Royal Delft Blue Factory and Museum Ticket

Royal Delft, the last Golden Age factory

In the seventeenth century dozens of pottery workshops lined the canals of Delft, making blue-and-white earthenware inspired by the Chinese porcelain that Dutch East India Company ships brought from Asia. Founded in 1653 under the name De Porceleyne Fles, Royal Delft is the only one of those factories that has survived. In 1919 it received the right to call itself royal, and it still supplies pieces for official gifts and the Dutch royal family.

Your visit takes place in the working factory itself, a complex of brick halls and courtyards south-east of the old town. The audio tour, available in 8 languages, leads you room by room through the story of the company and the craft, at your own pace. Is Royal Delft worth visiting? Yes: it is the one place where you can see genuine Delft Blue being made by hand, not just displayed.

The painting studio and the making of Delft Blue

The highlight for most visitors is the painting studio, where trained artists sit at their desks painting vases, plates and tiles with fine brushes. They use a paint based on cobalt oxide that looks black when applied; only during the second firing in the kiln, at over 1,000 degrees, does it turn the deep, glowing blue that made Delft famous. Painters train for years before they may sign their work with their own initials.

Along the route you see the earlier stages too: liquid clay poured into plaster moulds, pieces dried and fired a first time, then dipped in a white glaze before painting. Information panels and the audio guide explain how to recognise authentic Delft Blue by the factory mark, the painter's initials and the year code on the base, useful knowledge before you buy souvenirs elsewhere in town.

The museum collection

The museum rooms display centuries of production, from simple seventeenth-century tiles with ships and children's games to elaborate pyramid-shaped tulip vases, which held single precious blooms when tulips were a luxury in the Dutch Republic. Later pieces show how the factory adapted to new styles, from Art Nouveau colours to modern designs created with contemporary designers.

Do not miss the large tile pictures, painted as murals from hundreds of individual tiles, and the pieces made for royal occasions and state visits. Allow about 1.5 hours to follow the audio tour and enjoy the collection without hurrying. The visit ends in the shop, where you can buy hand-painted pieces with the official mark or simpler printed souvenirs, paid separately.

Planning your visit: opening hours and getting there

Royal Delft opening hours are usually from 09:00 to 17:00 every day, with shorter hours on some public holidays and winter days, so check your date when booking. The factory stands at Rotterdamseweg 194, about a 20-minute walk from Markt square or a short bus or taxi ride from Delft station. Show your voucher at the ticket desk and collect your audio guide.

How to get to Delft: direct trains from Amsterdam take about an hour, and Rotterdam and The Hague are around 15 minutes away. A morning visit to the factory pairs perfectly with an afternoon on the canals: take a canal cruise from the Koornmarkt, see the Nieuwe Kerk and Oude Kerk, and finish at the Oostpoort, the old city gate. The best time to visit Royal Delft is early in the day, before tour groups arrive.