Netherlands · Provincie Friesland
Where to Stay in Leeuwarden, Provincie Friesland
Leeuwarden is the capital of Friesland in the northern Netherlands, a canal city on the flat Frisian plain.
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Where to stay in Leeuwarden
Where you base yourself shapes the visit — here's the character of each area.
LeeuwardenNetherlandsCamminghaburen
Camminghaburen is a district of Leeuwarden in the Netherlands, and De Schakel is the single building the record files under its name.Where to stay →LeeuwardenNetherlandsHuizum
Huizum is a residential quarter of Leeuwarden in Friesland, grown around a former village that once answered to Leeuwarderadeel.Where to stay →
LeeuwardenNetherlandsBilgaard
Bilgaard is a district of Leeuwarden, the city whose record runs to the Fries Museum, Tresoar and the Grote of Jacobijnerkerk.Where to stay →About Leeuwarden
Leeuwarden is the old capital of the Frisians.
What is Leeuwarden known for?
Its canals and gabled houses cluster around the leaning brick tower of the Oldehove, the emblem of the city, and the Fries Museum tells the long story of Friesland. The dancer and spy Mata Hari was born in the town. Water and Frisian pride mark the place.
What are the main landmarks in Leeuwarden?
The Oldehove leans over Leeuwarden. The great unfinished brick tower tilts above the old town, the strange emblem of the city, never straightened since it was begun. Canals ring the old streets.
The Grote of Jacobijnerkerk keeps the tombs of the Frisian princes, while the Fries Museum and the Princessehof Ceramics Museum gather the art and story of Friesland.
What is the history of Leeuwarden?
Leeuwarden grew from mounds above the marsh. The Frisians built their villages on man-made hills called terpen to escape the floods, and three such mounds joined to make the town on the northern sea plain. They kept their own ways.
Proud of their language and their freedom, the Frisians made Leeuwarden their chief town, and it became the seat of the Nassau stadtholders who ruled Friesland. Canals and trade built the old city. Merchants raised gabled houses along the water, the great Jacobijner church held the tombs of the Frisian princes, and the leaning tower of the Oldehove was begun but never finished.
Famous names came from the town. The dancer Mata Hari and the artist Escher were both born in Leeuwarden, and their city keeps their memory. Museums fill the old streets now.
The Fries Museum and the Princessehof gather the art and history of Friesland.
Where is Leeuwarden?
Leeuwarden lies on the flat green plain of Friesland. The city sits amid the polders and canals of the northern Netherlands, a land of meadows below the level of the sea, drained and diked over the centuries. Cattle graze the flat fields around.
The wide Frisian sky hangs over the town.
What is the climate of Leeuwarden?
Leeuwarden has a cool, wet maritime climate. Mild, damp winters and cool summers follow the seasons of the northern coast, and wind and rain sweep in often off the nearby sea. Frost is light on the low green land.
The weather stays grey and changeable.
How do you get to Leeuwarden?
Leeuwarden lies in the far north of the Netherlands. Trains run to the city from Groningen and the south, and roads cross the flat polders in every direction. Boats work the canals and the lakes around.
Most arrive by rail into the Frisian capital.
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Updated August 2026