Deventer

Deventer traded up and down the IJssel when the river was the route between the German interior and the sea, and it kept its shape better than most towns of its size. The Bergkwartier, a rise of narrow streets and small brick houses above the old harbour, survives almost whole after a restoration campaign saved it from demolition. On the Brink, the long market square, the Waag is a fifteenth century stone weigh house with an open outside staircase. The Lebuinuskerk has a tower to climb and a crypt beneath the choir. On the first Sunday of August the whole centre turns into an open air book market with stalls down every street.

What you actually see

• The Bergkwartier - the restored medieval quarter on the rise above the river.
• The Waag on the Brink - the fifteenth century weigh house with its open outside staircase.
• The Lebuinuskerk - the tower climb and the crypt below the choir.
• The IJssel waterfront - the quay, the small ferry across, and the floodplain on the far bank.

When to go

May to September for the riverside and the terraces on the Brink. The first Sunday in August is the book market, which fills every street and calls for patience and early trains. December brings a costumed Dickens festival in the Bergkwartier, popular and extremely crowded. Ordinary weekends are calm and the town is easy to walk.

Honest expectations

Outside its festivals Deventer is a quiet provincial town, and visitors expecting a busy destination find shops shutting early and empty evenings. The book market and the December festival are both so crowded that moving through the centre becomes slow work. The museums are small. The IJssel is grey and industrial in stretches.

Nearby

Zutphen, another Hanseatic town on the same river, is about fifteen minutes away by train.