Things to Do in Deventer: Books, Dickens and the IJssel

The Grote of Lebuinuskerk takes its name from the English missionary who settled here in the eighth century. The current building is late Gothic, with a crypt underneath that is older than almost everything above it. If the tower is open, climb it: from the top you get the river, the polders behind it and the whole street plan of the old town laid out at once.

The Brink is the main square and has been the market for centuries. The building that dominates it is the Waag, the fifteenth-century weigh house, now home to the town museum. Look at the front door: there are holes in it, and a large copper cauldron hangs on the facade. Local legend ties the cauldron to a coin forger who was boiled in it. Whether or not that happened, the story has stuck for centuries, which is very Deventer.

Market days fill the square with stalls; on quiet mornings you get it almost to yourself.

Behind the Brink the ground rises slightly into the Bergkwartier, the oldest quarter, with the twin-towered Bergkerk at the top. This is the part of town people photograph without knowing what it is called: narrow brick streets, stepped gables, doors that are too small for modern people. It was nearly demolished in the 1960s and restored instead, one of the earliest big restoration projects in the country.

Twice a year Deventer changes character completely. On the first Sunday of August the whole centre becomes an open-air book market, with stalls along every street and quay. In mid-December the Bergkwartier turns into a Dickens Festival: costumed characters, lamplight, choirs on street corners. Both draw very large crowds, so decide whether you want the town at its busiest or at its calmest before you book.

The local speciality is Deventer koek, a dense spiced honey cake that has been baked here for a very long time. It is sold in slabs, eaten in thick slices with butter, and it keeps for days, which makes it the rare local delicacy you can actually take home.

Deventer rewards wandering, but wandering also means walking past things without knowing what they are. A city game fixes that: you follow a route of puzzles from the Brink through the Bergkwartier to the river, and each stop tells you what you are looking at before it sends you on. It works for couples, for families with children who need a reason to keep walking, and for groups.

Not sure how it works? Read how to play first, it takes two minutes.

Start on the Brink, let the route take you uphill into the Bergkwartier, and end at the river. If you would like a hand choosing the right game for your group, get in touch. Planning more stops in the Netherlands? Our guide to things to do in Den Bosch pairs well with this one.