The miniature city of Madurodam in the Schveningen district of The Hague is a collection of many famous buildings and landmarks throughout The Netherlands, making this (ironically) a fairly large miniature city. 

A miniature city may not sound like the most interesting tourist attraction, but Madurodam is definitively worth a visit. It is not just a collection of buildings, cars, humans and ships, but also the scenery and nature around it, making the city look so much more real.

Trees are trimmed to match the size of the surrounding buidlings and water runs down the mountain sides in what looks like natural springs. The people of Madurodam even wear appropriate clothing, being dressed in t-shirts during the summer and warm jackets in the winter.

Coming to life

Many of the miniature models in Madurodam are “alive”. Boats sail around in the canals, cars drive on the roads and at concerts the people are even dancing to the music.

During Halloween some of the buildings were decorated with spiderwebs, pumpkins and enormous spiders (well, compared to everything else).

Almost everything is made at a scale of 1:25, but the tulips that The Netherlands is so famous for are in contrast built larger than what they are in reality.

Practical

• Madurodam is open every day.
• Tickets cost 16.50 euros, but you can save 2 euros by ordering online in advance.
• Map of Madurodam in Google
• Madurodam’s home page