How to Attend the World’s Largest Dickens Festival in Deventer, Netherlands
Did you know that the worldโs largest Dickens festival is not in the UK but in the Netherlands?
The Deventer Dickens Festival has been an annual tradition for this small Dutch town for the last 30+ years, drawing over 100,000 visitors. Itโs a massive undertaking, with the entire town coming together to put on this free, authentic Dickens village for Christmas.
I had the pleasure of attending the Deventer Dickens Festijn in 2023, and I can confirm it is a truly one-of-a-kind event. And since literary travel is kind of my whole specialty, I rather know what I’m talking about.
In this post, Iโll tell you all about the Deventer Dickens Festival, including what you can expect from a visit, how to plan your time, and where to stay nearby. Iโll tell you my firsthand experience as an English speaker attending the event so you can decide if this is a festival you want to attend this or any future December.
Most importantly, I’ll tell you all the things I wish I’d known before attending, and what I’m going to do differently if I make it there this year.
Tip: The 2024 Deventer Dickens festival will take place from December 14th-15th.
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What is the Dickens Festijn?: An Overview
The annual Deventer Dickens festival is not your average holiday market with twinkling lights and generic Christmas tunes. Nope, this is a full-blown immersion into the world of Charles Dickens, and they take their historical accuracy seriously.
For one weekend each December, the entire historic Bergkwartier district of Deventer, Netherlands transforms into a scene straight out of Victorian England โ cobblestone streets and period-perfect shops with costumed vendors hawking their wares.
But the real magic of the Deventer Dickens Festijn comes from the 950+ local volunteers who bring Dickens’ beloved characters to life. As you wander the streets of the festival, youโll spot Faginโs thieving orphans, Oliver Twist, Ebenezer Scrooge, Tiny Tim, Miss Havisham, and even the ghost of Jacob Marley strolling the streets, interacting with visitors, and performing scenes from the books all around you as street theater.
As you walk the streets, popping into the local shops that have all transformed into Victorian era stores, youโll also be serenaded by choirs of Victorian carol singers. At multiple points in the day, a parade goes through the center of the street to deliver Queen Victoria in her palanquin, piped in by a band of Scottish bagpipers.
Related: Did you know that Charles Dickens actually fell in love with Queen Victoria but then refused to meet her? Read more about it and more in these surprising Charles Dickens facts, or watch my Youtube video on it.
Youโll also get to enjoy some classic English food at the festival, including mince pies, sausage rolls, popcorn, and hot drinks as well as other English treats for sale. It’s an entirely immersive Dickensian Christmas festival honoring the Man Who Invented Christmas (sort of).
A Quick History of the Festival
The Deventer Dickens festival first started back in 1991, all thanks to a shopkeeper named Emmy Strik who had a love for all things English. Her father used to visit England frequently because he loved the works of Charles Dickens.
In the early 90s, Deventer wanted to revitalize its downtown and started allowing Sunday trade. Strik was a local shopkeeper and had the idea to turn the Sunday trade into a rather fancy dress party. From there, it snowballed into a Dickens-themed event, growing into the full-blown festival people travel from all over to attend today.
To research how to conduct such a feat, the festival masterminds even attended the world famous Rochester Dickens Festival to get inspiration. They came away deciding that their festival would focus on authenticity โ they didnโt want Victorian costumes made out of modern fabrics, nor did they want a mixture of Dickens with Santa Claus and more modern Christmas elements.
So at the Deventer festival, all 1,000 or so local volunteers dress in period costumes that are entirely accurate to Dickensโ time. They arenโt allowed to wear modern shoes, watches, or even carry mobile phones. They don’t want to allow anything that will take you out of the feel of being in Victorian England.
Interestingly, there is no actual connection between the town of Deventer and Dickens. This is purely a fan festival grown out of the passion of one family that inspired an entire town.
All of this has made the Deventer Dickens Festival arguably the largest Dickens festival in the world, attracting over 125,000 visitors each year, according to their official website (I have a hunch that last year’s drew an even larger crowd, however). It’s a testament both to the enduring power of Dickens’ stories and the incredible community spirit of Deventer.
Related: Another Dickensian place to celebrate Christmas is the Charles Dickens House Museum in London, which puts on a number of festive events throughout December.
What to Expect at the Deventer Dickens Festival
Think you might want to check out the Deventer Dickens Festijn for yourself? Letโs talk about what you can expect if you do, because Iโll tell you, thereโs not that much information out there, and a lot of things took me by surprise.
The Queue
Keep in mind that the Dickens Festival attracts over 100,000 visitors, but the festival only runs over a single weekend. Thatโs a lot of people visiting over just two days! Because the historic streets are very narrow, they can only let in a certain number of people at a time so it doesnโt become overcrowded. That means that everyone else is lining up to enter.
When I attended the festival in 2023, I drove in and was able to find some parking, though at a distance. Then, my family and I got in line before the festival was advertised to begin at 11:00 am. Apparently, tens of thousands of other attendees were all early birds, because we were actually turned away from even entering the end of the line.
They encouraged us and hundreds of other attendees to leave and return in an hour to enter the queue. Like many others, we opted to stay in the line to get in the official line (oh brother!) rather than leaving and coming back, and Iโm glad we did, because they did let us enter the official queue before an hour was up.
Also, itโs less of a queue and more of a herding of people like cattle through an enclosed area. It was insanely crowded with zero personal space, and I had to keep body blocking my children from getting run over by eager senior citizens pushing their way in front. Let me tell you, this โlineโ was completely overwhelming, and it took us literally 3 hours to get to the front of it and enter the festival.
Note that on the festival website, they advise wait times โup to 1.5 hours.โ Our wait time was literally double that, and we nearly gave up and left, because we were all so exhausted.
They do try to make the queue reasonably entertaining, with some of the volunteer performers regularly walking along the queue and interacting with people and each other. It at least gave people a taste of what we were all waiting for.
Related: Just a couple of hours away is The Hague, famous for tulips, but did you know there are some great bookstores in the Hague? Check out a local’s guide to the best spots.
Once you get inside
Let me tell you, we were all in a pretty bad mood after three hours of pushing and shoving in a confined space to get to the festival, and I seriously doubted if it was all worth it. But once we were admitted into the narrow cobblestone streets of the festival, the crowds dissipated somewhat (due to the restricted entry numbers), and we were blown away by the actual festival itself.
Dickensian characters wander the streets and frequently perform scenes from Dickensโ many books (though itโs all in Dutch, of course). They interact with the festival attendees (many of them switched to English for us). My son had his hat playfully stolen by Fagin and the Artful Dodger, and we got heckled by another group of Dickensian orphans when taking their photos (all in good fun).
At regular intervals, a bell would toll, the streets would be filled with smoke, and youโd see the ghost of Jacob Marley emerge from an upper window above the streets, announcing the arrival of the three ghosts. Later on, you could see Marley wandering the streets, dragging his chains behind him and staring down anyone who dared make eye contact with him.
All the shops are decked out like Victorian England Christmas shops, many of them selling Dickens themed merchandise, with all the shop workers also in costume.
We spotted Queen Victoria in a shop window, and she waved regally at us. We saw her again during the parade toward the end of the day, when Scottish bagpipers led the way, followed by Dickens characters and finally the Queen herself.
Overall, we ended up spending several hours within the festival itself, basically until it closed down in the evening at 5 pm.
I can confidently say that the Deventer Dickens Festijn is a feast for all the senses, with all the sounds, smells, and sights of Victorian England.
Related: Looking for some seasonal reads to ring in the holidays? Check out my list of Christmas books for adults to read this year.
Food and Drink
Thankfully, there are lots of stalls selling food and drinks for you once you get inside the festival (there were none in the queue). The food aims to mimic traditional seasonal English fare, including mince pies, sausage rolls, and custard rolls. Hot drinks can also be purchased, including hot chocolate and glรผhwein.
You’ll also be able to purchase a range of sweets and snacks like popcorn, doughnuts, candy apples, and more.
A note on the food: I thought the prices were very reasonable, though by the time we made it into the festival, many stalls had actually already sold out! So bear that in mind. We couldnโt get mince pies at most stalls.
The Dickens Kabinet
Inside the festival, you can pay a couple of euros to go inside a Dickens themed museum called the Dickens Kabinet. This museum operates in Deventer year-round and sprung out of the festival itself. The family who began the Festijn also began collecting Dickens memorabilia and eventually put it on display in this small museum.
Inside, youโll find a collection of collectible plates, mugs, tea pots, figurines, and just about every type of Dickens inspired merchandise thatโs ever been created. Plus, you can see old editions of Dickensโ books, a mannequin of Dickens in his study, and a room featuring Miss Havisham, rotting away in her wedding dress amongst her cobweb-covered wedding banquet.
Itโs a really unique collection and worth the couple of euros entry fee to check it out while youโre here.
Related: Check out my review of one of the many audiobook versions of A Christmas Carol and consider adding that to your holiday traditions.
Tips for Visiting
As I said, my first experience attending the Deventer Dickens festival was pretty overwhelming, and thereโs a lot of things I would do differently. So learn from my experience and keep in mind these practical tips to make your visit successful:
- Arrive much earlier than you think youโll need to. Donโt roll up at the same time the festival opens, or youโll be behind tens of thousands of other people. Iโd advise showing up at least an hour before the festival start time.
- Plan to spend hours in line โ bring your own water and snacks, and dress warm enough that youโll be okay outside in December for an entire day. If you’re traveling with kids, bring some form of entertainment to keep them happy during the long wait.
- Go ahead and interact with as many characters as you can, even if you donโt speak Dutch. They love interacting with the festival attendees, and some will switch to English.
- Bring cash (euros), as not all shops and food stalls accept card payments.
- This is really an all-day affair, so itโs a good idea to bring a portable phone charger in case your battery starts running low.
Related: Did you know that the ghost of Charles Dickens supposedly haunts a Boston Hotel? Read about why.
Where to Stay
The nearby Stayokay Gorssel – Deventer is an upscale guesthouse hostel not too far from the festival. My family was very happy with our stay there on the festival weekend. You can rent out an entire room if you’re going as a family, or a bunk or private room if you’re traveling alone. It’s a cute, clean property, and many of the performers were also staying there last year โ specifically, the bagpiping band. Plus, breakfast is included in your stay.
As you look for somewhere to stay, I recommend checking for lodging on Hotels.com. I almost always book my accommodations through Hotels.com, because you can earn rewards for every night you stay without having to choose only one hotel chain to be loyal to. You can even book locally owned apart hotels and bed and breakfasts.
If you’re looking for privately owned vacation rentals, I recommend checking VRBO. I’ve personally had much better experiences with their owners and rentals than I have with their primary competitor.
Hopefully this helps you with everything you need to know to visit the Deventer Dickens Festival this year or in the future. Don’t forget to pin this post for later!
