A Guide to Leeuwarden is the guide for tourists, students and inquisitive inhabitants of Leeuwarden. We’d love to show you around on one of our walking tours. Below we wrote down the answers to the frequently asked questions.
– Every Saturday at 12:00 (noon) there is an English Leeuwarden Free Tour. Besides this one we’ve got a few tours in other languages. On Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 13:30 we do a Leeuwarden Tour (Dutch Only). On Saturday at 12:00 there will also be a Dutch tour. And at 14:00 there will be a Dutch and a German tour. And on Sunday there will be a Leeuwarden Tour (Dutch Only) at 12:00. It is also possible to book a a private tour on any day of the week.
– Yes, please let us know in advance. We keep our groups small. And we don’t like to dissapoint people, so please sign up beforehand at the Free Tour page. We will try to arrange an extra guide if neccecary.
If you just wander over and there is still room for you, you are more than welcome. But if we don’t have any sign-ups there might not be a guide for an English tour. So please sign up, it’s really easy.
– Yes, this is possible. Our guides are available thoughout the week. Via our website you can book a private tour on any day of the week.
Our standard tours last about 1,5 hour and costs 75,- euro. A one hour private tour costs 50,- euro. Both prices are including taxes. For longer tours and special wishes please contact us.
– Yes, we can do tours in Dutch, English, German, Frisian, Spanish, Italian and French. All our guides speak Dutch and English and some even Frisian. We also got a few guides that have German as their native language. One guide is a Spanish teacher and we’ve got a French student. (Check the video below and don’t forget to turn your subtitles on).
Yes, once you’ve booked a tour you can still cancel it 48 hour prior to the tour. If you cancel within 48 hours before the tour was planned, we will charge to costs of the tour.
– Our tours always start at the Oldehoofsterkerkhof. That’s the square in front of the Oldehove (the leaning tower of Leeuwarden). Our guide will wait for you at the entrance of Obe. This is on the opposite site of the big mural of Maria Louise, at the corner of the Heer Ivostraatje and Grote Kerkstraat. You can spot a pink flag with the words ‘Start Walking Tours’. Download our map or use Google maps. Themed and private tours might start at different locations.
– All our guides wear a keychord with their name and logo of A Guide to Leeuwarden on it. They will also carry a white linen bag with the words ‘Follow Me, I am’ and the words ‘A Guide to Leeuwarden’ written on it. If you booked a private tour, you can have a look on our tour guides page to see how your guide look’s like.
– At a Free Tour, you don’t have to pay anything upfront. At the end of the tour you can give the guide a voluntary donation that suits your budget. You decide for yourself what you thought the tour was worth. Our guides do not get payed in any other way for the Free Tours. They greatly appreciate any voluntary donation.
– At the end of the tour you can pay our guides in cash. But we can also do this contactless. Our guides can send you pay request via Tikkie or QR code. Some guides also have their own iZettle so you can pay with a card. For private tours we always send you an invoice.
– Yes! Because our guides only work on a tip basis, they work twice as hard. You can assume that your guide will do everything to make sure you’re having a good time. For this reason our tours have been rated as the best tours of Leeuwarden on TripAdvisor.com for years!
– Not really. We have ‘standard’ routes, but what you will actually see and hear depends on your guide, the weather, things going on in the city, etcetera. Moreover, our tours are always evolving as we continue to learn new stuff and see the city change!
– Rain or shine, our guides are always there for you and will do everything they can to make sure you’re also having a good time in the rain. We have never cancelled a tour because of the weather. Do dress up according to the weather. Especially in the winter it can be cold.
– That’s every time a surprise for us. But most of the times between 5 and 20 persons. If there are more people, we try to dived the group in two. We like to keep our groups small
– Our walking tours start at the Oldehoofsterkerkhof. Below this square you can find a parking garage where you can park your car the whole day. You will be richt at our starting location and right in the city centre. If you don’t mind walking a short distance, you can also park in the parking garage De Klanderij. This parking garage was decorated with murals by 40 artists in 2019 and is a feast for the eyes.
Are you arriving by touringbus? You can drop your passengers at the side of the Oldehoofsterkerkhof square. Use ‘Boterhoek 1’ in your navigation. This location is only to drop your passengers. You are not allowed to park the bus here, this is possible at the Dirk Zeperweg or Fonteinland.
– Yes! All our tours are wheelchair friendly. Leeuwarden has no major height differences, so fortunately everything is on the same level. However, we often take a look inside and then there may be a threshold here and there, but there are no further obstacles. Our guides will always try to take this into account
-No, we don’t have wheelcharis that we can lend to our guests. It is hover, possible to borrow/rent a wheelchiar from the Hulpmiddelencentrum or the Vegro Thuiszorgwinkel. With the 1st option you can also park for free. Please note the closing times of these places if you want to return the wheelchair the same day.
– Since Fabruary 2022 we have started offering public walking tours again. We will adhere to the following agreements with our guests. If you are not able to visit Leeuwarden in person, you can still book a virtual tour.
– This site is a project of Henk Leutscher, a former history teacher, world traveller, couchsurfer and Leeuwarden local.
– Do you like to help us and become a guide? Do join our tour and get to know us.
Groningen: Alternative Groningen Tour of Free Tours Groningen
Haarlem: Happy Haarlem Tour
Utrecht: Utrecht Free Tours
Hamburg: Robin and the Tour Guides
Riga: www.rigafreetours.com