Things to Do in Zutphen, Deventer and Doesburg: Hanseatic Trip

Zutphen, Deventer and Doesburg are three Hanseatic towns on the IJssel in the eastern Netherlands, and all three fit into a long weekend by car. Zutphen has the chained library and the whisper boats, Deventer has the tower climb and Europe’s largest book market, and Doesburg has the oldest working café in the country. None of the three is more than 40 minutes from the other two.

I spent three days in them at the invitation of the Dutch tourist board, walking each town with a local guide and eating my way round the squares. What follows is what is actually worth your time in each, with addresses, and with the places that have since closed marked as closed.

What is a Hanseatic city?

A Hanseatic city is a town that belonged to the Hanse, the medieval league of merchants and trading towns that controlled commerce across northern Europe. The Hanse existed to protect and promote trade, and its members ran from Scandinavia and Germany through the Low Countries to Poland, with trading posts as far as Portugal and Spain.

Hanseatic towns were rich, and the money bought things you can still see: stone merchant houses, weigh houses, guild halls, printing presses and churches out of scale with the population. The trading system is long gone and the title is not. The Netherlands has more than 20 Hanseatic towns, and nine of them are promoted together as the Hanzesteden: Kampen, Elburg, Harderwijk, Zwolle, Hattem, Hasselt, Deventer, Doesburg and Zutphen.

Things to do in Zutphen

Zutphen is the best of the three for wandering, and it is small enough to walk end to end in 20 minutes and rich enough to fill a day doing it. The 10 things below are ordered by how much of the town each one shows you.

1. See the chained library at St Walburgis Church

St Walburgis Church holds the Librije, a 16th-century chained library that is one of only a handful left in Europe with its books still chained to the desks. The church itself is bright and plainly decorated with a painted ceiling worth sitting under for ten minutes, and it hosts touring exhibitions through the year, so check what is on before you go rather than after.

Entry to an exhibition was €5.00 (about $5.80, £4.30) when I visited, and prices change with the programme. Kerkhof 3, Zutphen.

2. Take a whisper boat round the canals

The Fluisterboten, or whisper boats, are electric launches that run the Zutphen canals for a little over an hour with a guide, and they are the town’s most popular activity. They operate from 1 April to 31 October at set times through the day.

Buy a ticket at the small hut about 50 m (55 yd) from the departure point, or reserve your seat online at fluisterboot-zutphen.nl. Rijkenhage 1, Zutphen.

3. Visit the library inside a church

The Broederenkerk is a plain church from the outside and a public library on the inside, and it is the thing in Zutphen nobody tells you about. A follower on our Facebook page tipped me off, and I would have walked straight past it.

It is small and modern, with wifi, desk space and power, and every seating area is tucked behind a bookcase or into a niche so you can work without being looked at. You do not need to be a member to walk in during opening hours, and there is a coffee and reading corner. Broederenkerkplein 2, Zutphen.

4. Have lunch at the oldest People’s House in the Netherlands

Het Volkshuis was founded in 1898 by the People’s Organisation Against the Abuse of Alcohol, and to this day it serves no alcohol at all. That is not a gimmick: it is the reason the place exists and the reason it still works.

What it does serve is tea, coffee, cold drinks, sandwiches, eggs and snacks at low prices, and since 1998 it has trained and employed people who would struggle to find work elsewhere. You can go in to read a newspaper or warm up by the stove without ordering anything. It opens daily except Monday, roughly 9am to 5pm. Houtmarkt, Zutphen.

5. Walk the Martinetsingel for the skyline

The Martinetsingel gives you Zutphen’s skyline with St Walburgis in it, and it is a minute from the church. Turn left along it and you reach the Drogenaptoren, a surviving medieval gate tower, and the Drogenapsteeg, a narrow alley beside it.

On the other side of the Martinetsingel is the Vispoorthaven, a small harbour of pleasure boats. The whole loop takes 20 minutes.

6. Have coffee and cake at Van Rossum’s Koffie

Van Rossum’s Koffie is a small roastery and coffee bar in the shopping streets, and it imports its beans directly from growers and roasts them on site. There are a few tables outside and a counter of cakes, some made in house and some from bakeries in the region.

I had an Earl Grey and a slice of arretjescake, the Dutch fridge cake of broken biscuit set in dark chocolate that translates as “hedgehog slice”. It opens Tuesday to Saturday. Turfstraat 10, Zutphen.

7. Shop the old streets

Zutphen’s shopping is almost all independent, and five streets carry most of it. The Groenmarkt and Houtmarkt have the restaurants and cafés with the big terraces, the Lange Hofstraat has local shops and some good side streets, the Barlheze is worth walking purely for the houses, and the Laarstraat, Beukerstraat, Turfstraat and Korte Hofstraat are the rest of the retail.

Zutphen runs a Shop Sunday on the last Sunday of every month, when shops open from midday to 5pm and the centre makes an event of it.

8. Drink in the Oude Bornhof courtyard

The Oude Bornhof is a 14th-century almshouse courtyard in the middle of Zutphen, and Genietcafé has the terrace in it. Go and look at the courtyard whether or not you sit down: it is the quietest corner of a town that is already unhurried, and the buildings around it are national monuments.

The café’s opening hours are short, roughly 11am to 5pm Tuesday to Saturday plus shopping Sundays, so it is a daytime stop rather than an evening one. Oude Bornhof, Zutphen.

9. Have dinner at Chapoo

Chapoo is a large, bright restaurant on the corner of two shopping streets with an outdoor terrace, and it runs all day from coffee in the morning through lunch and into dinner from midday. I had a bowl of cold sushi rice with teriyaki scampi, avocado and salad, and it came with extra salad on the side without being asked.

It is the easiest place in Zutphen to eat well without booking. Turfstraat 7, Zutphen.

10. See the Old IJssel Bridge lit up

The Oude IJsselbrug is floodlit after dark and gives you the town from across the water. I did not manage it: I was too tired to wait for nightfall, which is what happens when you walk a Hanseatic town properly. It is first on the list next time.

Where to stay in Zutphen

I stayed at the Hampshire Hotel ‘s Gravenhof Zutphen, in a room with a seating area, a flatscreen television and a modern bathroom. The hotel has its own bistro and a tapas restaurant, though I only tried the breakfast buffet, which had proper coffee machines, decent tea, oatmeal, yoghurt, fruit and eggs.

Its position is the argument for it: ‘s Gravenhof is the square beside St Walburgis, so the church, the Martinetsingel and the Drogenaptoren are all within two minutes. Check prices and availability at ‘s Gravenhof.

Things to do in Deventer

Deventer is the largest of the three and the one with a calendar. Deventer op Stelten fills the streets with outdoor theatre in summer, the Dickens Festijn turns the Bergkwartier Victorian in December, and the first Sunday in August brings Europe’s largest book market. The 11 things below work whether or not anything is on.

1. Climb the Lebuïnus Church tower

The Lebuïnus Church tower is the climb that orients the whole town, and it is 220 steps up. From the top you see the IJssel, the ferry crossing, the Brink and the roofs of the Bergkwartier laid out below you.

Entry to the church itself is free except during special events; the tower costs a few euros with a reduction for children, and the ticket desk closes half an hour before the church does. Opening hours run roughly 11am to 5pm on weekdays and Saturdays and midday to 4pm on Sundays, with exceptions on public holidays, so check before you set out. Grote Kerkhof 38, Deventer.

2. Walk the Bergkwartier

The Bergkwartier, the “mountain quarter”, is where Deventer’s merchants lived, and it is the best-preserved part of the town. The name is a Dutch joke: the ground is very slightly not flat. Most of the houses are protected monuments and many carry a plaque on the facade explaining what they were.

The route is Roggestraat, then the Bergkerk, then Bergstraat, Maansteeg, Kerksteeg, Menstraat and Rijkmanstraat. Allow an hour and read the plaques.

3. Go on a guided city walk

A guided walk first, then the town on your own, is the right order in Deventer, because almost nothing is labelled and the street pattern only makes sense once someone explains the walls. The local tourism board runs the walks, and a guide will cover how Deventer became a Hanseatic town, why the houses look the way they do and where the defences ran.

Details are on Deventer’s own tourism site.

4. Try Deventer koek

Deventer koek is the town’s own cake, close to gingerbread in texture and a protected name, made by the Bussink bakery, which is still in Deventer and is now part of the Continental Bakeries group. It has been made here since the Middle Ages.

Goesting on the Brink is a good place to try it with a coffee, on a large terrace facing the square, and it does lunch, dinner and snacks as well. Brink 15, Deventer.

5. Have breakfast at Eigenwijs

Eigenwijs is an all-day breakfast bistro with an open kitchen, seating on two floors and a big terrace on the Brink. The menu runs to eggs done every way, sandwiches, salads, soups, toasts and sweet things.

I had a poké bowl with yoghurt, nuts, fruit and oatmeal that was large enough to skip lunch after. The coffee is good and comes in the bistro’s own cups. Brink 83, Deventer.

6. Visit De Waag

De Waag is Deventer’s weigh house and one of its most important buildings, dating from the first half of the 16th century. It is where merchants met, goods were weighed and money changed hands, and it now holds the town’s historical museum.

It closes on Mondays, which I found out by turning up on one. Brink 56, Deventer.

7. Find the fingerprints at the city hall

Deventer’s city hall has a wall of fingerprints on the outside of its newest wing, and they belong to real residents: a random selection of people living in Deventer were invited to have their prints taken and cast into the facade. Around 100,000 people live in the municipality.

Walk into the inner courtyard as well, which is open to anyone and holds older buildings you would never guess were there from the street. Grote Kerkhof 1, Deventer.

8. Shop the small streets

Deventer has more independent shops than chains, which is unusual for a Dutch town of its size. The Walstraat, Kleine Ovenstraat, Grote Ovenstraat and Engestraat are the ones to walk; the Smedenstraat has the chains.

Shops here may open on Sunday afternoons and not all of them do, except on the first Sunday of the month, which is Shop Sunday.

9. Look for books

Deventer has been a book town since 1477, when printing started here, and it still has publishers, printers and a run of antiquarian and second-hand bookshops. The first Sunday of August brings the Deventer Boekenmarkt, the largest book market in Europe, which fills the entire town centre.

Book accommodation for that weekend months out, not weeks.

10. Take the ferry across the IJssel

The little ferry from the Welle across the IJssel to the Worp is the cheapest view of Deventer there is, and the Worp side has free parking, which makes it a useful way to arrive as well as a thing to do. From the water you get the tower and the whole waterfront in one line.

Fares are low and the timetable is seasonal, so check pontjedeventer.nl for current times and prices. Bolwerksweg 1, Deventer.

11. Lunch at De 7e Hemel

Café de 7e Hemel, “seventh heaven”, is an old café directly opposite the Lebuïnus Church, and it does a short, plainly Dutch lunch: toasties, eggs and kroketten. The menu is limited and that is the point.

Pair it with the tower climb, since they are 30 seconds apart. Grote Kerkhof 28, Deventer.

Hollands Glorie on the Brink has closed. It was the best meal I had on this trip, an unlimited small-plates concept where you ordered two dishes a round off a list of more than 50, and it is gone: the address now houses a different business. If you are working from an older guide to Deventer, that is why you cannot find it.

Where to stay in Deventer

I stayed at B&B In het Bergkwartier, in the historic quarter, which is a whole apartment rather than a room: living room, bedroom, bathroom, separate toilet and a full kitchen, with free wifi and free garage parking. Its owner had a breakfast platter waiting because she had worked out that my 9am breakfast appointment was later than I would be hungry.

Staying inside the Bergkwartier is the thing to aim for in Deventer whichever property you pick, because the monument streets are the reason to come and being able to walk out into them at 7am is worth more than a bigger room. Menstraat, Deventer.

Things to do in Doesburg

Doesburg is the smallest of the three and the friendliest, small enough that people start conversations with you in the street. The 7 things below fill an easy day.

1. Have coffee and cake in the oldest café in the Netherlands

Stadsbierhuys De Waag has served food and drink continuously since 1478, which makes it the oldest working hospitality business in the Netherlands. The current owner has been uncovering original features that were boarded over across the centuries, and the building is in better condition than it has been in decades.

Wander beyond the main room unless a space is booked for a private event. The hallway has an old menu with prices in guilders, the excavated cellar seats people under the original brick arches, and a small room upstairs looks down into the café. The slices of apple cake are enormous. Koepoortstraat 2-4, Doesburg.

2. Go on a guided walk

An hour-long guided walk is the best introduction to Doesburg, because the town is small enough that a guide can cover it properly rather than sampling it. Mine had lived in Doesburg her whole life, which meant local detail alongside the dates.

3. Climb the Martinikerk tower

The Martinikerk tower gives you Doesburg from above, and like Deventer’s it is 220 steps. Unlike Deventer’s, you can only climb it at set times on set days, and those times are seasonal, clustering around Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays in the school holidays.

Tickets come from the VVV tourist office at Gasthuisstraat 13, which is also where the guided climb starts. Groups of six or more can book a private climb. Check the current schedule with the VVV before you plan an afternoon around it.

4. Have lunch at Het Arsenaal 1309

Het Arsenaal 1309 was a convent from the 15th to the 18th century, then an arsenal for 200 years, then housing for poor families, then an antique dealer’s, and it was close to collapse before a buyer restored it as a public building. It now holds a grand café, a society, a whisky shop, a photo studio, a dance school, a toy shop, exhibition spaces, a wine shop and a distillery.

A few tables sit out front and the garden behind is better: more space and more shelter. I had the salad with the fish of the day, smoked mackerel. Kloosterstraat 15, Doesburg.

5. Visit the mustard factory

The Doesburgsche Mosterdfabriek is a working 19th-century mustard factory and museum, and mustard-making was once a real Doesburg industry. It is small, it smells like mustard, and it sells what it makes. Boekholtstraat 2, Doesburg.

6. Walk the IJssel

Park free at the Koepoortwal car park and walk the Burgemeester Flugi van Aspermontlaan along the Bleekersgracht canal to the Burg, the path that runs directly beside the IJssel. It is 20 minutes and it gives you the river, the town wall line and the bridges.

IJsselkade, Doesburg.

7. Sit in the communal herb garden

Doesburg’s herb garden was created in 1993 when the town let a group of residents turn a piece of grass into a garden for everyone. You cannot pick anything, and you can walk in freely and sit on one of the benches. Paardenmarkt, Doesburg.

Where to stay in Doesburg

I did not stay overnight in Doesburg. B&B Hartesteijn is in the centre with free wifi, breakfast included, a seating area in every room, bicycle hire and its own restaurant on site, which matters in a town where the kitchens close early. Check prices and availability at B&B Hartesteijn.

How to visit all three

The three towns sit in a line along the IJssel: Deventer in Overijssel at the north end, Zutphen in Gelderland in the middle, Doesburg in Gelderland at the south end. Deventer to Zutphen is about 25 km (15.5 mi), Zutphen to Doesburg about 20 km (12.4 mi).

Deventer and Zutphen are both on the national rail network with frequent direct trains from Arnhem, Zwolle and Amsterdam, and Zutphen to Deventer takes about 15 minutes. Doesburg has no station, so it is the one that needs a bus from Zutphen, Arnhem or Doetinchem, or a car. You can compare Dutch train and coach fares across operators in one search.

A car makes the three-town loop easy and each town has paid parking on the edge of its centre, with the exception of Doesburg’s free Koepoortwal and Deventer’s free parking on the Worp side of the ferry. If you are flying in, compare rental car rates from Amsterdam or Eindhoven once your dates are fixed.

Hanseatic towns FAQ

What are the best things to do in Zutphen?

The Librije chained library at St Walburgis Church, a whisper boat trip round the canals, the library inside the Broederenkerk, lunch at the alcohol-free Het Volkshuis and the Martinetsingel walk for the skyline are the five that show you most of Zutphen. The town is small enough to do all of them in a day.

How many days do you need for Deventer, Zutphen and Doesburg?

Three days covers all three properly, one per town, which is what this trip was. Two days works if you pair Deventer with Zutphen and give Doesburg a half day, since Doesburg is much the smallest.

Is Zutphen or Deventer better to visit?

Zutphen is better for wandering and Deventer is better for events and for the view from the tower. Zutphen is smaller, quieter and has the chained library and the whisper boats; Deventer has the book market, the Dickens festival, the outdoor-theatre festival and more restaurants.

What is Deventer koek?

Deventer koek is a protected-name spiced cake from Deventer, closer to gingerbread than to a sponge, made by the Bussink bakery in the town. It is sold across the Netherlands and it is best eaten sliced with butter and a coffee where it is made.

Which is the oldest café in the Netherlands?

Stadsbierhuys De Waag in Doesburg has served food and drink continuously since 1478 and is the oldest working hospitality business in the Netherlands. It stands at Koepoortstraat 2-4, and its excavated cellar and original brick arches are open to anyone who walks through.

Can you visit the three towns by train?

Deventer and Zutphen are both on the national rail network and are 15 minutes apart by direct train. Doesburg has no railway station and is reached by bus from Zutphen, Arnhem or Doetinchem, or by car, which is why a car makes the three-town loop considerably easier.

WonderfulWanderings Pro Tips

The 5 tips below come from three days in the three towns and from re-checking every venue and opening time in 2026.

1. De Waag in Deventer closes on Mondays. I turned up on a Monday and found the museum shut, which cost me the one indoor sight in Deventer I most wanted. The rest of the Brink carries on regardless, so a Monday is a walking day here rather than a museum day.
2. Doesburg’s tower is not a walk-up climb. The Martinikerk tower opens at set times on set days, clustering around school holidays, and the tickets and the guide both come from the VVV at Gasthuisstraat 13. Deventer’s Lebuïnus tower, the same 220 steps, opens with the church.
3. Book Deventer months ahead for the first Sunday in August. The Deventer Boekenmarkt is the largest book market in Europe and it fills the whole centre, which means it fills every bed for miles.
4. Het Volkshuis in Zutphen serves no alcohol, and has not since 1898. It was founded by an anti-alcohol organisation and the rule has never been relaxed. You can also sit inside reading a newspaper without ordering anything, which is the point of the place.
5. Whisper boats only run 1 April to 31 October. Outside that window the canals are just canals, and Zutphen becomes a walking town. Book online rather than queueing at the hut on a summer weekend.

About the author. This guide is written and maintained by the Wonderful Wanderings editorial team. Wonderful Wanderings was founded in 2012 by Sofie Couwenbergh, and the first-hand notes on Zutphen, Deventer and Doesburg come from the three days she spent walking all three towns with local guides. That trip was made as a guest of Visit Holland, the Dutch tourist board; the opinions and the route are her own. The team covers the Netherlands for independent travellers, including the hotels, cafés, boat trips and tower climbs worth booking, and updates this page when venues close, prices change and seasons shift.