Royal Christmas Fair: The Hague's Christmas Market on Lange Voorhout
You will smell it before you see it: mulled wine and hot chocolate drifting between the trees of the Lange Voorhout, the avenue of lime trees in the city centre where The Hague's Royal Christmas Fair sets up at the end of each year. Stalls sell winter-themed gifts alongside art and antiques, and the market runs through the Christmas period — so on Tweede Kerstdag, 26 December, you can walk it on a public holiday, when the city is off work and the terraces are full.
- Warm up with a beker hot chocolate or a glass of mulled wine — the two drinks Dutch Christmas markets reliably serve.
- Browse for winter gifts, art and antiques rather than mass-produced souvenirs.
- Come in the late afternoon: the lights in the trees do their best work after dark, and the market is at its most atmospheric as the day tips into evening.
Walk the Decorated City: Trees, Lights and the Dutch Christmas at Home
Dutch Christmas is two days, not one. Eerste Kerstdag falls on 25 December and Tweede Kerstdag on 26 December — both official public holidays in the Netherlands in 2026. The season is typified by family gatherings with food and drink, and in some families presents are exchanged. Streets and homes are decorated with Christmas trees and lights, which means a wander through The Hague's centre and residential neighbourhoods on the 26th is itself the activity: lit windows, trees in living rooms, and a city moving at half speed.
- Plan around the fact that 26 December is a public holiday — the rhythm of the city is family-and-food, not office hours.
- If you are visiting Dutch friends or family, expect the table to be the centre of the day rather than a programme of events.
- Keep the Sinterklaas calendar in mind when you book: the intocht (arrival) is in mid-November, two weeks before 5 December, and Pakjesavond — the gifts evening — falls on 5 December. By Tweede Kerstdag the Dutch gift season is already behind you, and the 26th is about the table and the lights.
Scheveningen and the Coast: The Christmas–New Year Run
The Hague's seaside district, Scheveningen, is where the Christmas period rolls straight into the New Year. On 1 January, thousands of participants take part in the Nieuwjaarsduik, the New Year's Dive, on the beach. Tweede Kerstdag is the day before that stretch begins — a good moment to walk the boulevard and the beach, work up an appetite, and see the coast in its winter mood before the crowds arrive for the dive.
- Walk Scheveningen's beach and boulevard on the 26th; the pier and the sand are free and open, and the light at this time of year is the point.
- If you are still in the city on 1 January, the Nieuwjaarsduik draws thousands of participants — a New Year's Day spectacle rather than a Tweede Kerstdag one.
What to Eat and Drink on 26 December
Tweede Kerstdag eating in the Netherlands is built around family gatherings with food and drink, and The Hague's Christmas market tradition supplies the street-level version of the same thing: hot chocolate and mulled wine served at the Royal Christmas Fair on the Lange Voorhout and at Christmas markets in Dutch cities generally. If you are in the city on the 26th, treat the market as your warm-up and the restaurant table as the main event — but book ahead, because the 26th is a public holiday and the whole country is eating out or eating in.
- Hot chocolate and mulled wine: the two drinks you can count on at the Royal Christmas Fair.
- Winter-themed gifts, art and antiques: the shopping side of the same market, if you need a present for a Dutch host.
- Book your table for the 26th in advance — a public holiday in a city where the day is organised around meals.
Beyond the 26th: The Hague's Christmas-to-New Year Calendar
If you are building a trip around Tweede Kerstdag, the days on either side give the visit its shape. The Royal Christmas Fair runs at the end of each year on the Lange Voorhout. The Nieuwjaarsduik at Scheveningen follows on 1 January. Later in the season, The Hague hosts The Life I Live festival on the night of 26 April — King's Night — and the Bevrijdingsfestival Den Haag on 5 May. Note that 5 May is an official holiday only once every five years; it is not a holiday in 2026, with the next falling in 2030.
- Christmas market on Lange Voorhout: end of each year, through the Christmas period.
- Nieuwjaarsduik, Scheveningen: 1 January, thousands of participants.
- The Life I Live, The Hague: night of 26 April.
- Bevrijdingsfestival Den Haag: 5 May — a festival, but not a public holiday in 2026.
For 2026, the official public holidays to plan around are Nieuwjaarsdag (1 January), Eerste Paasdag (5 April), Tweede Paasdag (6 April), Koningsdag (27 April), Hemelvaartsdag (14 May), Eerste Pinksterdag (24 May), Tweede Pinksterdag (25 May), Eerste Kerstdag (25 December) and Tweede Kerstdag (26 December). Goede Vrijdag (3 April), Nationale Dodenherdenking (4 May), Sinterklaas (5 December) and Oudejaarsavond (31 December) are not official holidays for everyone.
Start Planning Your Tweede Kerstdag
Book your travel so that 26 December finds you in The Hague rather than in transit — it is an official public holiday, the second half of a two-day Christmas, and the city's Christmas market on the Lange Voorhout is the anchor of the day. Build the trip outwards from there: the market and the lit streets on the 26th, Scheveningen's beach and boulevard in the winter light, and the Nieuwjaarsduik on 1 January if you can stay through the New Year. Reserve your table for the 26th early, keep the Sinterklaas dates in mind if you want the full Dutch season rather than just its final two days, and let the calendar above set your dates rather than the other way around.