Search hotels in Leiden

I would recommend Leiden as a smaller version of Amsterdam, and a lot less crowded, and situated only a half hour train ride from Amsterdam. For that reason my wife and I always prefer to stay here when visiting the Netherlands.

Beautiful city. Especially easy to walk around. Coming from the US it was an exciting feeling not needing a car. The locals are pretty relaxed and friendly. Make sure to check if places take VISA. Some stores and shops only accept cash or the local bank's debit/CC.

I loved everything about Leiden! It was just the right size for lots of exploring on foot over a couple of days. I spent about two days there and with a lot of walking, saw most of the old town, but could easily have spent three days and gone into some of the museums. Every place I walked was full of beautiful buildings, little gardens and lovely canals. Make sure to stop in the city visitor's center near the train station and for 3.50 euro, buy the guide book that shows you the location of all the old alms house courtyards. This has a great city map in the front, and looking for all of them takes you all over the old city and through a lot of alleyways that you otherwise wouldn't have noticed. Definitely visit the Botanical gardens as well. There were lots of food options, both nice restaurants and quick food to eat while walking. I also got some great cheese, bread, fruits and veggies from the Wednesday morning market, and I am sure the Saturday morning market would be even better. There are numerous signs posted throughout Leiden describing historical areas, buildings or views written in both Dutch and English. The best thing about Leiden is that even though it is just a short train ride from Amsterdam, and it many ways, looks a lot like Amsterdam with all its canals, there are so few tourists there!!! For example, the tour of the the Valk windmill was fantastic since you could go up all 7 floors, but there were only about a dozen people in it when I was there, even though it is only a short walk from the main train station. There are however, a large number of extremely friendly cats wandering about the city waiting for you to pet them, and all the natives I spoke to were also very friendly as well. As a 60-yr old woman traveling solo, I felt perfectly safe walking all over town until well after dark, and if I had had a bike, it would have been a great town to explore by bike as well as foot.

Every thing can be found in the center. There are many museums to visit, foods to try out, and stores to visit. Public transportation takes you everywhere quickly. We loved to eat at Annie's Birthday while sitting outside at the water. The pannekoek huis in the center was great. They had several options, including poffertjes

Very nice middle size city, with canals, good dining options (a lot of variety and outside dining), much history that is linked to its old university. Many nice small museums and a hortus botanicus. We visited the Japanese museum Sieboldhuis which, apart from its regular Japanese collection on art and fauna, had a great exhibition on Japanese fabels, with beautiful drawings by the brothers Miedema (ends Sept. 10th). A city for those who love culture.

Charming city. We were there for textile study tour. Also to Harleem which is well worth a visit. The Hague as well. Strongly recommend as alternative to too busy Amsterdam. The Hortus Botanicus is well worth seeing. They have a great cafe for breakfast, lunch etc. Book a hotel away from the canals, which are charming, but noisy.