo spot. However, Den Haag (the Hague in English) also has a lot of great restaurants and shopping nearby. It’s a great place to find an outdoor patio if the weather is good, get a beer, and enjoy.

The Hague is a good half-day trip if you’re visiting Amsterdam and a visit to the Peace Palace is a great way to kick it off, since it’s such a notable sight and even seeing it from the outside helps to contextualize some of the news you may hear when the Hague comes up.

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