Leiden Transportation

You can do a boat tour in Leiden along the many canals to see the highlights from the water. Take care: the last boat leaves at 16 hrs.
We were too late but next time.... :-)
Ah well..... a Leiden page is never finished. It'll leave me something to add later.

Schedule: 11 a.m., 12 p.m. 1.30 p.m, 2.45 p.m. and 4 p.m.

€ 4,50 (euro) from 13 years and up.

After buying your "all in one ticket" available at Leiden Train Station, walk out the Station and turn right, the Bus stop is furthest away. This is where Buses 54/58 Express to Keukenhof gardens leave from. Quite easy to find. When returning, go to the same Entrance gate you were dropped off at to catch the return Bus back to Leiden.

Parking in Leiden is difficult and expensive. There are large parking areas around the city. The one near the Noordeinde / Haagweg (direction Voorschoten) is most convenient, as it offers a shuttle services to and from the city center and/or you can walk. You can also try to park in the small streets around the city center; it is usually free.

The Leiden Central train station is very centrally located. (Maybe that explains the name...) Arriving there, you're just a short walk from the city center. If you had layover there of a couple of hours or more, you could easily check out the city and grab a bite to eat.

Bikes are quickest and easiest way to get around Leiden. Everyone has a bike and it is so flat, it's hardly exhausting at all. What can be more daunting is though, finding a space for your bike at the station or alternatively finding it when you come back... ;-) Not that people necessaily nick bikes a lot, but remembering where you put it and finding it amongst the thousands of bikes that look exactly the same might be a bit of a challenge!

Be aware that there is no cycling on the pedestrianised shopping street - right in the middle of the town.

The Dutch LOVE their bicycles! This was just a very SMALL section of the railway station bike park in the city. In fact I heard that some locals who do a lot of travelling keep a bike locked up in a bike park like this in each city they visit frequently! A friend had to check hers while we were here as she hadn't seen it or used it for several months since her last visit here! It was of course perfectly ok. What a great system :)

Taxi's here in the Netherlands are extremely expensive and should be used only if you have no other alternative.
Cars are very modern and comfortable and drivers very professional (they all dress in suit and tie...).

I live less than 2 km away from the station and it takes about 3 minutes to get there by Taxi. The price? Never less than 7 Eur!

A ride to the Airport will cost about 50-60 Euros if you take a normal Taxi. If you consider taking one in any case (it is only a 15 minutes train ride and costs less than 5 Eur), some companies have a fixed price of 35-40 Eur.
For instance, Taxi de Groot (071 5123300) offers the "Schiphol Service", but I have never used it myself.

Leiden itself is quite compact and walking or cycling are definetly the best options

The trainstation (Leiden Centraal) is very conveniently located just a few minutes walk from the "center".

Since Leiden is located just between Amsterdam and Rotterdam (with The Hague in between), you can easily get here from anywhere in the Netherlands. Since it is a major station, all "sneltrein" (express) will stop here.

From Amsterdam or Rotterdam it takes about 30 min. to get here, The Hague is about 10-15 minutes away.

All this obviously comes at a price. Transportation is not cheap in the Netherlands and an Amsterdam-Leiden return ticket will set you back 13.70 Eur.

Check out http://www.ns.nl for schedules and pricing.

Just a quick tip: There are two exits from the trainstation. If you get out and see the "LUMC" hospital building on your left, you are going the wrong way, the center is the other way. There is very little to see on that side anyway.