Visa Information

Important Visa Information for Foreign Participants

Citizens of many foreign countries require a visa to enter the Netherlands. Participants are advised to check with their travel agent, or with a reliable website, such as that of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (http://www.minbuza.nl/en/welcome/comingtoNL) In case you need a visa to travel to the Netherlands we suggest you start the application procedure as soon as possible. Please inform us in case the embassy requires an official invitation letter.

Travel information

If you plan to travel by air, please book your ticket to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. If you consider flying low-cost: easyJet offers flights to Schiphol from Great Britain (many cities), Italy (Milan) and Switzerland. Other low cost airlines are Transavia.com and Ryanair.com (which only flies to Eindhoven, still 2 hours by train from Leiden). The link http://www.lowcostairlines.nl offers an overview of all connections to the Netherlands.

Amsterdam Schiphol Airport has a good train connection to Leiden Central Station (every 15 minutes). After your arrival at the Airport, walk towards the central hall of the terminal (the so-called ‘Schiphol Plaza’). Here you can buy a train ticket. Train tickets for travel within the Netherlands can be purchased at the yellow ticket machines located in the Plaza, near the entrance to the railway platforms or at the ticket counters. These counters are located in the Plaza, near the red-and-white-checked cube.

The journey to Leiden Central Station takes 15-20 minutes. A single ticket costs about €5,-. Should you wish to view the train schedules beforehand, please visit the website of the Dutch train service at http://www.ns.nl.

If you travel by train (or Thalys) the nearest train stations for international trains are Den Haag HS, Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam and Utrecht (when coming from Germany). All these train stations have a connection to Leiden Central Station.

Touristic information

Some practical information on Leiden, including instructions on how to get to the Linguistics Department is available here.

Some touristic information on Leiden is available here.