Dog-Friendly Things to Do in Delft, Markt & Royal Delft Porcelain

The cobbled Markt is the historic heart of Delft, dominated at one end by the Late-Gothic Nieuwe Kerk (1496, the burial church of William of Orange since 1584 and mausoleum of the Dutch Royal House, with the 109 m tower the second tallest in the Netherlands) and at the other end by the Renaissance Stadhuis city hall. The cathedral interior admits only assistance dogs, but leashed dogs can roam the entire market square, sit at any of the terrace cafés and circle the cathedral's exterior.

The last surviving original Delft Blue earthenware factory (Koninklijke Porceleyne Fles, founded 1653), 2 km south of the centre. The workshop tour and museum admit only assistance dogs because of the painting and kiln rooms, but the large outer courtyard, the historic garden, and the brand shop on the ground floor welcome leashed dogs. A good rainy-afternoon stop if one person can take turns inside.

The Oude Delft is the oldest canal in the Netherlands, dug around 1100, and the linear walk along its tree-lined quays from the Prinsenhof Museum (where William of Orange was assassinated in 1584) past the Oude Kerk's leaning tower (Vermeer's burial 1675) all the way south to the 1400 Oostpoort city gate (the only remaining medieval gate) is the single best on-leash architecture loop in town, about 2 km flat with constant shade.