Every design for Den Haag

The Hague faces the North Sea along eleven kilometres of coast, and a wide band of beach and dunes forms the largest stretch of nature inside its boundaries. Scheveningen and Kijkduin sit on that shore, while inland the city grew in the Middle Ages around the Binnenhof, from where the counts of Holland once ruled. Amsterdam may be the capital, but parliament, the ministries and the Supreme Court all sit here.

The name itself tells a quiet story. Den Haag comes from a Middle Dutch word for a hedge or a hunting ground, and the longer 's-Gravenhage means the count's enclosure. For people who grew up here, though, the city means sea air in the streets, the Mauritshuis on a rainy afternoon, the paintings of the Hague School, and a home-grown rock scene that sent Shocking Blue and Golden Earring out into the world. It is the seat of the International Court of Justice in the Vredespaleis, and it is also simply a place where people live.

Locals say Den Haag; the post office still asks for 's-Gravenhage, and letters arrive either way. Whatever name you use, the way back always ends at the same dunes.