Private walking tour of Delft

This tour is the 2 hour walking tour of the city centre only. Delft & Royal Delft (from €224) is the same walking tour, plus a combination visit to the Royal Delft factory, where you see the museum and the painting workshop on your own with an audio guide. Choose this one if you want the city and its stories; choose Royal Delft if seeing the Delft Blue actually being painted by hand matters to you. We also run other combination tours, such as a 3-course Walking Dinner through Delft, if you would rather end the day with food.

The Delft audio tour (€13.49) covers a similar route and works offline, at whatever hour suits you. It cannot answer a question, adapt to what your group finds interesting, or take you into a courtyard you would not have found. If you are on a tight budget or arriving late in the evening, take the audio tour. If you want the conversation, book this one.

This tour passes his burial place in the Old Church and covers his Delft in general terms. If Vermeer is the reason you are coming, Vermeer’s Delft (from €275, 2.5 to 3 hours) follows his life through the city and includes the Vermeer Centre, and is the better fit.

Yes. At checkout you can add a Dutch 12-uurtje lunch with a drink of your choice (€22.50 per person), entry to the Old Church and the New Church (€10 per person, not on Sundays) with the New Church tower climb on top (€5 per person), and a visit to Royal Delft (€25 per person). Each one is optional, just tick it when you book.

Entry to Royal Delft, the last Delftware factory left from the 17th century, with an audio guide through the museum and the painting workshop, plus the transfer there and back after the walking tour. From March to October that is a tuktuk. From November to February the tuktuks do not run, so you get a bus ticket instead. It is the same as our Delft & Royal Delft tour, so choose whichever is easier for you.

The earlier you book, the better. Online bookings close 24 hours before departure. For last minute tours in Delft, Rotterdam, The Hague, Leiden or Gouda, call or WhatsApp us at +31 6 46 52 69 11.

Yes. We offer flexible start times for all private walking tours. Add your preferred time in the booking comments or contact us directly and we will adjust the schedule for you.

Yes. As long as it is within the city center, you can choose your own meeting point. If you prefer to begin at your hotel, a restaurant or another central location, simply add it as a comment during your booking and we will make sure our guide meets you there.

Yes. We offer paid pick-up and drop-off within roughly 100 km (62 mi) from the tour location, added at checkout (Amsterdam always falls within that range). For longer distances, please contact us for a quote.

We offer our tours in English, Dutch, German, French, Spanish and Italian.

You book the guide for your group only, we do not combine you with other travelers. For the best experience, we advise a maximum of 20 participants per guide.

You can cancel your private tour free of charge up to 24 hours before the scheduled start time.

Yes. Delft’s old centre has cobblestones in places and the odd small kerb or step, but we can make any tour wheelchair accessible: your guide simply adapts the route. Let us know when you book, so the guide can plan it.

Yes. Every tour is private, so your guide can adjust the pace, the stories and the length to suit children in your group. Just mention their ages when you book.

Let us know when you book if you’d like to bring a dog along, and we’ll confirm what’s possible for that particular tour.

About a week before your tour, we’ll send you a reminder email with your guide’s name and phone number, along with the meeting point and time. If you don’t spot each other right away, just call or message them.

Yes. For larger groups we split you across multiple guides rather than combining you with strangers or putting everyone on one bus, so it stays personal and everyone can still hear and ask questions. Tell us your group size and we’ll arrange it.

Delft is named after a ditch. The Dutch verb delven means to dig, and a delf was a dug watercourse: the canal now called the Oude Delft, dug in the 12th century. The town grew up along its banks and took its name, and the walking tour starts that story at the water's edge.

Delft received city rights in 1246, but the settlement along the Oude Delft canal is older, from the 12th century. Much of what you see today was rebuilt after the great fire of 1536 and the gunpowder explosion of 1654, which is why the centre looks so 16th and 17th century.

No. None of Vermeer's originals hang in Delft. The Vermeer Centrum shows all of his known works as full-size reproductions. The nearest originals are at the Mauritshuis in The Hague, home of Girl with a Pearl Earring, and at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, which has The Milkmaid.

Not into the crypt itself: the royal vault beneath the New Church is closed to the public. Inside the church you can see the marble mausoleum of William of Orange and the monument to Hugo de Groot. Church entry is an add-on at checkout and is not possible on Sundays.

Not at the moment. Museum Prinsenhof Delft closed for renovation in January 2025 and has not announced a reopening date (its own site looks ahead to spring 2028), so the bullet holes inside cannot be visited. Your guide tells the story of the 1584 assassination at the building, which is still a stop on the walk.

Yes, as an add-on at checkout, on top of church entry. It is 376 narrow steps to the viewing gallery of a tower almost 109 metres tall, with a rest point on the way up. Backpacks and umbrellas are not allowed in the tower, and children under five cannot go up.

A gratuity is not included and tipping is never expected in the Netherlands, but it is always appreciated if you enjoyed your tour. If you would like a guideline, guests who tip usually give around 5 to 10% of the tour price, in cash to the guide.

Call or WhatsApp us on the number in your confirmation email. If your guide is held up, we keep you posted. In the rare case a guide cannot make it, we send a replacement guide or refund your tour in full.