Pretty Netherlands Sea Town Defies Foreigners to Pronounce Its Name

SCHEVENINGEN, Netherlands — During World War II, when German undercover agents here tried to pass themselves off as Dutch, one giveaway was their pronunciation of this town’s name.

Only a Dutchman can come close to getting it right, which is something like SKAY-ven-en-gun. People say it with a throat-clearing guttural sound that defies imitation.

Today, Scheveningen, a suburb of The Hague, remains one of the most popular seaside towns along the North Sea coast. During the summer, the Dutch flock to this storied stretch of sand.

Many visitors come to view the fishing port, active for almost 800 years. Some fishermen and their wives still wear traditional costumes. Meanwhile, a newer part of town has been developed into a resort of fine hotels, shops, restaurants and a glittering casino.

Getting here: Fly KLM nonstop from Los Angeles to Schiphol Airport outside Amsterdam, or Delta, Northwest, TWA or Pan Am with changes. Take train No. 8 or No. 9 directly from the airport to Scheveningen in 30 minutes. A round-trip air ticket costs between $614 and $921, based on advance purchase, month and day of week flown. The train ticket is about $3.

How long/how much: A day will do for the highlights of the town, but since it is a suburb of The Hague, with its many museums and other attractions, plan a day or so there, too.

Lodging and dining costs are reasonable.

A few fast facts: The guilder recently traded at 1.88 to the dollar, about 53 cents each. Best time for a visit is late spring until early fall.

Netherlands Railways has a number of Ranger passes that will get you about the country at very moderate cost, including bus transportation.

Getting settled in: The Bel Park Hotel (Belgischeplein 38; $45 to $77 B&B; double) has been completely renovated and is fresh, bright and comfortable. Although bedrooms are on the small side, they have color TV and other amenities. Some have balconies.

It has an outdoor cafe, and the dining room recently added a small menu of French and Cambodian cuisine to go with its Dutch meals.

Esquire (Van Aerssenstraat 43; $68-$78 B&B; double) is another small hotel with colorful flags above the entrance, just a short walk from the beach, museums, concert hall and smart shops. Although the bedrooms are contemporary in decor, they and public areas have warm touches and ceiling beams that give them a healthy measure of Dutch coziness. Breakfast only here.

Hotel-Restaurant City (Renbaanstraat 1; $61-$69 B&B; double) is an old home converted into a sparkling hotel. Bedrooms are big and airy, with white wicker furniture, flowering plants and beautiful baths.

A few doors down the street you’ll find the restaurant, a paneled room loaded with flowers. It serves typical Dutch food that is praised by the locals.

Regional food and drink: The Netherlands’ food has the same character as its people: sturdy, comforting and easy to know. But seafood is the big thing here on the coast, particularly the Zeeland oysters. There is lots of sole, more kinds of deep-water fish than you can count and mussels, which the Dutch adore almost as much as the Belgians do. And you won’t walk far without passing a herring stand, where the fare is served raw with chopped onions.

Wine is always available, and the Dutch beer is excellent.

Good local dining: Fish Restaurant Ducdalf (Dr. Lelykade 5) is your best bet for the very freshest seafood in a harborside setting. Watch the boats come and go as you choose from an enormous menu that includes a magnificently thick fish soup, 11 different preparations of sole and the lowly plaice raised to heavenly heights when fried perfectly ($12, including potatoes and salad).

Maribaya (Dr. Lelykade 17) is an elegant Indonesian place with the friendliest of waiters and barmen. It serves a mini- rijsttafel (rice table with separate plates of fish, meat and vegetables) for two at $34. The hottest rijsttafel (17 dishes, $45) will take your breath away, with Indonesian pepper sauces that make the Mexican variety taste like baby food.

De Mosselman (Keizerstraat 55) is not much larger than a phone booth, with 10 tables crammed in, walls dripping with nautical artifacts, candlelight and mostly locals here for the glorious mussels, oysters and lobster.

Tourist Menu tickets for a three-course menu at a fixed price of $10.50 bring a great fish soup, followed by a main course of gigantic bowls of hot mussels in their shells, French fries and salad, then ice cream with whipped cream and a Dutch flag on top. Also tossed in are plenty of crisp French bread and a tub of garlic butter.

Going first-class: Kurhaus Hotel (Gevers Deynootplein 30; $156-$199 B&B; double) has been the town showplace and social center since 1885, having once had the Berlin Philharmonic as its summertime house orchestra. Ceiling murals of the main Kurzall concert room look like those of an ornate Renaissance palace.

Bedrooms, alas, can be less than spacious, but service, amenities and modern conveniences leave little to desire.

Kurhaus’s Kandinsky dining room has a French kitchen unmatched in the city, with evening menus of five or seven courses for $46 and $61. A la carte selections are endless, and the wines are superb.

On your own: Scheveningen Museum contains a fascinating display of the town’s fishing history, including small ships and ship models of every period, costumes, craftsmen demonstrating net-making and other skills and its own “brown cafe” for a coffee or beer.

The Marine Biological Museum on the port has an equally fascinating collection of 20,000 seashells from the world’s oceans; small aquariums showing sea life in the North Sea, and a splendid shop with a huge collection of shells and books.

Just outside town is the world-renowned miniature city of Madurodam, a marvelous replica of a Dutch town complete with medieval churches, homes, schools, port, trains, airport, cows and windmills (entrance is $5 for adults, $2.50 for children).

The Hague (10 minutes by tram) has 26 museums, including the 17th-Century Maurithuis with its collection of 16 Rembrandts, three of the 30 Vermeers known to exist, plus Jan Steen, Franz Hals, Rubens and other Old Masters.

For more information: Call the Netherlands Board of Tourism at (213) 678-8802 or (415) 543-6772, or write (90 New Montgomery St., Suite 305, San Francisco 94105) for information on Scheveningen and The Hague, Netherlands Railway passes, the Tourist Menu brochure and a map of the Netherlands.