Leiden Netherlands South Holland
Frequently Asked Questions
Close to the historic centre, reached on foot along the quays. The old town is walked from end to end: everything is organised around the two arms of the Old Rhine, the Oude Rijn, which meet in the very heart of the city.
Canals, books and painting. The city counts 28 km of canals, 88 bridges and the oldest university in the Netherlands, founded in 1575. It is also Rembrandt's birthplace — he was born here in 1606, the son of a miller settled near the Rhine.
No, no major painting is kept here, and it is better to know that beforehand. What the city offers instead is a waymarked trail through the places of his youth: the site of the family house, the Latin school, the views he would have known.
The last survivor of the nineteen mills that once crowned the ramparts, now a museum. It can be visited from cellar to cap: the miller's living quarters, the mechanisms, and an outside gallery with a view over the centre.
One of the oldest botanical gardens in Europe, attached to the university since the late sixteenth century: rare plants, historic glasshouses, shaded walks past the observatory and the ponds. It was here that the first tulips in the Netherlands were planted.
The story of the cloth trade that made the city rich, in the former drapers' hall, along with works by local masters including panels by Lucas van Leyden. It is the most complete museum of the call.
From the Burcht, a circular fortified mound set among the rooftops. The climb is short and the panorama over the steeples repays it. It is also the best landmark for finding your bearings in the old town.
Poems painted on façades in every language, scattered through the streets. Hunting them turns a walk into a game: you look up and find a verse in Arabic, Russian or French around a corner.
Yes. City cruises of 45 to 75 minutes pass beneath the bridges of the centre. They complement the walking well, especially for understanding how the city arranged itself around its two arms of the Rhine.
Half a day for the essentials: the windmill, the Burcht, one museum and a stroll along the Nieuwe Rijn quays. Leiden does not go for effect: its treasures appear door by door and courtyard by courtyard, and the hidden hofjes reward those who take their time.
