De Haar Castle (Kasteel de Haar)

The main and largest castle in the Netherlands. Originally mentioned in 1391, it belonged to the De Haar family, but was gradually destroyed due to wars and natural disasters. In 1890, Etienne Gustave Frédéric Baron van Zuylen van Nyevelt van de Haar inherited the castle ruins and married Baroness Helene de Rothschild. Having gained access to almost endless finances, between 1892 and 1912 he completely rebuilt the castle in its present form.

Unlike most castles and palaces, everything here was built with the latest technology, there was even own electric generator. A park was laid out around the castle, in which 7,000 trees were planted. In 2000 the castle was taken over by the Association for the Protection of Monuments in the Netherlands.

The interiors of the castle, according to reviews, are gorgeous, but we didn't go inside this time, with a small child, just walked around the grounds.








































Getting there: parking 52.118379, 4.983817. By public transport from Utrecht Centraal take the sprinter towards The Hague Central to Vleuten station. Then take bus 127 towards Breukelen (stop Brink, Haarzuilens) and walk 15 minutes to the castle. In the summer months, in the last stretch, there is a bus 111 in the direction of Kasteel de Haar.