“Why is everyone looking at us?” I whispered to her. I can feel with my sixth sense that something’s not right. Have we worn too many layers and it’s not that cold? Is there bird poop on our jacket or head? The intercity to Leiden is moving pretty fast. I again looked at her. Looks like she hasn’t heard me. “The View is really nice, isn’t it?” she said. And exactly then the old lady sitting opposite to us opened her eyes. She pointed her hand to a sign on the window. Then we realized.
If you agree with Benjamin Franklin’s quote “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest” then you would probably agree that Universities are probably the most significant contributors towards a better nation. So if you come across a city who was rewarded with an university as a token of appreciation of the heroic behaviour to get liberation from foreign rule then which later has become the first university of the entire nation then will you be curious to visit the city, maybe just to respect their thought?
If your answer is yes, then the university town of Leiden in south Holland is the place where you need to come. If your answer is no then how about a floating Christmas market with a place to Ski and one of the best mulled wines of the country? Oh and have I forgot to mention that if you set you embark on a journey along the town square then old houses beside less crowded and more beautiful canals (Add a boat trip) and a photogenic Windmill are there to give you a warm welcome?
A University city over 400 years (At the time of writing this blog in 2020), Leiden, located in South Holland is a city with rich history. Yes I would not expect one to cross overseas to travel to Leiden but if you already are in Europe and have at least half a spare day while you are in Netherlands or Belgium then Leiden deserves your attention.
When I arrived in the Netherlands for a long term assignment on July 2019, I was randomly looking for some unique Christmas markets across the country and then the floating Christmas market of Leiden caught my attention. Around mid December for a span of two weeks, you can find almost 90 winter chalets packed full of seasonal goodies floating on the Nieuwe Rijn river in the centre of the historic city of Leiden. Imagine a view like this!
Generally Leiden is not a place which is flocked by tourists. You will only find locals and students roaming this area. That makes it a perfect offbeat gateway if you have some spare time in the Netherlands. Plus, it’s not at all difficult or time consuming to reach here.
Leiden: How To Reach
My wife arrived at the Netherlands on mid December and on a Tuesday morning we had an appointment at the Expat centre at Amsterdam Zuid (South). As the formalities got wrapped up within mid-day, we thought as we have a day off why not visit the city of Leiden as it is only a short train ride from there. Quickly we caught an Intercity going towards Den Haag (The Hague) from Amsterdam Zuid and Leiden Central was only 2 stops from there.
Leiden is very easy to reach from Haarlem or Schiphol Airport. In either case, it’s a non stop journey of less than 20 minutes. From Amsterdam central, it takes a little more than 30 minutes and the journey is via Haarlem. So, I would strongly encourage you to include Haarlem in your itinerary of Leiden.
We did not know the concept of a Silent compartment in the trains of Netherlands. Probably, the concept exists across many other countries in the World. We didn’t know earlier. In Netherlands, mostly in double decker Intercity trains, some compartments are silent compartment. It is strictly forbidden to talk even in very low voice if you choose to sit in these compartments. The way you recognize if a compartment is Silent or not is by looking at the Big S sticker at the Window. You can see the Sticker from outside the train also so before boarding the train, make sure that you are not boarding into a silent compartment if you wish to talk to your partner or speak over a phone. We did that by mistake, talked loudly and every other passenger got severely disturbed until an old lady pointed out the sticker to us.
You will get down from the train at the 1st level and be sure to check out the cute sitting places :). There are so many outlets in the ground level of Leiden Central station. From Albert Heign supermarket to bakery to apparel store to souvenir shops, you can easily spend an hour here.
Leiden: What To Explore
The famous university of Leiden is just a little above one kilometre from the station in walking. If you are in short of time, you can move towards the more popular attractions otherwise the building is quite impressive to take a close look into. In this guide, I will be focussing more on the canal-side and the floating christmas market though. If you wish, you can download my printable must-see for a quick guide which you can save in your smartphone if you feel so.
As soon as you come out of the central station, you can smell the rich culture of this old town. Unlike the busy streets of Amsterdam or Rotterdam or even Zaanse Schans, Leiden city near its old harbour features beautiful canals and an impossible to miss and picturesque wind-mill cum museum. The city is calm, quite, boasts plenty of photo spots and perfectly walkable with loads of comparatively cheaper cafes because of high population of students. My main focus in coming to Leiden was visiting the Christmas market and google said Molen de Valk is on the way and vey very close to the station so we started with it and let me take along you with my journey
1. Molen de Valk
With its seven floors and 29 metres of height, the De Valk Windmill Museum in Leiden is hard to miss. It is the last remaining windmill of the original nineteen that once stood on Leiden’s ramparts. It has seven floors, all of which are open to the public.
As you embark your journey, it does not even take 5 minutes from the central station to spot the famous windmill from a distance. However, at this point, I would request you to take a pause and spend some time exploring the surroundings before you actually reach the foot of the windmill. There is a small bridge on top of a canal and you will be rewarded with a view like this.
Even after spending more than a year in the Netherlands, every time I see an authentic Dutch Windmill (even through the windows of a Bus or train), the excitement remains the same and Molen de Valk surely is one of the best. It’s very old (I am not exactly sure which century though) but it still operates and if you wish, you can still buy flour from this mill. Amazing, isn’t it?
However if you want to explore the Windmill as a museum, it’s pretty cheap to get inside and have a good understanding of the working of a windmill. On December 2019, the entrance fee per head was 5€ per head without any discount card. Children below 5 enjoy a free entrance and between 5 to 15, it’s 2.5€. It’s open every day but for current schedule and closing days, it’s best to check the official website.
There are ample seating places beside the Windmill. On the day we visited, it was drizzling a little. Still, it was a fantastic experience.
2. Beestenmarkt
Now you are done with the Dutch icon, it’s time for some city break. The old square of Leiden, near the harbour has an unique triangular shape (I don’t know if mathematically I can call it a triangular square or what 🙂 ) and it’s called Beestenmarkt. Although there is a small market on the way from windmill to the trinagular square, you need to come to the end of the street to actually reach the square.
I would assume that if you have arrived Leiden as a traveller then you have managed some spare time and to best utilize the spare time, you have three choices here in Beestenmarkt.
First, there are numerous not so costly cafes out there and you can sip a good cup fo coffee in one of those.
Secondly, there are many places to sit beside the harbour. We opted for this option as we were carrying food. It was a cold and windy December noon but still we enjoyed it sitting there idly for an hour. Spend some quality time in peoplewatching and breathe in the vibes of this beautiful university town.
Thirdly, you can do canal cruise here in Leiden starting from the very Beestenmarkt. The canals here are less touristy than Amsterdam and equally pictureseque. Back then in December 2019, it was 10 Euro per person for a 50 minutes boat ride. Good to know that the boat operates year round unless there is ice. In general it is an open boat when it starts sailing in a good weather (which to be honest is quite an optimistic expectation here in Holland) but depending on the weather and temperature outside, the boat gets covered and the roof is quite unique in my opinion. For latest price and private boat hire option, I would encourage you to take a look at their official website here.
Photo Credit: The Intrepid Guide
Bonus Tip: From May 2018, The Young Rembrandt Studio has been inaugurated and visitors are offered a free entrance. For an elaborate review, you can read here in this website.
3. Rapenburg
Along with the idea of visiting the Netherlands, if there is a second word that comes to your mind (the first one being Windmill) then most likely it would be “A Canal“. While Amsterdam is famous for its canals, it is strongly challenged by over tourism and travellers are currently looking for less busy sites. Leiden, being very close to Amsterdam offers a fantastic substitute. Here the walk across the canal is much peaceful and equally photogenic. Just keep in mind about the strong wind as there are less people so you will get a larger impact of the wind.
The road from the central square to the canal is full of shopping places and there are numerous small alleys connecting the peaceful canalside walk to the busy shopping street. To add you will not find any car in this canal-side road and only cyclists will pass at a regular interval. Here are some photos of Rapenburg.
Yes, There are no shortage of canals in the Netherlands but the view at Haarlem and Leiden are truly mesmerizing. Literally, you can spend hours just by sitting idly beside the canal.
4. The Floating Christmas Market
Let’s be honest. Many of you are reading this article just because of this Christmas market. Lets get straight into it.
Being awarded with “The Best Christmas Market” is never an easy job, especially in a continent hosting hundreds of Christmas markets across 30 different countries. Leiden achieved that in 2016 by showcasing its unique floating feature on one of the oldest canals of the Netherlands. It’s pretty close from the Rapenburg area, just follow along Google Map (You will get the address from Leiden Floating Market official website) and you will find display board for the ‘Floating Christmas Market’. Although personally, I will vote for Maastricht Christmas market (Read my blog here) but what adds the uniqueness here is the water element.
As you are coming by road, you will gradually find a carousel and similar activities for kids on your right side (assuming you are coming from the Rapenburg or the Leiden central/square area). Turn left and you will find the floating Christmas market in the middle of one of Leiden’s most lovely canals and you actually step down onto a floating platform as you enter the market. Just in case you are interested, there are more than one platforms to get into the market so can roam around the outside a bit before you actually step into it.
Have I already told you that Leiden has a floating ice skating rink too? Along with that you can find a floating stage with round the clock performance. The skating area is quite big and the passage from the Christmas market till the skating gear shop is very unique.
Entrance to the floating market is free of cost. For the exact dates and number of stalls (If you are interested at all), please refer the official website here.
When we visited in 2019, there were a total of 86 winter chalets and to my utter surprise, the products sold at the shops are pretty reasonable in terms of the cost of living in the Netherlands. Although there were not much souvenir options to choose from, there are fantastic winter wears and I found the cost of sweaters and socks pretty decent. There are good number of bags and wooden home decors. The best thing about this market is the cheap option of food and drink (specially if you are interested in mulled wine). We can not suggest if there is a difference in quality than other places but Gluhwein here in Leiden is the cheapest among all other Christmas markets.
We spent some time window shopping, watching people doing ice skating and waiting for the sun to set so that we can take some cool photos of the play zone outside and the Christmas market from one of the bridges on top the beautiful canal. Here you can find some photo samples taken just after the sunset. Remember it is very easy to walk up to a small bridge on top of the canal to take a beautiful view of the floating market. As we went to Leiden after an official appointment so I was not being able to carry my preferred lens but believe me, looking at the floating market down below from a small bridge on top of one of the oldest canals is an experience itself.
It’s a small market so we quickly covered the entire place and as it was in the middle of a regular work week, we did not spend much time and in a short while, started our walk back towards the Leiden Central train station. As darkness already engulfed, the road got decorated with beautiful Christmas lights and after a short walk, we came again to much quieter Rapenburg and shortly after that, the Falcon (Other name of Molen de Valk). The windmill at the evening is still gorgeous to stop by. The central station from there is less than 10 minutes in walking.
With that comes to an end of our short half day experience at Leiden. Hope this guide helped you to give a brief idea about the old town of Holland. Are you inspired? Do you have any specific question? Have you found mistake in my desciption? Have you already been to Leiden and would like to add something more? Feel free to use the comment section. Till next time, doei doei.