The Kasteel / Castle De Haar is the biggest castle in the Netherlands, and it’s fairly easy to visit on a day trip from Amsterdam to Castle De Haar, since it’s located near Utrecht!

Also known as Kasteel De Haar in the Dutch language, this castle was never meant for war, but it was (and still is) used as a luxury home of sorts.

You can pay extra to go inside the castle, and the interior is stunning and very worthwhile. If you only have time to visit one castle in Holland, it should be this one!

This travel guide will explain how to get to Castle De Haar, current hours and ticket prices, day tour options, and everything else you need to know before you go!

Visiting Castle De Haar: What To Expect

First things first — the De Haar Castle is surrounded by 135 acres of landscaped gardens with colorful flowers, ponds, deer, and nice scenery, so you’ll want to explore that first. It’s the perfect place for a long walk or picnic.

The outside of Castle De Haar is impressive and photogenic, with all the usual features you’d expect from a medieval castle, like towers, turrets, moats, gates, and suspension bridges.

You can take great pictures of the castle from almost any side!

In my mind I never really associated castles with Holland before, but this one is truly spectacular, like a fairytale castle.

It’s the largest castle in the Netherlands, and you could definitely say it’s the nicest too. The castle has a gift shop, cafe, and visitor center where you can buy tickets.

The park grounds also have a deer park where you can see friendly deer walking around and eating grass.

If you visit De Haar at the right time of year, there are even some special seasonal events held here, like the Elfia Fantasy Fair and Christmas Market.

No advance booking or reservation is needed for Kasteel De Haar, although you can book a small group day tour from Amsterdam if you want to skip the hassle of arranging your own transportation (I’ll explain more on that later).

In any case, Kasteel De Haar is well worth a visit, especially if you’re from the US or another country where castles aren’t very common!

Inside De Haar Castle (Interior)

The inside of De Haar Castle is just as impressive as the outside! If you buy a combo ticket, you can tour the inside at your own leisure.

The interior of Castle De Haar is extremely detailed and beautiful, with luxurious bedrooms, carvings and sculptures, paintings, fancy furniture, stained glass windows, sets of armor, and much more. It feels like you’re touring an art museum.

The castle has a whopping 200 rooms! Even though they only let you walk through less than a dozen of these, the inside tour was very thorough and worthwhile.

I’d highly recommend it! The combo ticket is easily worth the extra price you pay to go inside.

You can do an audio tour in Dutch or English, and there are also some friendly multilingual guides available in almost every room of the castle to explain some of the history of the building and the people who lived in it.

Photography is allowed inside the castle, including cameras (without flash), so we took lots of pictures. It was fascinating, and we easily could have stayed longer touring each room.

They don’t allow backpacks, tripods, drones, and other such things inside De Haar Castle, but there are some handy lockers where you can store things while you tour the interior.