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Film of Leiden at golden hour: a canal with a bridge and tall brick houses, cyclists riding through a white city gate, a man paddling a small boat past moored sloops, and people on a canal-side terrace.

Everything Leiden has to offer, within walking distance.

Leiden has everything you need, and at LEAD you live just around the corner. A lively old centre you walk through rather than around. A market that ranks among the best in the country. A university, museums, terraces by the water.

Leiden at your feet.

LEAD stands where the city centre ends and Nieuw Leyden begins. Close enough to walk into town of an evening, far enough not to live in the middle of it.

The market on Wednesday and Saturday, the Lakenhal, Naturalis, the Hortus, the Schouwburg: all on foot. The university by bike. Katwijk and the dunes along the fast cycle route.

Working outside Leiden? The Hague, Schiphol, Rotterdam and Amsterdam are 11, 15, 33 and 36 minutes by Intercity from Leiden Centraal. The Willem de Zwijgerlaan takes you straight onto the A4 or A44.

Cyclists and a scooter on the bridge to a Leiden city gate with the city's coat of arms above the arch, in late afternoon light

Getting around

Distances along the route from LEAD; driving times without traffic jams. Choose a destination to see its route.

In Leiden

In the region

Map: LEAD in Leiden and the RandstadLEAD is on the Willem de Zwijgerlaan in Leiden. The map shows the route from LEAD to Leiden Centraal, the beach at Katwijk, Meijendel, The Hague, Schiphol, Rotterdam and Utrecht.Alphen a/d RijnDelftHaarlemGoudaZoetermeerWassenaarNoordwijkHoofddorpWoerdenNorth SeaCity centreLeidse SchouwburgHortus botanicusSupermarketMuseum De LakenhalLeiden CentraalMarketNaturalisKatwijkMeijendelThe HagueSchipholRotterdamUtrechtLEADLeiden

Choose a destination.

A historic brick building lettered De Volharding on the waterfront, with a busy terrace on the jetty and a boat with a bicycle on deck in the foreground, in late afternoon light

Shops, museums, restaurants. All close at hand.

People on a terrace by the water in the late afternoon sun

Dining

Leiden is full of terraces by the water. In ten minutes you are under the parasols of Café Lola and Einstein, or at the bar of Café De Gaper and De Twee Spieghels. Something more elaborate? Bord’o, Het Prentenkabinet and Bistro Goeswijn.

A flower shop strung with lights, with a bicycle in front

Shopping

The Pieterskwartier, also known as Leiden’s Nine Streets: fashion, interiors, books, delicatessen and plenty of small places for coffee or lunch. And don’t skip the Leiden market, for fresh vegetables, fish and warm stroopwafels.

Historic facades in the centre of Leiden

Art and culture

Naturalis, Corpus, Museum De Lakenhal, the Leidse Schouwburg and the Hortus Botanicus. Festivals all year round, from the Rembrandt Days in July to Leidens Ontzet on 3 October, when the whole city eats hutspot together.

A kayaker on the canal, passing moored boats

Nature and outdoors

Hofjes, the old almshouse courtyards, to discover, and from there straight out into the Warmond polder and the Kagerplassen to cycle, walk and sail. The fast cycle route runs in a straight line from Leiden Centraal to the beach at Katwijk.

Artist impression of the park side of LEAD at golden hour: a glazed ground-floor coffee bar under a band of green ceramic tiles, people at terrace tables and a path through tall grasses and trees.

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