Leiden walking tour, Netherlands

We’re in Leiden, Netherlands. enjoying the pleasures of this beautiful town. It's another one of the great historic cities of the Netherlands, most famous perhaps for the University. It's the oldest university in the Netherlands, founded back in the mid-16th century and so there's a lot of university students here. And it's not as touristic, certainly not nearly as crowded, as a place like Amsterdam, which is only about 1/2 an hour away by train.
So it's really a refreshing change to come and visit smaller cities like Leiden. This city has got the canals running through it, as most Dutch cities do. And here it's really quite special, the canals come right through the middle of the old town.
There's half a dozen of these very peaceful waterways, especially nice in the morning, busy in the afternoon with lots of people out walking around shopping, eating and drinking.
During the program you will get a good look at most of the interesting parts of Leiden. I'll take you on a thorough walking tour, we will go down some of the main lanes, the little back lanes, side lanes. We will see the University and its botanical gardens. We will walk along canals and we'll just show you this town inside and out.
Starting in this central part of the city, probably the most attractive and popular place to spend time, where the Old Rhine canal and New Rhine canal come together.

[avxd]

i studied here and god i miss it. it’s a perfect place to get a snack from the market, read a book by the canal, or grab a heineken. i’d do anything to go back!

[xplanet]

Lived in Leiden in the 90’s as one of the many British and Irish that went over to work in the bollen industry at the many factories and have an enjoyable time at the weekends at the many bars! I would love to back over and see it all again!

[Snakesborough]

Being a Leiden University graduate this video makes me very happy. I studied there from 1982 till 1987. Happy memories!

[Lanaprivitera]

Thank you so much for this wonderful video!! I spent some days in Leiden in 2023 during a Watercolor International convention. I loved it so much that I'll be returning on May 2024 with my sister and son. 🤩

[cherish]

This is beautiful! I went to school in Leiden and miss it very much. I would have loved to see inside the Hooglandskerk and the nearby Pilgrim Museum. The floor in the house next to the Pilgrim's Museum is 1 - 2 meters below street level. When I asked why it had been dug out they told me it wasn't, that used to be street level. They raised all of the streets everywhere in the city hundreds of years ago, and the result was that all houses had to have their floors raised, or be descended into. It's utterly amazing.

[metalfyregaming]

As a born and raised Leidenaar I must say, you really did your homework on this. Nice to see an American reviewing another town other than the known ones like i.e. The Hague and Amsterdam and Rotterdam. What I did miss though, is a walk along the Singel (it's the name of the street, but these canals are in the Dutch language also referred to as singels (plural)). It's a winding walk along a beautiful canal, very green all around, and there's a thing there called Het Observatorium (The Observatory) where you can watch the stars in the sky. It should really have been included in this vid, but as stated, I loved the presentation. Well done :)

[canadianlady]

You do a wonderful job of presenting this city in such a good way...Thank you

[BillMintjeHD-Brussels-Belgium]

The 2nd time watching this episode....such a nice city. Planned to go there next week.

[Saaihead]

Always a joy to see my hometown from the eyes of a visitor. Glad you liked it. :)

[HedgingBoy]

LOVE your videos! Brilliant commentary and good coverage of the important places!

[alconamx]

Thanks Dennis, that was superbly done.

[nikedoesthings]

Studied and lived here for half of my current life. I'd still move back at some other part of my life because I just love the city and it's traditions so much. I still call Leiden 'my city'.

[madanrudra]

Leiden is so beautiful and so attractive. U also informed very well. This is fantastic and superb video. Thank u very much.

[alisab]

Dennis, we love your videos! We are college professors who have traveled multiple times to England, but never to Europe. You have inspired us to take a 3-week trip to Germany and the Netherlands in Fall 2020. We are actually going to skip Amsterdam and travel to Strasbourg, then Heidelberg, then Rotterdam and Leiden. We will take day trips to Haarlem, Delft and The Hague. We also teach genealogy, and we are offering a new class this fall called "Physical and Digital Travel for Genealogy Research" and will be sharing links to your videos with our students here in Lawrence, Kansas. Thanks for sharing your experience online!

[xanderkiela]

leiden is like a small amsterdam, with less tourists, but its just as beautifull!
Greetings from Leiden!

[on-the-pitch-pw]

Amsterdam was and is always the number 1 city. Leiden is nice. Utrecht as well.

[cantona]

Thanks Dennis for such lovely videos. I really appreciate your attention to detail especially for the walking routes. They are really helpful. I've just arrived in Amsterdam and will have day trips to The Hague and Leiden.

[gerbenvangoozen]

Great video ! Leiden is my hometown and i dare say it is a hidden treasure . Luckily not so packed with tourist as Amsterdam, i hope we can keep it that way .

[Beun]

Dennis, really... I'm actually stunned by this beautiful video! Really.... So pretty well done!

[r.z.]

Thank you so so much for this highly informative, well researched, wonderful video about Leiden!