Coming to the Netherlands

Schiphol Airport is the country's main airport, and serves as a major European airline hub. From Schiphol, Leiden can easily be reached by road or rail. Car rental is available from the airport.

By Rail

Nederlandse Spoorwegen (Dutch Railways) provide very frequent connections Leiden and the rest of the country. You can use their travel planner to plot out your station-to-station or doorstep-to-doorstep journey. Typical journey times are:

• Amsterdam: 30 minutes (four times an hour)
• Den Haag: 15 minutes (six times an hour)
• Utrecht: 40 minutes (twice an hour)
• Rotterdam: 30 minutes (six times an hour)
• Haarlem: 15 minutes (four times an hour)

By Car

Leiden is wedged in between the national A4 and A44 highways. From Schiphol airport, it takes about half an hour to reach the outskirts of Leiden, where you may either park your car and take public transport to the city center, or drive there. We need to emphasise, however, that:

• Leiden's inner city is not laid out particularly intuitively for car drivers. Use a good map or a decent sattelite navigation system.
• Parking in Leiden is complicated, to say the least. And usually, it is expensive to boot.