Rotterdam, The Hague or Delft for two nights with young children?

[EmbracingUncertainty]

We’ve booked a week long holiday park in south holland at beginning of July and planning to have 2 nights in a city (one full day) before getting the ferry back from Amsterdam. We did Amsterdam on our last Holland trip so we’d like to explore somewhere else this time, but can’t decide between Rotterdam, The Hague or delft.

we have 2 kids under 8 so we don’t want to be doing too much exploring, ideally somewhere handy for a large museum (we loved the Nemo science museum) and parks. Delft was looking like a good option but concerned there might not be much to do there if it rains.

we don’t want to go to a theme park, we’ll also have the car with us but would prefer to take the train / metro when based in a city.

any recommendations welcome!

The Hague is great because you can go to the beach at Scheveningen easily on the tram. It's a really big windy beach. There's a ferris wheel over the sea and a pier which is kind of run down - like they often are- but we had a great time sitting in massive clogs etc. The Hague also has lovely art museums (eg The Girl with the Pearl Earring), an amazing cheesecake cafe, interesting shops (I like the chain Kamille and Dill for homewares) and is just generally a great size city for walking round. Delft is very close I think on the tram too.
I'd love to go back to The Hague.

Thanks! The beach sounds great but we’ll have spent a whole week at another beach beforehand so will probably be a bit beached out!

Utrecht? Great railway museum, museum of mechanical musical instruments, canals and a couple of good parks.
Rotterdam has a good maritime museum. I don't think Den Haag or Delft are very child friendly. Leiden also has some good child friendly museums.

Rotterdam could work - there’s Kinderdijk - which is an historic windmill area, if the weather is good it’s great to walk or cycle round or you can go on a boat tour round them. You take the river bus from the centre to get there - easy & fun.
if the weather is less good there is an 1940s (I think) cruise ship moored up, it’s a hotel, but most of the interesting area are open to the public.
there are some interesting museums too

the hague is great with children
the beach is amazing

delft is half an hour by tram and a very very cute city (tram 1 directly from the beach)

if you like museums: Escher, Mauritshuis, Mesdag panorama, Mesdag collection, Madurodam, Lowman (cars!)...

I'd probably opt for Rotterdam.

You could do a Spido boat tour round the harbour area and a trip up the Euromast, which has a lovely park nearby.

There's also a Museum Park with, unsurprisingly, lots of museums and galleries close together. In different parts of the city there's the Maritime Museum and a small World War II museum (with incredibly friendly staff).

There's the Waterbus if you wanted to go on a longer boat trip. You may need to change services if you want to go to Kinderdijk.

A Rotterdam Welcome Card will give good discounts on most attractions, including the Spido tour and Euromast. You can also choose a Welcome card that also has local public transport included, though not the Waterbus. The cards can be bought online or at tourist info offices (the main ones are at the railway station and on Coolsingel, a large thoroughfare in the city.

Have a lovely holiday, whatever you choose.

Rotterdam is great. The amphibious bus tours are fun and there are good museums.
The Hague has the Escher museum which my young child liked. Delft is nice to stroll or sit about but not much indoors as you say.
Theres a Lego discovery centre at scheveninngen. And a space museum near by https://www.space-expo.nl/en but I’d go to Rotterdam if you want a city.

But the absolutely best place in NL by a million miles is Madurodam so if that’s not near your main holiday location I’d go there.

Panorama Mesdag in The Hague is fab

https://panorama-mesdag.nl/en/

We really liked KinderDijk for a day out so Rotterdam from that point of view.

We also loved Utrecht and Haarlem - Utrecht has a Miffy (Nintje) museum and we enjoyed the Teylers museum in Haarlem.

Thanks! This looks like an ideal place to go in our last day en route to the ferry

We stayed in lovely accommodation in Delft which I can pm to you if you like?
The train into The Hague was very quick. There’s not a huge amount to do but everyone was very happy to have a relaxing few days after a busy two week a beforehand.
Haarlem is also lovely and very convenient for travelling into Amsterdam.

Leaning more towards Rotterdam now but that would be great if you could DM the details! Thanks