The Prinsentuin ("prince's garden") was laid out in 1648 as the private pleasure garden of the stadtholders of Friesland. Surrounded on three sides by the city's outer canal, it preserves the geometric plan of a seventeenth-century Renaissance garden: long allées of trees, lawns, a rose garden, and a small bandstand.
It is the nicest patch of green inside the historic centre and a fine place to read or have a sandwich. The terrace café Prinsentuin overlooks the canal and is a pleasant lunch stop in summer.