The leaves are falling and soon rain will lash the streets. All the more reason to lift your spirits by being frightened to death at a Halloween event or to enjoy some of these other offerings for October.

Start your Grand Tour in The Hague
The Mauritshuis in The Hague has gathered together artworks and diaries from three English stately homes, telling the story of the traditional “grand tour” when young Englishmen in particular braved winding mountain roads and flea-ridden inns to visit France and Italy.

Apart from sowing their wild oats – like foreign visitors to the red light district today – they were credited with stimulating portraiture, cityscapes and an appreciation for Roman antiquity as they sought souvenirs of their travels. The Grand Tour – Destination Italy runs until January 4. Website

Figure out the Butoh Festival
The Butoh International Festival of dance at the Munganga Theatre in Amsterdam is about to kick off, promising 12 “unconventional, experimental and controversial” performances by 17 artists from 15 countries in 2 days in its 9th edition.October 2 and 3. Website

Shake a helping hand in The Hague
The Hague International Centre is celebrating 15 years of supporting and connecting internationals in the  The Hague region.  To mark the occasion, there’s a special exhibition which showcases the contribution of internationals to The Hague and personal stories of international residents who have made the city their new home. October 8-24. Website

Come over queer
Strike Me Pink Productions presents Queerer Things, the second edition of short plays about things form a queer perspective, including Hunk’d about the pitfalls of dating apps, Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, about a pastor’s son coming out as gay, and Tony, inspired by the murder of a socialite by her son. October 9. Website

Get an eyeful of Michelangelo’s men
The Teyler Museum in Haarlem has drawn from its own collection of breathtakingly beautiful drawings by Michelangelo as well as loans, including the marble sculpture Apollo David, for its unique exhibition De Mannen van Michelangelo.

Its aim, the museum says, is to offer a modern perspective of the male nude and explain the intricacies of anatomical drawing. From October 15. Website

Discover Ancient Egypt in Leiden
Two years after being banned from a dig at Sakkara for upsetting the Egyptian authorities by claiming ancient Egypt inspired modern musicians of African origin, the Rijkmuseum voor Oudheden in Leiden is trying again but this time it’s all unobjectionable and sedate and very interesting.

Discovering Ancient Egypt, which has been on the road for five years, returns to the museum, with objects telling the stories of the country’s ancient history, the world’s enduring fascination with it as well as new insights into the culture through the latest technologies. From October 16. Website

Meet the sea women of Shima
Photography museum Huis Marseille is showing 80 black and while photos by Japanese photographer Kusukazu Uragushi (1922-1888). They document the Shima no Ama, the “sea women” of his native Shima region who trained themselves from a young age to dive for seaweed and abalone at depths of up to 20 metres while holding their breath, some continuing into their 80s.

Uragashi spent over 30 years photographing this time-honoured tradition and the delightful women embodying it, both on shore and underneath the waves, using one of the first underwater cameras. The photos have been mounted on some of the original wooden panels used by the artist. From October 18. Website

Get a move on in Amsterdam
Amsterdam in Motion is the biggest multimedia model of a city anywhere in the world, its 200 square meters boasting 30,500 buildings. 750 years of history are brought to life as visitors are transported to the Vondelpark, the port and lots of other emblematic places, by means of projections and audio and visual effects.

Go up a floor at the Zuiveringsghal Oost at the Westergasterrein, and there is an interactive exhibition about things Amsterdam, such as housing (or the lack thereof), fashion and Ajax. Amsterdam in Motion opens on October 27, the exact date of the city’s 750th anniversary. Website

Get to know the Ter Borchs
The Fundatie in Zwolle, the hometown of the talented 17th century Ter Borch family, has mounted an exhibition around its many successful members, particularly Gerard but not forgetting his half-siblings Gesina, Anna, Moses and Harmen.

Their artist father, Gerard senior, encouraged all his children to “sketch, scribble, practice, copy, compete, invent and experiment” and, like any proud parent, carefully kept many of their youthful efforts. Among the 70 works on paper and 35 paintings is a charming picture of a man riding a horse done by seven-year-old Gerard ter Borch. Until February 1. Website 

Meet Suriname
The Suriname Museum on the Zeeburgerdijk in Amsterdam has opened its doors with Meet Su Meet Us, a wide-ranging first exhibition which invites the Dutch, including young Surinamese, to get acquainted with the history of the Dutch former colony.

From the country’s natural beauty to the trauma caused by the December killings, the Dutch colonial regime, slavery and resistance fighter Anton de Kom’s death at the concentration camp Neuengamme, there is much to take in. Website

Find out about the colonised kiss
Did you know that a slobbery French kiss used to be called a  Tatar kiss. It changed names in the 18th century because the  Tartars were considered a barbaric race. This is the type of colonial attitude that is at the heart of the eponymously titled exhibition at the Vleeshal in Middelburg.

Curators Maria Sarycheva and Elena Ishchenko, who together form the League of Tenders, brought to gether works by seven artists from those “barbaric” regions, who scrutinise colonisation then and now.  Tatar*Kiss runs until December 14. Website

Don’t say we didn’t warn you
If you like the living daylights scared out of you, now is your chance to sign up for a night of Halloween creepiness. Follow in the footsteps of a group of hapless students who disappeared almost 40 years ago while recording a radio show in the Tuinen van Amsterdam West and you may just join them.

The once-in-a-lifetime Halloween Walkthrough Experience takes place on October 30 and 31 and November 1 and 2.  Website