Leidschendam-Voorburg, South Holland, Netherlands

🇳🇱 Leidschendam-Voorburg is a municipality in the western Netherlands, located in the province of South Holland.

Origin The municipality of Leidschendam-Voorburg is the result of merging the municipalities Leidschendam and Voorburg in 2002. It consists of the two towns Leidschendam and Voorburg, which grew towards each other in the first half of the 20th century. The village Stompwijk and a hamlet called Wilsveen also belong to the municipality.

Leidschendam-Voorburg abuts the city of The Hague and is often regarded as its suburb, even though it is an independent municipality. It is part of the Haaglanden conurbation. Stompwijk is still a rural village, located a few km north-east of Leidschendam.

Historic town centers Both Leidschendam and Voorburg have their own historic town centre, which are decentrally situated.

Historic Leidschendam lies around the ancient locks in the Vliet canal in the eastern part of the town.

About 3 km to the south is the beginning of the Herenstraat, the main street of the Voorburg town center. The centre of Voorburg is mainly situated between this half a kilometer long street and the Vliet. The canal also forms the eastern border of the town. The most important buildings like Swaensteyn House, the Old Church (Oude Kerk) and Hofwijck are in or very near the Herenstraat.

Mall of the Netherlands Until 2019 the Leidschendam shopping mall Leidsenhage was undergoing a total makeover. The new shopping area was expanded to 117.000 square meters. The centre also got a new name: "Westfield Mall of the Netherlands".

Transport: Rail Three railway stations are located within the municipality, providing links with all major cities in the Randstad. The main train station is Voorburg station on The Hague-Utrecht railway line. This station is on the Southern edge of the town centre.

There are two stations on the Rotterdam-Amsterdam line, which are situated on the border of The Hague: Den Haag Laan van NOI (for some Intercity trains and local trains) and Den Haag Mariahoeve (only for local trains).

Light rail Leidschendam-Voorburg has two stations on the RandstadRail lines. RandstadRail is the official name for a light rail project connecting the cities of The Hague, Rotterdam and Zoetermeer. These lines use former train routes, which are now converted for use by light rail vehicles.

It is a somewhat confusing name as for travelers RandstadRail is only used for tram 3 and 4 to Zoetermeer. The line to Rotterdam is exploited as a branch of the Rotterdam metro: Rotterdam metro line E. Stations in Leidschendam-Voorburg (for both trams and metro) are Voorburg 't Loo and Leidschendam-Voorburg. RandstadRail also stops at Den Haag Laan van NOI train station.

Bus and tram There are two major bus services running through this municipality. They are HTM and EBS. Several tram trajectories through Leidschendam-Voorburg - run by HTM - connect various parts of the city with each other, as well as with various neighbouring cities.

Transport: Road Leidschendam-Voorburg is connected to the A4 (Amsterdam - Belgian border by Rotterdam) and A12 (The Hague - German border by Utrecht) motorways, which cross each other near the city centre of Voorburg.

The N14 dual carriageway, which connects the A4 at Leidschendam to the N44 dual carriageway at Wassenaar runs through a series of tunnels in the municipality.

Together with a part of motorway A4 and several local roads the N14 forms the Ring Den Haag.

Cycle paths Like every Dutch municipality, Leidschendam-Voorburg provides a wide range of facilities for cyclers. As an example, on the eastern edge, there are two large cycle bridges that cross different roads and ditches.