First Day of Planning First Trip to Leiden, Netherlands; Opinion, Ideas Please
 

We told ourselves that this would be a no travel year, we'd be good and bank up some money before heading out again, but...

My college son will be spending the fall semester at Leiden University in the Netherlands and we simply must go to visit him. I can't resist.

We'll go at the end of the semester which means late December, maybe even early January (evidently they don't have specific term ending dates, it depends upon scheduled final exams). We won't go earlier because during small breaks he will be traveling with friends, during the semester he will be studying and I don't want to distract him, and I'd prefer to go at the end of his semester as he'll be more familiar with everything. If we go first thing we'll all be poking around together AND I can't afford summer airfare for three.

All that said, I'm thinking five to seven nights with three or four nights in London either before or after. I anticipate flying in and out of London from Boston (oh, we're from Maine and the prospect of cold in December isn't so daunting).

We have no problem renting a car and driving to see things.

We love architecture of buildings, "quaint" towns/villages, good food at good prices (not foodies), meeting people and trying to get a feel for life somewhere else. A little bit of art, museum, music, culture isn't a bad thing either!

I'm thinking we'll want to go to Amsterdam. Should we go to The Hague as well? Why?

I love gardening, too bad I can't get there during tulip time.

Thanks for helping, I truly appreciate it. I enjoy planning trips almost as much as taking them.

Linda

Leiden is a nice old university city. You will like it very much.
Other options are the city of Delft with some nice old houses along canals.(In the big old church on Marktplein dutch royal are buried). Visit de Blue Delft factory.
Also haarlem is worth a visit.
All within easy reach of leiden.

We really liked Leiden. We strolled around, relaxed at a cafe and watched the pleasure boats motoring quietly through town (we picked which ones we would like to own--but don't know how many of those you'll see in December). Leiden has several nice museums:
http://www.leiden.edu/index.php3?m=2&c=224

If you're American, then you might be interested in the town's Pilgrim Museum. It's not generally well known that the Mayflower Pilgrims found refuge in Leiden before setting sail for America.
http://www.pilgrimhall.org/LeidenMuseum.htm

Delft is an easy visit, of course, and worth seeing. Ditto for Amsterdam. I was in The Hague recently on a pilgrimage of sorts to see Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring. The museum was great, but the town didn't particularly do anything for me.

Thank you B and Ida.

I'm wondering about a car. Would we want one to poke around in and see the places you mentioned or just train it? We were in France last March and drove around the south, seeing things we wouldn't have from a train.

I hope this doesn't sound too ignorant (I really haven't done any research yet...) but are the dikes and windmills which make the Netherlands famous located throughout the country? (At least I'm not asking where to see people wearing their wooden shoes!)

Is five nights about right?

Thanks.

Parking can be a problem in city-centers, and very expensive... Trains run very frequent, they offer 1st and 2nd class...
Also Zaanse Schans - trainstation Koog-Zaandijk - is abt. 20 trainminutes and 10 minutes walk from Amsterdam. Nice place to see old still working windmills along river Zaan.
Rather complicated to visit by public transport is Cruquius Museum near Heemstede. (By car abt. 20 minutes from Amsterdam) This old steammill with maquettes how the dutch polders were kept dry. Very interesting.

Check this link:
http://www.museumdecruquius.nl/en/index.html

Thank you Ida!

You can get by without a car, and just rent one by the day if you're visiting a place off the main train line. If your son is going to be traveling with you, he might want to get the year train pass, which gives up to three traveling companions and him up to 40% off train travel after 9 am. You can save a lot this way. Is think it's about 49€ for the pass.

There are two windmills (or Molen) in Leiden. One is a museum that you pay to get into, the other you just admire from outside. The market days in Leiden are fun, too. And don't miss the olde pancake house on the beestenmarkt. Yummy.

Ditto the information about the pilgrim museum. It is very small. And if you can sneek into the Peterskerk, there is an alcove with the list of the original passengers on the mayflower.

If you like stained glass windows, the kerk in Gouda is impressive.

While the Hague overall isn't that quaint, it's a great museum town: Escher museum, Mauritshuis, great photography museum and good places to eat. You're going to have a great time!