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Delft

Vermeer's Town of Canals and Blue-and-White Pottery

Plan this trip
1 dayIdeal stay₹10,650From / night₹2,880Food / day₹850Entry

A small canal town between The Hague and Rotterdam, 10-15 minutes by train from each: the Markt between the Nieuwe Kerk (tombs of the Dutch royal family, and a tower to climb) and the Renaissance town hall, the leaning Oude Kerk where Vermeer is buried, the Vermeer Centrum, and Royal Delft, the last of the 17th-century potteries still hand-painting Delft Blue. Thursday is market day on the Markt. A day trip from The Hague or Rotterdam, or a quiet base for both.

Highlights

  • The Markt with the Nieuwe Kerk and the town hall
  • Climb the Nieuwe Kerk tower
  • Oude Kerk and Vermeer's grave
  • Royal Delft pottery painting
  • Canal walk to the Oostpoort
  • Thursday market

Things to do

  • Markt, Nieuwe Kerk and the tower climbMorning · 2h
  • Oude Kerk and the PrinsenhofAfternoon · 2h
  • Royal Delft factory and museumAfternoon · 1h 30m
  • Vermeer CentrumMorning · 1h
  • Canal walk to the OostpoortEvening · 1h

Tours & tickets

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When to go

Best time: April – September

  • King's Day (Koningsdag) — The national holiday for the King's birthday: the whole country dresses in orange, every street becomes a flea market (the vrijmarkt, from the evening before), and Amsterdam's canals fill with party boats and its centre with up to a million people. Trains into Amsterdam are packed and hotels cost their most; book months ahead, or watch it in a calmer city such as Utrecht, Haarlem or Delft. Museums open, many shops close.
  • Christmas markets and the Amsterdam Light Festival — From late November Maastricht holds its Christmas market (Magisch Maastricht) on the Vrijthof, and Valkenburg, 15 minutes away, holds markets inside its caves; Delft and Utrecht have smaller ones. In Amsterdam the Light Festival puts light art along the canals from late November into January, best seen from a canal boat in the evening. Markets close by Christmas or the New Year.
  • Sinterklaas — St Nicholas "arrives by steamboat from Spain" in mid-November (Amsterdam's parade by boat and horse through the centre is the big one) and families exchange presents and poems on 5 December. Expect crowds on the arrival day; the bakeries fill with pepernoten and chocolate letters.