Spring Time – Tulip Time- Visitor Time

Yes, spring is officially here and with it come “The Visitors”. If you don’t know what to do with your visiting friends-parents-grandparents-aunts or cousins, here are my favorite spots in Leiden and around to take visitors to:

• Hortus Botanicus: because it nicely fits with having a coffee there, showing the Academy building and finishing a walk around the Pieterskerk area
• Saturday Market: because you can introduce your guests to Haring (eating raw fish might not be to everyone’s taste, but seeing other people eating it is just as interesting), great Bio-Fries from Karel’s Friet, the love of the Dutch for nuts and olives and to the endless selection of flowers and cheese. You can combine 1) and 2) by getting your lunch pick-nick at the market before heading to the Hortus!
  

  Always worth a visit: the beach near Katwijk

• The beach –Katwijk to Noordwijk: By bus, by car or by bike: Katwijk is quickly reached and a walk from Katwijk to Noordwijk on the beach or through the dunes is my favorite thing to do with guests. Check the weather forecast though as strong winds might make one of the directions easier (so either Noordwijk to Katwijk or Katwijk to Noordwijk). I highly recommend combining 2) and 3)! On a cloudy, windy day you might prefer a hot chocolate in one of the beach huts though.
• Leiden Hoofjes Tour: Get one of those brochures at the tourist information with all
  

  Discover Leiden’s backyards

  Leiden Hoofjes and discover what’s behind these big, wooden portals throughout the city.

There is also a Leiden Poetry Walk, which I am still missing though. I heard that there is a booklet with a route along all the poems that are written on buildings across town. It also includes translations of the poems.

Finally, let me write two sentences about the Keukenhof: It is certainly something you can send your aunty to while you are polishing the last version of that essay that needs to be handed in. There are special buses from Leiden so she won’t get lost on the way. The flower show is huge and even bigger are the tulip fields surrounding it. If you don’t want to spend the money on a ticket, you could also bike there to visit the flower fields. Make sure your phone is charged and you bring a spare SD card: there are too many photo opportunities you don’t want to miss.