The Hanseatic city of Deventer was the first stop of our river cruise with VIVA Cruises. The former, centuries-old Hanseatic city on the right bank of the IJssel attracts with a beautiful, historic old town and a lot of interesting alleys. It is one of the most idyllic small towns in the Netherlands.
Table of contents
Things to know about the Hanseatic city of Deventer
The Hanseatic city of Deventer was founded before the 8th century and is thus considered one of the oldest cities in the Netherlands. As early as the 9th century, it developed into an important trading centre with a lively cultural life. Today, about 101,000 inhabitants live in the Hanseatic city, whose economy is characterized by the printing and packaging industry. Products made of Deventer are, for example, tin cans and plastic cups.
Deventer seems to be an event hotspot in the Netherlands, as there are many festivities throughout the year that attract visitors from near and far. The biggest visitor magnets are the annual book market (after all, the largest in Europe), the Charles Dickens Festival and the international open-air theatre festival “Deventer Op Stelten”.
A recommended tour of the city can be downloaded here as a .pdf version.
The location of the city of Deventer in the Netherlands
The cruise port of our ship VIVA TIARA
With our ship VIVA TIARA we have docked on the city side directly at the Wilhelmina Bridge, so that it was a stone’s throw to the old town of Deventer. We had almost three hours to explore the city, because our layover time in Deventer was from 9.00 to 12.30 o’clock.
The landing stage of viva TIARA in Deventer
The main sights in Deventer
The former Hanseatic city of Deventer attracts with a beautiful, historic old town and lots of interesting alleys. Three buildings stand out in particular in the city: the old city scale on the central market square Brink, the Gothic Lebuinus church and the mountain church in the Bergkwartier. Since the city center is relatively compact, we could easily reach the most beautiful sights on our own and on foot.
The Weighing-House at the Market Square
On the Brink, the market square of Deventer, one building stands out in particular: the late Gothic Weighing-house “The Waal” from 1531, which was restored in 2002 and now contains the city museum. In earlier times, this was a public institution in which merchants were obliged to have their merchandise weighed since the Middle Ages. On the one hand, they wanted to prevent fraud, as there were not yet uniform dimensions at that time and on the other hand, a so-called scale money or weighing money could be collected. In addition, there is a beautiful fountain on the square, countless pavement cafés and numerous houses with pretty facades.
The St. Lebuinus Church
At the Grote Kerkhof is the St. Lebuinus Church , the main church of Deventer. It was one of the most important churches in the medieval diocese of Utrecht and today belongs to the Protestant Church in the Netherlands. When we wanted to visit the church in the early morning, we first stood in front of closed doors until we noticed on the basis of a small information note that the church does not open its gate until 11 o’clock. So we walked a bit through the nearby alleys and later returned to the church. The interior of the church was amazingly very sober and simple. Since the Lebuinuskirche is much more attractive from the outside.
The Shopping Streets & Alleys in the City Center
Around the market square and the Lebuinuskirche there are countless beautiful alleys,which we strolled along. Bars, cafés and small boutiques line up house after house and give the city a special flair. We particularly liked the fact that the shop windows and the areas in front of the shops are sometimes really lush and designed with great attention to detail.
The old district Bergkwartier
East of the market square we walked over the Bergstraat to the old district Bergkwartier. Here is the slightly elevated mountain church from the 12th century with its two characteristic towers. Today the church is used for exhibitions, conferences and concerts. Particularly worth seeing we found in the Bergkwartier still the Muntentoren, which housed the last mint of Deventer until 1708.
The historic Bergkwartier district traditionally hosts the Charles Dickens Festival in the run-up to Christmas, bringing to life more than 900 personalities from the English writer’s famous books: Scrooge, Oliver Twist, Mr. Pickwick, the Christmas Carol Singers, etc.
More Sights & Photo spots
The Hanseatic city of Deventer has many other historical but also modern sights, such as the oldest stone house in the Netherlands from the 12th century (Proosdij), the old and new town hall on the southeast side of the Grote Kerkhof, the Toy Museum, the Museum Geert Groote Huis and the Lordenshof.
We liked our city tour in the Hanseatic city of Deventer very much, even if the weather did not play along quite as well 😉
The city of Deventer in the Netherlands
A map with all the sights in Deventer
We have marked all important sights & photo spots of the Hanseatic city of Deventer on Google MyMaps.
Map with all sights in Deventer
All travel reports of our river cruise on the Rhine
For one week we were on the Rhine with VIVA TIARA from Düsseldorf and got to know some of the most beautiful places in the Netherlands. From the pretty harbor towns of Deventer and Kampen, we continued to Enkhuizen and Hoorn, where we crossed the largest lake in the Netherlands - the Ijsselmeer. From here, our ship took us to the two metropolises of Amsterdam and Rotterdam, on to Dordrecht and the world-famous windmills of Kinderdijk, and finally to the city of Nijmegen.
» VIVA Cruises - Our cruise ship VIVA TIARA» Deventer - Sights & Photo Spots of the Hanseatic City
» Kampen - Things to do in the former Hanseatic City
» Enkhuizen - Historic harbor town on the IJsselmeer
» Hoorn - Things to do in the historic town
» Amsterdam - The most beautiful photo spots & sights
» Rotterdam - The most beautiful sights & photo spots
» Dordrecht - Sights & our walking tour in the city
» Kinderdijk - The 19 windmills of Kinderdijk in Holland (UNESCO)
» Nijmegen - Sights of the oldest city in the Netherlands
» Düsseldorf - Sights & the most beautiful photo spots