Rooms for Rent in Leiden

To rent a room in Leiden is to compete with the oldest university in the Netherlands: 40% of room listings target students, and every August a new intake starts looking at once. Based on over 2,400 room listings tracked in Leiden since February 2024 by RentHunter, the average room for rent costs €635 a month for 21 m².

Picture the typical find: a room on the second floor of a canal house along the Oude Rijn, a shared kitchen with four housemates, and a ten minute cycle to lectures. Den Haag is 18 minutes away by public transit, so young professionals rent here too.

A room means your own bedroom with a shared kitchen or bathroom; a studio has both to itself. For the whole city, see rentals in Leiden.

1. Average rent: €635 a month
   Room rent in Leiden averages €635 a month, with 80% of listings between €375 and €897. Listings with one bedroom average €637 across 740 listings, while the rare two bedroom ones average €889 across only 12.
2. 14% below Den Haag
   A room in Leiden costs 14% less than one in Den Haag, €635 against €737. Both cities are in Zuid-Holland, and the train between them takes a quarter of an hour.
3. 21 m² on average
   Rooms in Leiden average 21 m², enough for a bed, a desk and a wardrobe, and large ones are rare. 10% of listings mention a garden and 10% a balcony, so outdoor space is the exception in the old center.
4. 33% furnished
   A third of Leiden room listings come furnished, which suits the 9% of listings aimed at expats and anyone arriving with two suitcases. Compare furnished rooms in Leiden before you buy a bed.
5. 17 new rooms a week
   About 17 new rooms in Leiden became available per week on RentHunter in the 28 days to October 2026. Rooms first seen in the 90 days to October 2026 ask a median €654, 6% more than three months earlier and 8% more than a year earlier.

The location of a room in Leiden decides your daily ride: to the faculties, to the LUMC by the station, or in from the north.

Rooms in Leiden's historic center sit in student houses around the Breestraat, the Rapenburg and the Oude Rijn, steps from the faculties. On Saturday you cycle to the market on the Nieuwe Rijn, and in the evening the houses are loud and sociable. Expect steep stairs in beautiful old buildings and prices at the top of the range.

Rooms around Leiden Centraal suit medical students and researchers: the LUMC is next to the station and the Bio Science Park is on the far side of the tracks. The train to Den Haag or Schiphol leaves from your doorstep, and the Rapenburg is a few minutes away by bike.

Leiden Noord, north of the singels, has rooms in terraced family homes, often in a private landlord's own home, with calmer streets and lower rents than the center. The Leidse Hout park is close for a run, and the cycle into town is short.

Three checks protect a rental contract for a room in Leiden: registration, the contract type and the money you hand over.

Only half of Leiden room listings, 52%, say you can register at the address. Without registration at the gemeente Leiden you get no BSN, so ask before you pay. A move is registered within 5 days, by appointment for a first registration from abroad, which you book on the municipality website.

Leases have been open ended by default since 1 July 2024, but student rooms are an exception: a campus contract ends when your studies do. DUWO, the student housing corporation in Leiden, manages many rooms and lets them by registration time, so sign up as soon as you are admitted and browse student rooms in Leiden in the meantime.