Delft is another town well worth exploring from Amsterdam. It is a charming city with the old town mixing easily with more modern housing and development. Although the primary reason many people go to Delft is delftware, the blue and white pottery you see all over the country, the city offers a full day of things to see and do. The VVV (official tourist agency) info-shop in Delft has a very good selection of maps and guides for all of the Netherlands, even larger than that in the VVV offices in Amsterdam.

If you’re planning on traveling throughout the country, it’s worth stocking up there. You can also pick up a map and guide for your day in Delft. Delft has numerous side streets to explore and quite a few museums. One museum of particular interest to decorative arts fans like me is the Museum Lambert van Meerten, which has extensive displays of hand-painted delftware tiles housed in an 19th century mansion. There is also the Stedelijk Museum Het Prinsenhof, which is not only Delft’s historical museum but also the place where William of Orange, the founding father of the country, was assassinated in 1584. The Nieuwe Kerk contains his mausoleum, which was undergoing restoration this spring. It also contains a set of panels which explain the history of the House of Orange. The Oude Kerk is the oldest church is Delft, dating from the early 13th century.