Delft
 

What is to be found in this Dutch city?
Is it worth a half-day visit, etc. We will be staying in Amsterdam. Thanks.

As my information is 25 years out of date, I truly hope others will chime in with a more contemporary perspective. But I could not resist responding because Delft was one of my earliest travel experiences.

The town was lovely, leafy green with a picturesque canal running through the centre. We stayed in a pensione room over a laundry, perched high up and right in between the New Church and the Old Church. As a North American, I was amazed that the "new" church was from the 17th C. The bathroom of the pensione was furnished entirely in Delft blue pottery, including the tub, sink and (yes!) toilet. The owners of the place we stayed for 2 days went out to buy peanut butter for us, then a great rarity in Holland, as they understood that was all young Americans would eat for breakfast.

I bought a ring of Delft blue and still wear it today.

I was not bored then and still remember the place with great fondness, but rarely hear of anyone visiting these days.Do please post if you go...

History and charm is Delft's ware !

I'd recommend staying over 1 night in a family-run canalside hotel. A great break from A'dam's busy-ness IMO. The town is worth more than a daytrip!
HTH

If you are interested in art, take a whole day. First go to the Mauritshuis in The Hague, a lovely museum that holds Vermeers (Girl with Pearl Earring and the amazing View of Delft) and other Dutch treasure. Then go to Delft and see where Vermeer worked and is buried, as well as the porcelain attractions, the churches, town hall, etc.

LJ, you will probably be amused to hear that the Benelux' biggest producer of peanut butter is now located in Delft: Calve, which also makes ketchup, mayonnaise and sauces. However, peanut butter is probably used as much in Indonesian meat and vegetable sauces as it is spread on bread!

Powell and others, there is not more than a day's worth of tourist activities in Delft, BUT location, location, location! IMO, Delft is the place to base yourself for a few days to a week if you want to visit Amsterdam, Haarlem, Rotterdam, Kinderdijk, The Hague, Scheveningen (beach), Leiden, Gouda, Antwerp, etc. It's perfectly situated, small, charming, and safe.

Do a search for "Delft" in the search box. We've discussed the charms of Delft many times.

I'm new to this site and have never seen a query for Delft. We were there about 5-6 years ago. Enjoyed our day wandering the pretty streets, and shopping for Delftware. Also, remember an interesting military museum and a lovely church. Very picturesque. Worth a day and because The Netherlands is so compact, it could make a great base for a few days. We were based in the Hague and took a day's sidetrip to Delft. We tried to find Vermeer's view of Delft while there and asked quite a few locals, but no one then was able to help us; we finally found an aproxmation that with a few newer buildings in the way, looked close enough to please us. I second the idea of visiting the Mauritshuis in the Hague. We rented their audiotapes. They were wonderful. I loved that museum, one of my favorites and we ended up spending a whole day there. BTW The Netherlands has (or had!) a great museum pass (good for a year) that got you into almost all the major and minor museums. After 2 museums it paid for itself. You do need a photo of yourself for the card and you can buy it at the first museum you visit. We used it again and again during our 5 week visit to The Netherlands and visited all these wonderful little country museums as well as the big city museums with one card. I hope the pass still exists. It's great!