English spoken Guided tours

Would you like to get even more out of your visit to the Hortus this summer? Beside admiring our collections, a guided tour can really add your experience of the garden, glasshouses and the plants on display there. This summer you can join an English spoken tour of the garden every Thursday between 4 and 5 PM.

New opening hours as of 2023

Science in the Hortus: mosquitoes and invasive aquatic plants

Mosquitoes can carry all kinds of diseases, but how exactly do mosquitoes spread? In the Tropical Glasshouses, research is being conducted on the impact of invasive aquatic plant species on the survival of mosquito populations. It is thought that with the increase in invasive aquatic plant species in Europe, there is simultaneously an increase in hiding places for mosquito larvae to survive in.

Higher education for seniors - course Biomimicry Design

Learn more about Biomimicry Design in this four session course for seniors. Dates: September 16, 23, 30.

Sulty summer evenings at the Hortus botanicus Leiden 

On Wednesday evenings in June, July and August, the Hortus botanicus Leiden keeps its doors open until 9 PM, allowing you to enjoy a sultry summer evening visiting the garden, the glasshouses and joining special activities, such as yoga and meditation classes, as well as lectures, tours and board games. Don’t miss out on getting to see the Victoria amazonica waterlily in bloom, one of the jewels in our crown.

Large diversity of lichens in the Hortus botanicus Leiden

Last year, biology student Harold Timans started making an inventory of lichens in the Hortus as part of an Honours course. The inventory showed that there are 111 species of lichen in the garden, some of which are rare or even very rare. Harold wrote an article about it, which was published in Buxbaumiella, the magazine of the Bryological and Lichenological Working Group (BLWG).

Summer tours

This summer you can join guided tours on Thursdays and Wednesdays. Check out the program below for detailed information on dates, times and registration forms.

Leiden Marathon

On Sunday 15 May 2022, the Hortus botanicus Leiden will be difficult to reach because of the Leiden Marathon. Many roads in the city centre are closed, also for pedestrians.

Second entrance to Talcott House reopens

From 30 April until September 2022 the second entrance to the Hortus, the Talcott house on the Sterrenwachtlaan, will be open again. So on Saturdays and Sundays, from 10:00 to 18:00, curious walkers can also enter the Hortus from the back of the garden.

Now on display in the Hortus botanicus Leiden: 100,000 trees and ‘een bos van draad’

From April 27 to July 3, 2022, the textile artwork "100,000 trees and 'een bos van draad' (a forest of thread) by Sara Vrugt (1981) is on display in the Hortus botanicus Leiden. The artwork, an immense embroidered forest on a 100 m² canvas, was created in 2020 with the help of more than a thousand volunteers. In several pop-up studios, one of which was also in the Hortus in the summer of 2020, many hands collaborated on this special work.

Gekskap (Fool’s cap) on display in the garden

This week (Monday 25 April 2022 to Sunday 1 May 2022) a special work of art can be seen in the garden: Gekskap by Regula Maria Muller. The work depicts the tulip mania of the 17th century: in the Netherlands and Europe, people were so crazy about the tulip, it was as if they had gone mad.

Visit the Old Observatory

The Old Observatory of Leiden is the oldest extant university observatory in the world. From 1 April 2022, you can visit the Observatory by taking an exclusive tour.