Delft sits between The Hague and Rotterdam, close enough for a half-day trip by tram or train. It's the town of Delft Blue pottery, canals and a church tower you can climb, with plenty indoors for a rainy day too. Here's what we checked, from master painters brushing tiles at Royal Delft to the goats and rabbits at BuytenDelft City Farm.
Royal Delft is the last of the 17th-century earthenware factories in Delft still making Delft Blue by hand. Kids watch master painters at work, walk through the factory from the first clay to the final brushstroke, and see the tulip pyramid and royal collection in the museum rooms. Extras include a tile-painting workshop, a children's treasure hunt and a kids' audio tour.
The Nieuwe Kerk tower is 108.75 meters tall, the second-highest church tower in the Netherlands. Kids climb 376 steps up narrow stairs to a gallery at 85 meters, where on a clear day you can see Rotterdam and The Hague.
The carillon in the tower plays a tune every quarter hour. It suits kids with steady legs who don't mind heights or tight spaces.
TU Delft Science Centre is the university's science center on the Delft campus. Its exhibition is closed while a new one is built, so visits run through booked programs. In the Tech Studio, a child and one adult work as a pair: programming a MIRTE robot built at TU Delft, turning recycled plastic into a spinner, or designing imaginary creatures inspired by the ARIA artwork in the entrance hall.
A city farm in the Delftse Hout where kids can pet some of the animals, cuddle rabbits, and meet goats, sheep, ponies, donkeys, pigs, cows, chickens and peacocks. Wolkje, the yard goat, roams free.
Next door, a rebuilt water playground has a small beach and water pumped in from the Schie. A clog golf course winds through the animal meadow, and the organic restaurant has a terrace.
An indoor play center built around a big climbing frame with slides, ball pits and trampolines. Toddlers get their own separate zone with a ball waterfall and a pirate ship.
Extras cost a little more: kids' cars, a carousel, laser tag under the climbing frame, the LavaLand pixel floor and four bowling lanes. Parents watch from the café, which looks out over the play area.
FunZone Delft is a covered indoor playground with a climbing volcano, a family slide, a toboggan run, a Snowglider, a ball cannon and extra-high trampolines. A separate toddler corner gives the youngest their own space.
Parents can watch from the café terrace, which serves coffee and sandwiches and has free Wi-Fi. At least one adult has to stay for the whole visit.
An inflatable park with more than 1000 m² of air cushions: waves, a pyramid, a climbing wall, slides and obstacle runs like Wipe Out and Ninja Run. Beyond the bouncing there is a net course for climbing and balancing at height, interactive games such as Tag & Run, and GlowGolf, an 18-hole mini golf played in the dark. Built for burning energy on a rainy day.
Lichtjesavond is the evening Delft's old center lights up for winter, part of the city's Delft Verlicht season. Families wander the lit streets and canals, stopping for Christmas choirs, concerts and theater in churches and venues, with plenty happening outdoors too.
It suits kids who are happy on foot on a cold winter evening. A silent disco and sing-alongs give them something to join in, not just watch.
Delft sits between The Hague and Rotterdam, close enough for a half-day trip by tram or train. It's the town of Delft Blue pottery, canals and a church tower you can climb, with plenty indoors for a rainy day too. Here's what we checked, from master painters brushing tiles at Royal Delft to the goats and rabbits at BuytenDelft City Farm.
Royal Delft is the last of the 17th-century earthenware factories in Delft still making Delft Blue by hand. Kids watch master painters at work, walk through the factory from the first clay to the final brushstroke, and see the tulip pyramid and royal collection in the museum rooms. Extras include a tile-painting workshop, a children's treasure hunt and a kids' audio tour.
The Nieuwe Kerk tower is 108.75 meters tall, the second-highest church tower in the Netherlands. Kids climb 376 steps up narrow stairs to a gallery at 85 meters, where on a clear day you can see Rotterdam and The Hague.
The carillon in the tower plays a tune every quarter hour. It suits kids with steady legs who don't mind heights or tight spaces.
TU Delft Science Centre is the university's science center on the Delft campus. Its exhibition is closed while a new one is built, so visits run through booked programs. In the Tech Studio, a child and one adult work as a pair: programming a MIRTE robot built at TU Delft, turning recycled plastic into a spinner, or designing imaginary creatures inspired by the ARIA artwork in the entrance hall.
A city farm in the Delftse Hout where kids can pet some of the animals, cuddle rabbits, and meet goats, sheep, ponies, donkeys, pigs, cows, chickens and peacocks. Wolkje, the yard goat, roams free.
Next door, a rebuilt water playground has a small beach and water pumped in from the Schie. A clog golf course winds through the animal meadow, and the organic restaurant has a terrace.
An indoor play center built around a big climbing frame with slides, ball pits and trampolines. Toddlers get their own separate zone with a ball waterfall and a pirate ship.
Extras cost a little more: kids' cars, a carousel, laser tag under the climbing frame, the LavaLand pixel floor and four bowling lanes. Parents watch from the café, which looks out over the play area.
FunZone Delft is a covered indoor playground with a climbing volcano, a family slide, a toboggan run, a Snowglider, a ball cannon and extra-high trampolines. A separate toddler corner gives the youngest their own space.
Parents can watch from the café terrace, which serves coffee and sandwiches and has free Wi-Fi. At least one adult has to stay for the whole visit.
An inflatable park with more than 1000 m² of air cushions: waves, a pyramid, a climbing wall, slides and obstacle runs like Wipe Out and Ninja Run. Beyond the bouncing there is a net course for climbing and balancing at height, interactive games such as Tag & Run, and GlowGolf, an 18-hole mini golf played in the dark. Built for burning energy on a rainy day.
Lichtjesavond is the evening Delft's old center lights up for winter, part of the city's Delft Verlicht season. Families wander the lit streets and canals, stopping for Christmas choirs, concerts and theater in churches and venues, with plenty happening outdoors too.
It suits kids who are happy on foot on a cold winter evening. A silent disco and sing-alongs give them something to join in, not just watch.
