Things to do in Leiden
Leiden has the oldest university in the Netherlands, the oldest botanical garden and a museum of antiquities with an Egyptian temple in its entrance hall. Rembrandt was born here. It is about forty minutes from Amsterdam.
- About forty minutes from Amsterdam
The city that got a university for surviving
In 1574 Leiden held out against a Spanish siege for months, until the dikes were cut and a fleet could sail across the flooded fields to feed it. The city still celebrates the relief every 3 October with herring and white bread, the food the relief force brought in. A few months later William of Orange founded a university there as a reward, inaugurated on 8 February 1575 in the Pieterskerk, which still stands three minutes from the Rapenburg. It was the first in the Netherlands, and that is what Leiden has been ever since: students, professors, museums and gardens. The English Pilgrims lived here for about a decade before they sailed for America in 1620.
Getting your bearings
The centre is small and built round water. Start at the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden on the Rapenburg: the Academy Building and the Hortus are a few minutes away, the Burcht and the Lakenhal about eight, and De Valk and the railway station at the other end of the centre ten to fifteen minutes. You do not need a car or a tram inside the old town, and the walk between the two ends is a good one.
Look at the walls as you go. Between 1992 and 2005 more than a hundred poems, in some thirty languages, were painted on the sides of buildings across the city, and you find them by wandering rather than by looking them up.
Rembrandt before Amsterdam
Rembrandt trained in Leiden under a local painter, Jacob van Swanenburg, from 1620 to 1623, spent a short spell with Pieter Lastman in Amsterdam, then opened his own studio here in 1624 and left for Amsterdam in the early 1630s. His pupil Gerrit Dou stayed on to found the Leiden school of fijnschilders, painters of tiny, finely finished pictures. Leiden is where to see Rembrandt at the start of his career, before Amsterdam and the fame.
Using Leiden with something else
Leiden is about forty minutes from Amsterdam and a short drive from The Hague, so it fits easily into a day with either. In spring the bulb fields and Keukenhof lie just to the north, and at any time of year the beach at Katwijk is a short drive west. We are based in Amsterdam and run day trips and fixed-price transfers. Message us on WhatsApp and we will tell you the price of any of these before you commit.
What to see
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Leiden University and the Rapenburg
The oldest university in the Netherlands, founded in 1575 by William of Orange as a reward for the city's resistance in the Spanish siege of the year before. Its Academy Building stands on the Rapenburg, the main canal of the university quarter, with the antiquities museum, the botanical garden and the Japan museum SieboldHuis along the same water.
Driver’s tip: Treat the Rapenburg as most of a day in one street: the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, the Academy Building and the Hortus are within five minutes of each other on it. The Academy Building is a working university, so expect to admire it from the canal side.
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Rijksmuseum van Oudheden
The National Museum of Antiquities, with Egypt, the classical world and the archaeology of the Netherlands under one roof. The Egyptian collection includes mummies and their painted coffins, and in the entrance hall stands the Temple of Taffeh, a Roman-era temple from Nubia that Egypt gave to the Dutch in thanks for their part in saving Nubian monuments from the waters behind the Aswan dam.
Driver’s tip: You can see the temple from the entrance hall before you buy a ticket, so even a short stop gets you the building's headline act.
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The Hortus botanicus
The oldest botanical garden in the Netherlands, founded in 1590 behind the Academy Building. Carolus Clusius, who ran it from 1593, is credited with growing the first tulips in the country here, in 1594, and a reconstruction of his garden opened in 2009. A Japanese garden recalls Philipp Franz von Siebold, who sent living plants back from Japan in the 1820s.
Driver’s tip: Come for the history rather than a flower show. The Clusius garden is small and a reconstruction, and if it is tulips in bulk you want, Keukenhof is a short drive north.
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Rembrandt's Leiden
Rembrandt was born in Leiden in 1606, on the Weddesteeg, opposite his father's malt mill. The house is gone: a gable stone put up in 1906 marks the spot, and a statue by Stephan Balkenhol stands nearby. The Lakenhal museum has two of his earliest paintings, made here before he left for Amsterdam.
Driver’s tip: Do not go looking for a house; there is only the gable stone and the statue. If you want to see Rembrandt, go to the Lakenhal, about eight minutes' walk from the Rapenburg.
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De Valk and the canals
A tower mill of 1743 on the old ramparts, now a museum over seven floors. The miller's house is on the ground floor, the grinding gear is above, and from the gallery you look out over the old town and its canals.
Driver’s tip: The climb is by steep wooden stairs and ladders, so it is not for small children or anyone unsteady. If you can manage it, the gallery shows how Leiden is laid out better than any map: a small centre with water all round it.
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The Burcht
An eleventh-century fort on an artificial mound, where the Old Rhine and the New Rhine meet. It lost its military purpose centuries ago and is now a public park, with a ring of stone wall around the top.
Driver’s tip: It is free and open to walk up, and the view over the rooftops of the old town is the best that costs nothing. It is about eight minutes' walk from the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden.
Where is it?
Frequently asked questions
Is Leiden worth a day trip from Amsterdam?
Yes. It is a small, old university town with serious museums and a canal at every turn, about forty minutes from Amsterdam, and the centre is compact enough to see on foot in a day. It sits between Amsterdam and The Hague, so it combines with either.
How long do I need in Leiden?
Half a day covers the Rapenburg, one museum and the climb up the Burcht. A full day adds the Hortus, De Valk and the Lakenhal. All of it is within about a quarter of an hour on foot of the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden.
Is Leiden close to Keukenhof and the tulip fields?
Yes. Leiden is at the southern end of the Bollenstreek, the bulb-growing belt that runs up to Haarlem, and Keukenhof is a short drive north of the city. In spring the two combine well in a single day.
Can you drive us to Leiden?
Yes. We are based in Amsterdam and drive anywhere in the Netherlands, and Leiden is about forty minutes away. Message us on WhatsApp with what you have in mind and we will tell you the price before you commit to anything.