Festivals and Events, Rotterdam

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Rotterdam was europe's cultural capital in 2001 but it is still famous for its festivals. These includes museum nights, film festivals, but also some outdoor events like the zomercarnaval. Caribbean rythms, a street parade and exotic food make this event one of the most enjoyable in Rotterdam. The main events are the brassband battle (warming up) which is on an evening and the street parade on the following day. With over 600 000 visitors every year, this is the largest caribbean carnaval in Europe. Zomercarnaval takes place in the last days of July, check out their web page for the dates in 2010!

The Doelen is Dutch second best concert hall and, famous for its concerts (about 600 a year). The Doelen opened its doors at May 18th. 1966 for concerts and congresses. I loved the jazz concerts (I enjoyed the Lionel Hampton-, Sarah Vaughn-, Ray Charles- concert) and got surprised by Diana Ross who I saw later many times at the Ahoy! A very special evening I had with the Lou Reed Concert when one of my friends worked as his bodyguard. That was cool!

The Doelen is easy to be reached by train, tramway, metro, bus. When by car take into account the traffic congestion. There are several parking-garages like >>>
Parking Schouwburgplein - Parking Weena - Parking Plaza - Parking Engels / Groothandelsgebouw - Parking Stad Rotterdam - Parking Bijenkorf (until 23.00 hrs)

The Doelen and open from 10.00 until 18.00 hrs. (at friday until 19.00 hrs).

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Rotterdam is THE place to be in summer. Different kinds of events take place here, from Zomercarnaval (caribbean summer carnaval) to Wereldhavendagen (world harbour days) and several more. A quieter event are the summer Sundays – Zomer Zondagen. For five weeks, every Sunday small performances take place in the city park. Most times, these are music groups, but there are also other acts and activities for children. I had two music groups and some comedy: De Zwoelie Troelies. Remember “Barbie Girl”? This song and more summer hits from the past years were interpreted by three ladies dressep up as elderly women. For that, they use to play on trumpets, harmonicas and similar instruments. Nice idea, interesting sounds and really funny. Unfortunately, for somebody in heaven it was a little too funny and it started to rain shortly after the show…

This is the summer carnaval. Trucks with music and beautiful looking partying people on it will drive through the city centre. You can stand on the side and watch this moving party or walk along and party yourself. The city will be absolutely loaded then. The carnaval is free and usually in July or August.

During this weekend, the port of Rotterdam is opened to the public. You can see royal navy boats and check out the stalls that are set up. Businesses that work in the ports open their doors and there are spectacular demonstrations with helicopters and such. It's free to look around, and it's usually being held in August or September.

Dunya is a world stage festival on which you can see artists, talents, musicians, poets and more from all over the world. There are over 50 performances on 6 stages near the Euromast. You can also taste food from all over the world. The festival usually takes places in May or June. The festival is free.

Every last weekend of July, one million people visit Rotterdam to see the colorfull 'Summer Carnival' Parade.
More then 30 groups of different cultures (Caribean, South American, European etc.) are dancing trough the streets of Rotterdam. You have to see this!

The Fast Forward Dance Parade is based on the Love Parade In Berlin. Though many other cities have their copies of their own Love Parade, Rotterdam has probably the most succesfull version. In 2005 the 9th edition was kept and attracted 400,000 visitors.

The festival is kept every year on a saturday in August.

After the Parade, the party continues on a large terrain in the south part of the city. Fees are pretty expensive, and all clubs/bars have their own afterparties for usually a lot less.