Venue
The conference will take place in the
PLNT building, Langegracht 70, 2312 NV Leiden (in the Spotlight room, website),
which is located in the city center, and it takes ca. 10mins to walk from the central station of Leiden. Please see the screenshot below for the orientations in Leiden.
The dinner will take place on Thursday from 18:30 at Einstein Restaurant in the heart of the city (address: Nieuwe Rijn 19, 2312 JC Leiden). It takes about 10mins to walk from the PLNT building to Einstein.
The conference will take place in the historical Dutch city of Leiden (South Holland). After Amsterdam it is the second biggest canal town in the Netherlands and it is a vibrant student city with floating cafés and countless historical buildings, among which the Hortus Botanicus, the Leiden Observatory, and the Engelenbrug, and the many historical buildings of Leiden University, where Nobel Prize winners and famous scientists worked and work. Many famous scientists have been in Leiden, such as Edsger Dijkstra, Albert Einstein, Jan Tinbergen, Herman Boerhave, Carl Linne, Carolus Clusius, Tjalling Koopmans, Kammerligh Onnes, and Hendrik Lorentz, to mention a few. Leiden is convenient to reach from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (15 min by train) and located in the Dutch Randstad region with cities The Hague (15 minutes), Amsterdam, Delft and Utrecht in less than 45 minutes. Moreover, the picturesque fisher village of Katwijk at the North Sea Beach is only 6 km away, and just next to it lies Noordwijk which features the headquarters of the European Space Agency including the Space Expo exhibition.
Travel Advice
Leiden can be conveniently reached by public transport. The international airport of Amsterdam Schiphol is just a 20 minutes direct train ride away. Regional airports are Rotterdam (ca. 1 hour) and Eindhoven (ca. 2 hours). Leiden is a compact city and all venues are within a radius of 2 km from the central station. A bus station and bicycle rental are situated at the central station.
Arrival by Public Transport:
For all local public transport (buses, trains), an OV chipcard is convenient that can be bought at the ticket vendor machines and counters at railway stations, but it is also possible to buy a ticket on the bus or at some of the ticket vendor machines at the train station (those with a blue head). The basic cost for an OV chipcard is Euro 7.50, and serves as a prepayment system. A minimum of Euro 20.- needs to be charged for train rides. Use the ticket and/or the OV chipcard to enter the stations.
Arrival by Car: Leiden can be reached by car via the A4, N11 and A44 motorways. It is recommended to avoid the historical city center as the roads are quite narrow and there are many one-way streets and obstacles (e.g. canals). For parking at the Snellius Building, please contact the organizers (Michael Emmerich, LIACS) to arrange for a guest parking place during the event. In the city center, it is advised to use the parking places offered by your hotel or one of the parking houses for short stays. There is no free parking, otherwise.
Using a Bicycle: The bicycle is a convenient means of transport in Leiden. Almost every street has a designated bicycle path. Bicycles can be rent in most of the hotels and also there is a bicycle rental at the central station.
Accommodation Advice
If you book at one of the following hotels, please mention you are a guest of Leiden University. You would get a small discount from the hotel.
Leiden:
Fletcher hotel, Golden Tulip hotel, Hilton hotel, Ibis hotel, Minerva hotel, Tulip Inn hotel
The Hague:
Babylon hotel, ParkCentraal hotel