Things to do in Delft
Delft is Vermeer's city, the home of Delft Blue and the burial place of the House of Orange, packed into a centre you can walk across in a quarter of an hour. It sits between The Hague and Rotterdam, about an hour from Amsterdam.
- About an hour from Amsterdam
Getting your bearings
The centre of Delft is tiny and nearly all of this page sits inside it. The Markt is in the middle, with the Stadhuis and the Nieuwe Kerk facing each other across it. The Vermeer Centrum is a minute away, the Oude Kerk and its leaning tower about five minutes west, the railway station about seven minutes south-west and the Oostpoort ten minutes east. The one exception is Royal Delft, out on the Rotterdamseweg, about twenty minutes on foot and the one place in town where a car saves you real time.
One thing to know if you are planning around William the Silent: the Prinsenhof museum, where he was shot in 1584, is closed for a major renovation, with the reopening expected in 2027. His tomb in the Nieuwe Kerk is still there to see.
Two men born in 1632
Vermeer and Antonie van Leeuwenhoek were born in Delft within days of each other, and both lie in the Oude Kerk. Leeuwenhoek went on to be the first person to see bacteria. Vermeer painted a few dozen pictures and died in debt in 1675, and the city appointed Leeuwenhoek to administer his bankrupt estate. Whether the two were friends has never been proved, but it is hard to find a town of this size with a better pair.
Delft in the 1650s also had Pieter de Hooch and Carel Fabritius at work. In 1654 the city’s gunpowder store exploded and wrecked a large part of the town, and Fabritius, who painted The Goldfinch, was killed in it. Almost none of that work is in Delft now, which surprises visitors. What is here is the town in the paintings: brick, water and a great deal of sky.
Where Delft Blue came from
The potters of Delft began by copying the blue-and-white porcelain that the East India Company was shipping home from China in the seventeenth century, and they did it well enough to export their own across Europe. Royal Delft is the last of those early factories still working, and it is the place to see the tradition done properly.
Making a day of it
Delft is about an hour from Amsterdam by road, between The Hague and Rotterdam, so it works as a morning with a second stop in the afternoon. We are based in Amsterdam and run day trips and fixed-price transfers. Message us on WhatsApp with what you have in mind and we will tell you the price before you commit.
What to see
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Vermeer and the Vermeer Centrum
Johannes Vermeer was born, worked and is buried in Delft, and not one of his paintings hangs here. The Vermeer Centrum stands on the site of the Guild of St Luke, which he joined in 1653 and later headed, and shows reproductions of his whole body of work, with a film, an exhibition on his methods and a camera obscura you can try.
Driver’s tip: There is no original Vermeer in Delft. The View of Delft and the Girl with a Pearl Earring are in the Mauritshuis in The Hague, and The Milkmaid and The Little Street are in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Use the Centrum as the introduction, then see the real ones in The Hague, a short drive away.
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Royal Delft
The last of Delft's seventeenth-century potteries still at work, founded in 1653 and Royal since 1919. The museum and factory show how Delft Blue is made: the paint goes on dark and only turns blue in the kiln. The museum also holds a copy of Rembrandt's Night Watch made from 480 tiles.
Driver’s tip: It is on the edge of town, about twenty minutes' walk from the Markt. Turn a piece over before you buy anything in Delft: hand-painted Royal Delft carries a small jar with the letters JT above the word Delft, the painter's initials and a two-letter year code, and not everything sold as Delft Blue is made in Delft.
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The Nieuwe Kerk and the Oude Kerk
The Nieuwe Kerk on the Markt holds the marble tomb of William the Silent, who was shot dead in Delft in 1584, and the royal crypt of the House of Orange below it. Its tower, at 108 metres, is the second tallest church tower in the Netherlands. The Oude Kerk, five minutes away, leans about two metres out of true and holds the graves of Vermeer and of the microscope pioneer Antonie van Leeuwenhoek.
Driver’s tip: One ticket covers both churches. The tower climb is an extra, close to 400 steps, and it is closed in strong wind and must be started at least an hour before closing, so do it first rather than last.
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The Markt
The long market square at the centre of town. The Renaissance Stadhuis, rebuilt by Hendrick de Keyser in 1618, and the Nieuwe Kerk face each other across it, and a statue of the jurist Hugo Grotius, born in Delft in 1583, stands in it.
Driver’s tip: Thursday is market day: the square fills with stalls, and there is a flower market a few hundred metres away on the Brabantse Turfmarkt. Come on another day if you would rather see the Stadhuis and the church without them.
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The canals and the Oostpoort
The Oude Delft is one of the town's two oldest canals, and it runs past the Oude Kerk and its leaning tower. On the other side of the centre the Oostpoort, with a land gate and a water gate, is the last of the old city gates, from around 1400.
Driver’s tip: The centre is small enough that you hardly need a boat: the Oude Delft, the Koornmarkt and the Oostpoort are each within ten minutes' walk of the Markt. If you do want one, the canal boats leave from the Koornmarkt.
Where is it?
Day trips that go there
Shore excursions — Rotterdam
For cruise passengers docking in Rotterdam. We meet you at the terminal, spend the whole day wherever you choose — the windmills of Kinderdijk, Delft, The Hague, Gouda, the tulip fields — and have you back at the ship at least an hour before all-aboard.
Frequently asked questions
Is Delft worth a day trip from Amsterdam?
Yes, for the old town and for the setting of Vermeer's world. It is about an hour from Amsterdam by road, almost everything is within a ten-minute walk of the Markt, and it sits between The Hague and Rotterdam, so it combines easily with either.
Can we see Vermeer's paintings in Delft?
No. None of them is in the city. The View of Delft and the Girl with a Pearl Earring hang in the Mauritshuis in The Hague, and The Milkmaid and The Little Street in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Delft's Vermeer Centrum has reproductions of his whole body of work and explains how he painted.
How long do I need in Delft?
Half a day covers the Markt, both churches and the Vermeer Centrum, which are all within five minutes of the Markt. Royal Delft, a twenty-minute walk across town, is what turns it into a full day.
Can you drive us to Delft?
Yes. We are based in Amsterdam and drive anywhere in the Netherlands, and Delft is about an hour away. Message us on WhatsApp with what you have in mind and we will tell you the price before you commit to anything.