Netherlands · Provincie Friesland · Leeuwarden
Bilgaard, Leeuwarden — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Bilgaard is a district of Leeuwarden, the city whose record runs to the Fries Museum, Tresoar and the Grote of Jacobijnerkerk.
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Where to stay in Bilgaard
Where visitors usually base themselves, and why.
Leeuwarden's museums are the pull. A room in Bilgaard trades the doorstep of the Fries Museum and Tresoar for ground the museum list does not reach, leaving the Historic Centre Leeuwarden as the place the day still has to go. The choice is really a distance.
Anyone here for the Princessehof Ceramics Museum, the Grote of Jacobijnerkerk or Natuurmuseum Fryslân will spend the day in the old streets, and a Bilgaard bed simply decides how the day begins and ends.
Find hotels in Bilgaard
Direct booking searches for these neighbourhoods.
Bilgaard itself
The district proper, where the record lists housing rather than the Fries Museum and Tresoar that fill the old core. Few places to stay nearby — book ahead.Find hotels in Bilgaard itselfStays that put the Grote of Jacobijnerkerk and Tresoar on the doorstepThe Historic Centre Leeuwarden
The old core Bilgaard visitors walk into, holding the Grote of Jacobijnerkerk, Tresoar and the Waalse KerkFind hotels in The Historic Centre LeeuwardenDays spent between the Princessehof Ceramics Museum and Natuurmuseum FryslânThe Princessehof quarter
The Leeuwarden streets around the Princessehof Ceramics Museum, with Natuurmuseum Fryslân and Museum De Grutterswinkel among the near namesFind hotels in The Princessehof quarterHotel links are affiliate links: booking through them may earn us a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never affects how places are ranked. How this works
Things to do in and around Leeuwarden
Ranked by global recognition; descriptions from Wikidata (CC0).
Museums & Galleries
3- Natuurmuseum Fryslân Heritage
- Pier Pandertempel Heritage
- Fries Museum
Churches & Religious Sites
8- Saint Boniface church, Leeuwarden Heritage
- Grote of Jacobijnerkerk Heritage
- Westerkerk Heritage
- Sint-Dominicuskerk, Leeuwarden Heritage
- Waalse Kerk Heritage
Show 3 more →
- Pelikaankerk Heritage
- Doopsgezinde kerk, Leeuwarden Heritage
- Achter de Grote Kerk 17, Leeuwarden Heritage
Landmarks & Notable Places
5- Coulonhûs (Leeuwarden) Heritage
- Grytmanshûs Heritage
- Turfmarkt 52-54, Leeuwarden Heritage
- Noorderplantage 5, Leeuwarden Heritage
- Auckamastraatje 2, Leeuwarden Heritage
worth knowingacross 3 categories in and around Leeuwarden
About Bilgaard
What are the main landmarks in Bilgaard?
The list belongs to Leeuwarden. Bilgaard's record carries the Fries Museum, Tresoar, the Princessehof Ceramics Museum, Natuurmuseum Fryslân and the Grote of Jacobijnerkerk, none of which is a district landmark so much as a city one. Churches thicken the rest.
The Waalse Kerk, the Westerkerk, the Pelikaankerk and Sint-Dominicuskerk stand alongside the Pier Pandertempel, Museum De Grutterswinkel and the Fries Verzetsmuseum in a set the Historic Centre Leeuwarden holds together.
What is the history of Bilgaard?
Bilgaard has no founding date of its own. What the record gives Bilgaard instead is Leeuwarden's own past, kept in Tresoar and the Fries Verzetsmuseum and written into the Historic Centre Leeuwarden that the district's landmark list borrows wholesale. Even the memorials are the city's.
The Waling Dykstra memorial, the Pier Pandertempel and the Coulonhûs and Grytmanshûs all sit in the register under Leeuwarden, which leaves Bilgaard a name attached to a history written under the city's name rather than its own.
Where is Bilgaard?
The same temperate city north of the equator holds both Bilgaard and the Historic Centre Leeuwarden, with Tresoar and the Fries Museum in the older half.
Common questions
What is the best area to stay in Bilgaard?
Bilgaard itself: Rooms in Bilgaard with the Historic Centre Leeuwarden kept for the daytime. The Historic Centre Leeuwarden: Stays that put the Grote of Jacobijnerkerk and Tresoar on the doorstep. The Princessehof quarter: Days spent between the Princessehof Ceramics Museum and Natuurmuseum Fryslân.
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More areas in Leeuwarden
Updated October 2026