Kasteel de Haar

Fell in love with this place! The grounds, the buildings, the personnel. All excellent. Our English-​speaking guide was amazing. Bought a museum card here so I can enjoy even more great places during my vacation.

One of the best castles I have ever been to. The grounds are just as impressive and they’ll let you stay past closing if you just let yourself out.
Check out the labyrinth on the side. Great fun for all ages and a great way to break from the norm.

The walk up to the castle is through a long tree-​lined path with cute cows lazily grazing to your left and I could feel myself already falling in love.
We were staying out of town and made the trip by train to Utrecht and then by bus (though you can bike) to Haarzuilens just to explore for the day, and I’m glad we did.
The highlight of the castle is its grounds. For that reason I strongly recommend choosing a day with nice weather for your visit so that you’re able to explore the gardens and bridges at their best. I especially loved how few tourists were walking around because it gave it a special, serene vibe. It somehow manages to feel un-​touristy and totally relaxing.
To just enjoy the grounds is free of charge. To enter the Castle is 14 € per person and you must go on a guided tour in Dutch, though they have English audio available, but it is forbidden to take any photos within the castle. To enter the Chatelet, which is the actual living quarters of the family, is 7.50 € per person and you can walk around at your leisure. They have informative signs posted in Dutch and a little English packet available. We opted just to do the Chatelet. They didn’t have an English map of the grounds available, but we made do.
Within the square with the welcoming center is a café with outdoor seating available. We weren’t expecting much but our lunch was really quite good with a nice sandwich selection and my favorite bitterballen of our whole trip. You are also welcome to bring your own picnic.
I originally found out about Kasteel de Haar on pinterest through its popular photo of what’s known on pinterest as «the bridge of romance.» When we asked the staff they had never heard of it, lol, but we did find it right behind the chapel to the left and it was just as beautiful as it looks on pinterest.
The reason I’m not giving 5 stars is because the Chatelet was under renovation while we were there (April 2015) and touring the unfinished interior didn’t feel worth the ticket price. I also don’t like that photos aren’t permitted inside the castle, and I like to be left to see places at my own pace, not on a mandatory group tour in a language I don’t understand.
The lovely grounds, lovely lunch, and lovely staff made for a very lovely day.
Edited to add ticket prices.

the castle was beautiful and it was really worth the trip! I wish they have an English-​speaking tour guide though.

What an amazing place, wonderful tour for the price 15 euros which is spoken in Dutch but they have audio tours available in different languages for 1 euro extra. The grounds and gardens are absolutely gorgeous! Allow yourself plenty of time to roam. Would be awesome to have a picnic on a nice day. We ate at Koetshuis de Haar which
had really great sandwiches.

This is a beautiful castle, but pretty expensive! I didn’t appreciate that the entry fee for kids and adults is the same.
In order to view the inside of the castle, you have to pay for a tour which isn’t the most exciting for little ones. Walking around the grounds is nice, but there isn’t much beyond a Maze for the kids.
The Christmas markets sound like they would make up for the price of admission, but during early spring not much is going on there besides a lot of renovation.
Tip: The café there is over priced and doesn’t have the best service. Took forever to get a simple slice of Apple pie! I would eat somewhere outside the castle grounds.

Wow, what a beautiful castle. I went there for the X’mas festival and it was incredible. There were plenty of vendors selling everything you can think of and you must eat at La Place. The food was very good!
From their website: «De Haar Castle is the biggest and most luxurious castle of the Netherlands. With its towers, turrets, moats, gates and suspension bridges, De Haar Castle resembles a true medieval castle.»