The Hague and Delft run children's arts festivals in the same week: count the adult tickets before you choose

For nine days from 17 to 25 October, The Hague and Delft each run a children's arts festival that exists only during the autumn school holiday, and the dates overlap exactly. The Hague's De Betovering works this year around the theme doorkijken, with more than 400 activities at over 60 locations for ages 2 to 12. Delft's Cultuurbarbaren is in its seventh edition, with 225 activities at 30 locations for primary-school ages. The two cities are a short train ride apart, so for families in the southern Randstad the question these nine days is not whether to go but which one.Neither festival is a permanent institution: each exists only for these nine days of the autumn holiday, and after 25 October the whole apparatus is packed away until next autumn. The ticket rules are therefore rebuilt every year and are not the ones you know from a museum.

The line that is easiest to skip and hardest on the wallet sits on the The Hague side: for theatre performances, children and the adults accompanying them all buy a ticket. So the number of tickets per show is not the number of children, it is children plus accompanying adults. Two adults and two children at three shows is twelve tickets, not six. De Betovering also states plainly that it has no box office of its own and no combination tickets: every venue sells through its own till, which means the price rises in a straight line and there is no volume discount to hope for.

• Identical dates: both festivals run Saturday 17 October to Sunday 25 October. (source 1, source 2)
• Different scale: The Hague has 400-plus activities at 60-plus locations for ages 2 to 12; Delft has 225 activities at 30 locations for primary-school ages. (source 2)
• Different ticketing: De Betovering has no central till and no combi-tickets, each venue sells its own; Cultuurbarbaren sells everything centrally on its own site, apart from Filmhuis Lumen, Science Day and Theater de Veste. (source 3, source 2)
• Different refunds: in The Hague a bought ticket is not refunded and can only be passed on; in Delft you can cancel up to 48 hours in advance, minus EUR 1 service cost per ticket. (source 3, source 2)

The sum you can fill with your own numbers sits in that refund row. Count the tickets you plan to buy, then multiply by one figure: in Delft that figure is EUR 1, so eight tickets and a change of plan costs at most EUR 8. In The Hague the figure is the full face value, because the festival states that tickets are not refunded. The same risk - a child running a fever that morning - costs an order of magnitude more on one side than the other. The Hague's remedy is that you may hand the ticket to someone else, or tell the venue so a waiting-list family can take the seat, but the money does not come back.

The second thing worth calculating is how large the free layer is. Both festivals have parts you walk into without a ticket: De Betovering's Festivalcentrum and Betovering-buiten need no reservation at all, and Cultuurbarbaren's festival heart at OPEN, Vesteplein 100, runs a free stage programme every festival day with staff present from 10:00 to 15:00 - but it is closed on Sundays. Count the paid performances you actually want, subtract the slots the free programme can fill, and only the remainder is what you pay for.

Where

De Betovering: The Hague, 60-plus locations; Cultuurbarbaren: Delft, 30 locations

When

17 to 25 October 2026, the autumn holiday; the two festivals run on exactly the same days

Price

Priced per venue and per activity; in The Hague an Ooievaarspas gives 50% off all shows and workshops

Ages

De Betovering ages 2 to 12; Cultuurbarbaren primary-school age, with a minimum age on each activity

Booking

The Hague's Festivalcentrum and Betovering-buiten need no reservation; every other show or workshop needs a ticket first

Note

The Hague requires accompanying adults to buy a ticket too and refunds nothing; Delft refunds up to 48 hours ahead, minus EUR 1 per ticket

Hokimi field note: both festivals mean the minimum age on each activity literally - 7+ is built for children of seven and up, not a suggestion. Filter by your child's actual age first and compare prices second; it is far less work than the other way round.