City Spotlight: Leiden

Leiden may not be one of the most famous cities in the Netherlands, but it is easily one of our favorites. A mid-sized city only 30 minutes by train from Amsterdam, Leiden is full of charm, easy to navigate, and the home of some unbelievable sites. 

Shop, eat, and sightsee on Haarlemmerstraat, a long pedestrian-only street lined with shops and restaurants. One of our favorites is La Fresh, with its incredible homemade French fries (frites in Dutch). Their fries are made in the traditional Dutch and Belgian style (cooked twice: first blanched, then fried), and they are crispy and delicious. Plus, though the Dutch are known for eating their fries with mayonnaise instead of ketchup, at La Fresh you'll get your choice of over half a dozen unique sauces. One of our favorites is their peanut sauce! 

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​Just a few blocks from La Fresh is a museum that won the 2019 award for European Museum of the Year. Rijksmuseum Boerhaave is a science museum that will captivate you from beginning to end. From the start of your visit in an anatomical theater layered with high-tech video projections, to the courtyard filled with interactive physics demonstrations, you're taken through the history of science via immersive, creative displays. The unparalleled collection includes 17th-century Leeuwenhoek microscopes (quite a rarity!), an original meter stick from the French Revolution, and artifacts and letters belonging to Albert Einstein. 

There is much more to Leiden, too! Leiden has the oldest university in the Netherlands (dating back to 1575), lively pubs with canal-side seating, and an impressive twice-weekly open-air market selling some of the best chocolate we've ever eaten. 

And we can't help but mention one more reason we love Leiden--it's where we got engaged! Paris might be the better-known spot for romance, but nothing will beat the picturesque bridge over the Nieuwe Rijn Canal for us. 

We'll be visiting Leiden on our 2021 trip to the Netherlands--come with us and try those fries yourself! 

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