A Year of Unexpected Adventures in The Hague – The Elswhere Tours Story
Not Just Another Year of Tours: A Year of Unexpected Adventures with Elswhere Tours
From local history and feminist stories to American diplomats, rock ’n’ roll and a little bit of New York Times fame. Season 2026 has certainly kept us on our toes!
This blog isn't really about the high season of 2026. Well, not entirely. It's more about what happens when you follow your curiosity, say yes to unexpected opportunities and genuinely love what you do.
For years, we've been developing our themed walking and biking tours, exploring new ways to tell the stories of our cities and becoming increasingly experienced in creating tailor-made tours for all sorts of groups. Our Royal Gossip tour is a good example of this. From individual travellers and families to corporate groups, international organisations and visiting delegations. We take people around The Hague, Delft, Leiden, Rotterdam, Keukenhof and, yes, even Amsterdam. We go where the stories take us!
But this year has been a particularly special one. And not necessarily because of the number of tours we did. It's been about the people we met, the stories we got to tell and some rather unexpected adventures along the way.
It all started with a birthday party and a feminist tour
January. Low season. A time when most tour guides are happily catching their breath, doing some admin and perhaps enjoying the occasional lie-in. I was dragging my feet a little when my dear friend Mansi asked me to organise a tour for her birthday. Enjoying my well-deserved winter break, I almost said no. But Mansi can be persuasive (one of her many qualities!), so I agreed to try out our new feminist tour on her and her friends.
And what a lovely afternoon it turned out to be! We explored the stories of women in The Hague who don't always get the attention they deserve. Women who changed the city, challenged conventions, broke boundaries and sometimes simply refused to behave as expected. The group joined in, shared stories and added their own perspectives. It became much more than a guided walk. It was a lovely afternoon with friends, full of conversation, recognition and a few good laughs.
And then something unexpected happened. Local broadcaster Omroep West got in touch as a result of that tour- Network! Would I be interested in taking part in a television programme called Expeditie Nederland, a collaboration between regional broadcasters OmroepWest and Dutch national public television NPO?
Well, why not!
The Wereldwijven Tour goes on television
Filming a television programme wasn't exactly part of my January plans. But it turned out to be great fun. I was a little nervous at first (who wouldn't be?), but soon got into the swing of things. Some of my friends whom also happen to be woman I admire, joined our walk, and we got to share the stories of remarkable women who have shaped The Hague. The programme was broadcast in April and was very well received.
Our Wereldwijven Tour suddenly had an audience far beyond the people who normally join our walks. And the timing couldn't have been better – or perhaps worse for my already busy agenda!
It was right in the middle of tulip season, when visitors from all over the world flock to the Netherlands to see the flowers in bloom and visit the world-famous Keukenhof in Lisse.
The attention came from all directions. There was a radio interview on NPO Radio 2, an article in the local news and, naturally, an increase in bookings for our women's history walking tour. A wonderful experience, and a great reminder that the stories we tell in our own backyard can resonate with people much further afield.
From The Hague to the United States Congress
Just when I thought the year couldn't get much more interesting, another email landed in my inbox. This time it was from the U.S. Embassy.
Would I be interested in organising a three-day programme for a delegation of American congressmen, senators and their partners, representing both sides of the political spectrum, visiting the Netherlands around the Fourth of July?
Well, that's not an everyday request! What an honour – and what a job.
Organising a programme of this size involves a lot more than showing people around. There are schedules, logistics, negotiations, changing wishes, coordination and an awful lot of emails. Luckily, I enjoy bringing people, ideas and practical arrangements together. It's a big part of what Elswhere Tours is about. Working closely with the embassy team, I could focus on creating the tours and experiences, training and instructing some of our teams’ guides specifically for this tour, while making sure the programme fitted the group's interests and requirements. We put together a wonderful three-day programme, including a visit to the Pilgrim Museum in Leiden, an American History Tour in The Hague and a beautiful boat trip through Amsterdam.
It's exactly the kind of project we love: combining history, culture and local stories with the specific interests of an interesting group. And it shows what a custom-made tour in the Netherlands can be. Not a standard itinerary with a different name on it, but an experience designed around the people taking part.
Hello, New York Times!
Now, this next one really came out of the blue… In the summer, I received a phone call from a journalist from The New York Times.
She was researching whether more people were travelling from the south of the Netherlands towards the north, potentially to escape increasingly hot summers. Something she called a ‘Coolcation’. Had I noticed this trend among my guests?
Rather than just giving her my own observations, I invited her to join our free walking tour that weekend. That way, she could ask the visitors herself! She joined us, chatted with our guests and got a taste of The Hague through the eyes of the people exploring it. And then my name, my tour and some of my guests appeared in the ‘coolcation’ article in The New York Times. Needless to say, I was honoured. And amazed.
There was just one small detail: I was on holiday at the time, enjoying a simple campsite somewhere in the French countryside, surrounded by nature and blissfully disconnected from the usual hustle and bustle. My phone kept buzzing with congratulatory WhatsApp messages, but I didn't quite grasp how special it was until I got home a few weeks later. Everywhere I went, people seemed to have heard about it! A rather nice souvenir from the summer holidays, to say the least.
Nature, the Netherlands and the smaller things in life
And just when I thought the media attention might finally settle down, another journalist got in touch. This time it was the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), for an interview about nature in the Netherlands.
Now, nature is not necessarily the first thing people associate with our tours of The Hague. But there's so much more to discover beyond the city centre. On our tailor made custom tours, we regularly venture into beautiful natural areas and parks close to The Hague. Personally I love places like the Veluwe and the Biesbosch a lot, but with my guests I also enjoy the smaller gifts of nature that you encounter when you take the road less travelled.
A quiet courtyard, a hidden garden, farmland when we go off the beaten path, or an amazing dune area in between the busy city and our 11 km’s of beaches of Scheveningen and Kijkduin- part of our town. Perfect for a nature bike tour exploring the flora and fauna together and seeing the remnants of the Atlantik Wall. These are the things that make exploring a place special.
It's often the unexpected details that guests remember most. The interview should be published soon. I'll share it here( and on our socials) as soon as it appears so you can find out what my favourite nature reserves in provence Holland are. Watch this space!
The Hague Rock City – and a walking concert!
But perhaps my favourite project of the year has been something entirely different. Music!
Long before The Hague became internationally known as the City of Peace and Justice, we had another rather impressive nickname: The Hague Rock City. And rightly so! Our Haagse Beat Tour is not just another walking tour. It's a walking concert, taking you through the musical history of The Hague with a real musician as your guide. We've teamed up with two fantastic local musicians: Erik Hofland (Dyzack!) and Arie Spaans (Ragmob!).
Together, we bring the city's musical heritage to life. From the early days of the Golden Earring and Shocking Blue to the sounds of Goldband and Di-rect. The Hague has produced an extraordinary number of bands and musicians, and their stories deserve to be heard. And what better way to tell them than with a guitar in hand?
This year we had the pleasure of being part of Prinsjesdag and the PrinsjesNach festival. It was wonderful to share the musical roots of our city with an enthusiastic audience. The best thing about this activity? It appeals to young and old. You don't have to be a music expert or know every guitar riff by heart. You just need to enjoy a good story, a bit of live music and perhaps the occasional sing-along.
We believe these stories are part of what makes The Hague special. Let's keep that fire burning!
Business tours, family activities and everything in between
And while all this was going on, the regular work of Elswhere Tours continued. Because behind every fun tour there's usually a fair amount of planning, organising, researching and occasionally wondering how on earth we're going to fit everything into the diary.
November and December are already looking surprisingly busy: We're delighted to welcome back returning clients such as The Hague Partners, ACCOR, Leiden University and the International School of The Hague for Model United Nations. It's always lovely when organisations come back for another tour or activity. We also will be doing several:
Hidden Gem tours – our compact version of a 'We Hate Tourist Tours' tour. No offence to tourists, of course. We just like showing you the places you might otherwise walk straight past!
An Art Nouveau tour, exploring the beautiful details and stories behind this fascinating architectural style.
Highly customised tours for several Dutch ministries.
We will offer our first Arab spoken tours this winter.
We’ve organised our first bespoke art tour for november- a new member of our tour guide team has created a cultural experience guided tour- on request specialising in our beautiful museum’s like Mauritshuis, Voorlinden and much more!
It's a great example of the variety of corporate activities and private tours in The Hague (and beyond!) that we can organise. Sometimes it's about discovering the city, sometimes about connecting colleagues, and sometimes it's about creating a programme that brings together people from different countries and backgrounds.
And it's not just for businesses and institutions; We love organising family activities in The Hague, private walking tours, birthday outings, special-interest tours and experiences for visiting friends and relatives. Whether you're looking for a fun afternoon with the family, a memorable company outing or a tailor-made programme for an international delegation, we enjoy finding the right story and the right approach for your group. Because no two groups are the same. And why should their tours be?
So, what's next for Elswhere Tours?
As the year winds down, we'll be doing what we always do: looking after our guests, welcoming new clients, writing blogs, researching new stories and taking care of all the behind-the-scenes work that keeps a small local tour business running. We're also looking ahead to the spring and summer of 2027. New ideas are already bubbling away, and there are plenty of stories left to uncover.
And there's one more thing to look forward to: MOMONDO is preparing a fun blog about The Hague, in which Elswhere Tours will also get a mention. It's a great little guide to help you plan your visit to our city, so I'll share that one too when it's published.
Looking back, 2026 has been a year of unexpected opportunities, wonderful collaborations, new audiences and some rather exciting media appearances. But none of that changes what we're really about. At Elswhere Tours, we believe that a good tour is about much more than buildings, dates and historical facts. It's about people, stories, connections, curiosity and having a good time along the way.
We want you to leave with a smile, a few new things to talk about and perhaps a slightly different view of our country. Whether you're visiting The Hague for the first time, organising a company outing, planning a family day out, or looking for a bespoke tour for your embassy, business, (non) goverment organisation or international group, we'd love to show you around.
We'll share the historical gossip, teach you about law and justice, introduce you to some fascinating characters and take you to places you might never have found on your own.
And who knows? Perhaps we'll end up in the newspaper together.
Come explore with us. Let's go Elswhere!
