We did a dark city walk!

You can explore a city with a city guide, you can explore a city with a walking app, but you can also see a city from a completely different angle with The Little Walk of Horrors. They offer 100% offline city walks that you can do entirely at your own pace. So you basically don’t even need your phone. But how does it actually work? We tried it out!

Different cities

On the website of The Little Walk of Horrors you can find an overview of the cities where they have a dark city walk. Now we are from Rijswijk ourselves, so we chose Delft to walk. Nice and close by and it’s also a nice city. But yes, on the other hand, we know Delft pretty well. So does the city still have secrets for us? We decided to take the gamble anyway and ordered Delft’s “Horrorwalk.”

Just in the mailbox

The next day we received a mysterious black box in the mailbox. After opening it, it turned out to contain more than just the route: namely, a canvas bag and some small, handy things. The route itself was in a sealed envelope. You know the kind: with one of those old-fashioned wax seals on it. That made us very curious! We knew from the website that the starting point was at the Market Square in Delft, so we decided to keep the envelope closed until we got there.

Booklet with loose directions

We chose a sunny day to go out. We walked the route during the day, but you can also choose to walk in the evening. However, some locations may be closed: you won’t enter buildings, but this walk passes a cozy courtyard, among others. The gate is closed after sunset so you won’t be able to take a look inside. But again: you decide the moment and the pace. Full of expectations, we opened the envelope on the square. Inside was a booklet full of beautiful photos and text about the locations. Separate from that was a clear route description. We didn’t need the phone, but if you don’t get there you can always type the address on Google Maps.

No scare effects or actors

Despite the fact that this is a Horror Walk, you don’t have to be overly brave for a city walk of The Little Walk of Horrors. There are no scary actors hiding in the bushes and no scare effects. You walk from location to location and read the story there. This is often a dark story, though: a tale of gory history or a ghost story. The website states that the walks are suitable for children ages 12 and up, but if you have a plucky 9-year-old who can walk 5 kilometers without a problem, it’s also fine. For the dark city walk of Delft, you may have to leave out the story of the torture of Balthazar Gerards, but the other stories are fine to do.

Discover the city in a different way

Even though we both knew Delft quite well, we still discovered new places. The stories were largely new to us anyway, but in addition to the city’s highlights, we also visited less common places. Super fun if you already know a city or are visiting it for the first time. Because you do the city walk completely at your own pace, you can feel free to have a cup of coffee in between, have lunch (like we did on the Doelenplein where the route passed) or even visit a museum. And that cute little store along the way? Just go and have a browse. That made it really fun: you can’t do that if you do a guided city walk.

Offline is also nice sometimes

Our lives are becoming more and more digital. That’s not bad at all, but being nice and offline once in a while isn’t bad either. Of course you do use your phone during your walk, even if it’s just to take pictures, but even if you leave it at home the walk is perfectly doable. At the Little Walk of Horrors they advise you to do a dark city walk with a maximum of 5 people. The reason is that then everyone can follow the stories well. The advantage is that you only need one city walk and you can share the cost if necessary. A dark city walk from The Little Walk of Horrors costs €29.50 excluding shipping, but you get a whole experience in return. We will definitely explore other cities this way too!

Would you like to discover the dark side of the city yourself after reading our experience blog? Then go to the website of The Little Walk of Horrors.

Photos: The Little Walk of Horrors