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Does anything match Delft?

My wife and I have visited Delft this August and we absolutely adored it. The city, the people, the atmosphere, it was all like a movie. We booked a private city tour by Discover Delft and it was all we had hoped for; a young, passionate dutch guy showed us around in his lovely town and we felt that the spirit of Vermeer really got to life during our visit. We were actually inspired by the once-in-a-lifetime Vermeer exhibition in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam that we had visited earlier this year in February (over now unfortunately!).

We were just wondering, as we are going back to the Netherlands next year (and of course we visit Delft again!): Is there any other dutch city that you can recommend that would have this same magical feeling to it? We are skeptical that Delft can be beaten but we'd like to hear your thoughts!

Cheers,

Joseph and Francesca

Posted by
11159 posts

I enjoyed Delft but did not have the same impression as you. My favorites were the Old Church and the New Church, so much history!
I loved staying in Leiden and exploring The Hague, Delft , and especially Kinderdijk.

Posted by
6323 posts

Everyone's perspective is different, but like Suki, I loved Leiden. It was wonderfully charming and I loved walking through its streets and along the canals. I also really enjoyed Hoorn, which is a fishing village north of Amsterdam, and would love to go back and explore that area more. On my next trip, I also plan on visiting Utrecht, as I have heard many good things about it.

Posted by
2675 posts

I just returned from a trip to the Netherlands and Belgium. I stayed in Delft for 4 nights and really enjoyed my time there. Hoorn and Utrecht were my favorite day trips from Haarlem. Have you been to Bruges? Obviously not in the Netherlands, but this is the one place I found to be more charming than Delft.

Posted by
501 posts

Leiden and Utrecht. They’re both a bit bigger than Delft but very attractive and full of canals and lovely buildings and lots of life.

Posted by
1978 posts

Most of the time it's the vibe of a place that can make it feeling magic and hard to say to find it in other places even looking actually the same.

's Hertogenbosch can be a good contender too. Charming, vibrant and to my opinion has a better vibe. Has Jheronimus Bosch as iconic painter but will he bring the same magical feeling like Vermeer? Zutphen along the IJssel river is very well preserved and certainly worth a visit and in it's vicinity lovely countryside too.

Posted by
7312 posts

Although it's very touristy, Alkmaar has some charming buildings. Amersfoort has fewer really old buildings (but a lovely town square), and real town walls, but the nice feel of a Delft where prosperous modern people actually live. Belgium has quite a lot of charming medieval centers, some quite small, surrounded by banal modern low-rise sprawl. Besides Bruges and Ghent, long walks around Antwerp can be rewarding. Turnhout (BE) has some of the feel I mentioned of Amersfoort (NL), but an Art Deco town hall.

The Hanseatic cities, like, Deventer, tend to have very small gems of old town. But it's hard to justify the journey if you don't have a car. There are similar places in Germany, like Andernach, but not as touristed as Bernkastel-Kues. Note that B-K is more of a Fachwerk town than a stone town. If money and time are not an issue, you might look into Perouges on a future trip near Lyon.

I agree that Bruges is your top priority.

Posted by
2355 posts

My wife and I have visited Delft this August and we absolutely adored it. The city, the people, the atmosphere, it was all like a movie.

I agree. We also loved it. Like walking around a painting.