If you’re coming to .Astronomy, friggin’ awesome, we can’t wait to meet you. We at .Astro towers thought that maybe it was time to send out some local information to help you all plan your trips and get as excited about the week as we are. Most of the practical arrangements are smoothly taken care of by our excellent Lorentz Center assistant Corrie, so we have the luxure of looking after the fun stuff.

To give you an idea of what to expect, Sarah has put together a map, see below, of useful places and some local favourite hangouts.

We’re currently working on the conference programme and will be back with news on that in early November. If you have any questions or ideas, email us at poc AT dotastronomy.com. We want to hear from you!

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Getting there

At a stone’s throw from Schiphol airport and several major transport hubs, Leiden is exceptionally well connected to the world. If you’re flying into Schiphol, there are a couple of options for making your way to Leiden. The most convenient is to catch a train to Leiden Central (Centraal in Dutch), these run about every 10 minutes and take between 15 and 20 minutes. They usually leave from platform 5-6 and a single costs around 5 euro. You have to buy a ticket before boarding and there are plenty of yellow ticket machines and ticket counters in the airport/station hall.

From Leiden Central it’s a 15 minute walk to the Lorentz Center and a little further to the Bastion Hotel. Given the time of year, you can jump in a bus or taxi, both of which can be found just outside the station if you take the “Centrum” exit. The Lorentz Center website has detailed instructions and links to timetables.

You can take a taxi all the way from the airport to Leiden too of course, this costs around 40 euro. But the motorway is often very congested between Leiden and Schiphol so you may not save very much on time.

We’d also like to flag up some alternatives to flying for those who are green minded or don’t like flying. If you’re coming from Belgium, France or Germany we recommend you look into trains. The Leiden area is well integrated on the European rail network – to Belgium and France on the high-speed Thalys trains (get the train to Den Haag/The Hague and change there for a short hop to Leiden), and to Germany on the always efficient Deutsche Bahn services (change at Utrecht or Schiphol for Leiden).

From Britain you can get the boat from Harwich to Hoek van Holland, during the daytime or overnight, from where it’s around 30 mins by train to Leiden.

Local transportation

Leiden is well served by buses, which connect the centre of town to the surrounding villages and the coast. The Lorentz Center and the Bastion Hotel, where most of the out-of-towners will stay, are situated in the village of Oegstgeest, around 2-3 km from central Leiden along the road to Noordwijk and the coast.The Center is co-located with Leiden Observatory, the University’s astronomy department, in the oddly-shaped J.H. Oort building. Again, the Lorentz Center have all the info, directions and timetables on their webpages to help you get around. More bus timetables and travel info can be found here.

There is also the option of renting a bike from the Lorentz Center. This is by far the best way of getting around Leiden and its surroundings, as it’s flat as a pancake and bike rules the roads in the Netherlands. But bring gloves and wet weather gear!

Accommodation

The Lorentz Center will take care of hotel bookings at the Bastion Hotel, which is within walking distance from the Center (see the above map). If you want to look at other options, they can help you with that too so feel free to contact them at the address provided in the email confirmation you’ve received. A listing is provided here.

Eat, Drink and Be Merry

We certainly don’t intend for the week to be all hard work and no play – and Leiden is a great place for relaxing, having a little party, or having a big party – whichever you prefer. On Monday we will have a wine & cheese party at the Lorenz Center. This is usually an occasion to which the rest of the astronomy department, who are located in the same building, are also invited, to give everyone the chance to meet and mingle.

On Wednesday we’ll be having a conference dinner at Scheltema, in an old converted factory in the old town in Leiden. It’s a fabulous location that we’re excited to check out. We’re still finalising the arrangements for this and we’ll be back with info as soon as all is known.

The map above has a selection of local bars and restaurants with some local knowledge to help you make a selection.

Leiden is also connected throughout the night to Amsterdam’s Central Station.

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