Scheveningen Beach RIB Speedboat Tour

Scheveningen harbour, your starting point

Your Scheveningen boat trip begins in the harbour, the working heart of the old fishing village that is now part of The Hague. For centuries the local fleet launched flat-bottomed boats straight from the beach, until harbour basins were dug in the early twentieth century. Today trawlers, pilot boats and sailing yachts share the quays, and the waterfront along Doctor Lelykade is lined with fish stalls, seafood restaurants and maritime warehouses.

If you are wondering how to get to Scheveningen harbour, trams and buses run from the centre of The Hague to the harbour district, and there is paid parking along the quays. Look for the yellow flags at the boat departure point opposite the harbour-front restaurant. Arrive a little early to meet your guide, store loose items and get fitted with your life jacket before the safety briefing.

The harbour entrance and the lighthouse

Once the skipper leaves the inner basin, the RIB passes between the stone harbour moles into open water. Above the dunes stands the Scheveningen lighthouse, a slender tower from the second half of the nineteenth century that still guides ships along this stretch of coast. From the sea you see how the lighthouse, the harbour and the old fishing streets fit together.

This is where the ride starts to feel like the North Sea. Even on calm days there is a gentle swell, and the guide explains how the coast here is protected by dunes and wide beaches rather than cliffs. Hold on to the handles as the engines open up: the open water beyond the harbour mouth is where the first fast straight run usually takes place.

Scheveningen Pier from the sea

The boat then heads along the coast to the Scheveningen Pier, the long two-level structure that reaches several hundred metres into the sea. An earlier pier stood here from 1901 but was destroyed during the Second World War; the present one opened in the early 1960s and was renovated in recent years, with a giant wheel at its tip.

Seeing the pier from the water gives a scale you never get from the boulevard, and the skipper often makes sweeping turns nearby so everyone gets a good photograph. Is Scheveningen Pier worth visiting on foot as well? Yes, the views from the wheel and the decks are a great follow-up to this ride, and you can easily combine both on the same afternoon.

The boulevard and Scheveningen beach

Offshore you look back at the seafront boulevard with its grand historic resort buildings, including the domed nineteenth-century spa building that made Scheveningen famous as a bathing resort, and the modern apartments behind the dunes. The wide sandy beach stretches for kilometres, busy with beach pavilions, surf schools and kite flyers in summer.

This part of the ride is a favourite for photographs, as the whole resort appears in one sweep. Your guide explains how Scheveningen changed from a fishing village into a seaside resort in the early nineteenth century. The best time to visit Scheveningen beach is from late spring to early autumn, when the water is calmer and the boulevard is at its liveliest.

The speedboat ride itself

The RIB is a 9-metre rigid inflatable boat powered by two strong outboard engines, built for speed and stability. Depending on the sea and the wishes of the group, the skipper can reach speeds of up to 100 kilometres an hour, then throw the boat into tight turns that send spray flying. Passengers who prefer a gentler ride simply let the guide know.

Every tour starts with a 10-minute safety briefing, and life jackets are provided for all. The ride lasts about 35 minutes, so the whole experience takes around 45 minutes. It is one of the most exciting things to do in Scheveningen and a fresh contrast to museums and canal boats in the city.