Escort Den Haag, from Parliament to the Sea

The historic heart gathers around the Binnenhof and the Hofvijver, where the Mauritshuis keeps its Dutch masters at the water's edge and the tree-lined Lange Voorhout lies just around the corner. North-west of the centre stands the Peace Palace, home of the International Court of Justice. Follow the long avenues toward the North Sea and you reach Scheveningen, with its pier, its dunes and restaurants facing the waves.

The seafront changes character with the seasons: beach pavilions and a crowded boulevard in summer, a windswept and far quieter promenade in winter, when a table by the window and the sound of the surf make their own kind of theatre.

Government visitors and consultants tend to stay near Den Haag Centraal and the Beatrixkwartier business district, a few minutes from the ministries. Grand historic addresses cluster around Lange Voorhout and the old centre. Holiday and conference guests often pick the seafront at Scheveningen, where hotels look straight out over the beach. Tell us which part of the city you are in, since the drive out to the coast adds time.

Allow roughly an hour for the journey south along the A4, more when the motorway is congested around Schiphol and Leiden at rush hour. Direct trains also connect the two cities, although the station is only part of the route to your door.

For that reason Den Haag bookings need extra notice. Send your hotel, the date and the time you have in mind as early as possible, ideally before the evening has begun, and the chat sets out a firm arrival estimate before you agree. If you are attending a formal dinner or reception, share the dress code so she arrives looking the part.

The city favours understated evenings: dinner in the old centre, a walk beneath the lamps of Lange Voorhout, or seafood by the water at Scheveningen with the pier lit up behind you. Samanta, elegant and composed with a real love of learning languages, fits naturally into a city of diplomats, while Karolina, poised and discreet, is well suited to a formal occasion. Every companion in the gallery can make the trip.

Many visitors to Den Haag travel for work that calls for quiet professionalism, and our companions understand that instinctively. She arrives dressed for a hotel full of delegates and consultants, and whatever you choose to share about your day stays between the two of you.

A direct train covers Amsterdam Centraal to Den Haag Centraal in roughly fifty minutes, and from Schiphol it is nearer half an hour. The city has two main stations, Centraal beside the government quarter and Hollands Spoor to the south, and a hotel near one is not always handy for the other. Trams carry visitors from the centre to the seafront at Scheveningen in around twenty minutes.

Your companion travels by road along the A4, which is why we allow about an hour and ask for notice. Parking near the Binnenhof and the Plein is limited and stretches of the seafront boulevard are closed to cars, so a drop-off at a nearby corner and a short walk is the usual pattern.

The Binnenhof, the historic seat of parliament, faces the Hofvijver pond, with the Mauritshuis on its corner. A few minutes north, the Peace Palace, where the International Court of Justice sits, lies behind formal gardens, and the tree-lined Lange Voorhout hosts art fairs and sculpture shows in summer. At Scheveningen a long pier juts out over the North Sea while the boulevard follows the dunes.

Den Haag goes to bed earlier than Amsterdam. Many restaurants in the centre stop serving by ten on weeknights, so an evening that starts with dinner should start in good time. Hotels near the embassies are used to formality and quiet comings and goings, and telling us whether you are here for work helps us suggest a companion who fits that tone.

Travelling on? Rotterdam is only a short hop down the A13, while Schiphol is a natural stop on the motorway home. If you are choosing from the capital, companions in Oud-Zuid start closest to the southbound motorway.