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7 Most Instagrammable Spots in Delft, the Dutch Town Vermeer Never Left
Delft, the small South Holland town where Johannes Vermeer was born, lived and died, is built around canal-lined streets, a leaning church tower and a centuries-old blue-and-white pottery tradition that still operates today.
Sep 25, 2026 · BigTravel.in
Delft is smaller and quieter than Amsterdam, and that scale is part of its appeal: a compact grid of canals, gabled brick houses and a central Markt square that Johannes Vermeer, born here in 1632 and buried here in 1675, spent almost his entire life within walking distance of. Here are seven spots worth the frame.
1. The Oude Delft canal
The Oude Delft is the city's oldest and widest canal, running the length of the historic centre and lined on both sides with gabled merchant houses, most reflective and calmest in the early morning before the day's boat traffic picks up.
2. The Markt and the Nieuwe Kerk
Delft's main square is framed at one end by the Nieuwe Kerk, whose roughly 108-metre tower holds the royal crypt of the House of Orange-Nassau, and at the other by the Stadhuis, the town hall; the two facing each other across the open square is the classic Delft postcard shot.
3. The view from the Nieuwe Kerk tower
Climbing the Nieuwe Kerk's tower opens up a rooftop view over Delft's red-tiled roofs and canal grid, with the Hague and, on a clear day, Rotterdam visible on the horizon beyond the town itself.
4. The Oude Kerk's leaning tower
The Oude Kerk's tower leans visibly, the result of subsidence in Delft's soft soil, and locals have nicknamed it Scheve Jan, or Leaning Jan; the tilt is more noticeable in photographs taken from directly alongside the church than from a distance.
5. The Prinsenhof Museum courtyard
Once a convent, the Prinsenhof became William of Orange's residence and is where he was assassinated in 1584; its quiet inner courtyard and brick cloisters now house a museum but still carry the atmosphere of the building's earlier life.
6. Royal Delft's blue-and-white workshop
Royal Delft, trading as De Koninklijke Porceleyne Fles and founded in 1653, is the last of Delft's original pottery factories still producing hand-painted blue-and-white earthenware, and its factory tour lets visitors watch painters working directly on the unfired pieces.
7. The Hooikade, near Vermeer's painted view
The Vermeer Centre Delft, dedicated to the painter's life and work though it holds reproductions rather than originals, sits close to the Hooikade waterfront, generally cited as near the vantage point behind Vermeer's View of Delft, still recognisably the same skyline of towers across the water.
Traveller tips
- Delft is a short train ride from both Rotterdam and The Hague, and an easy day trip from Amsterdam.
- The historic centre is compact and best explored on foot or by bicycle rather than by car.
- The Nieuwe Kerk tower climb is steep and narrow; it isn't suited to those uncomfortable with tight stairwells.
- Royal Delft's factory and museum are separate from the many souvenir shops selling imported imitation pottery elsewhere in town.
Where this is
Delft, Netherlands