Fun things to do in Rotterdam

This map shows the city centre of Rotterdam. Streets with green fringes on the map are pedestrian areas. The numbers below correspond to the numbers on the map:

1. Central Station
2. Tourist Office (VVV/ANWB)
3. Stadhuis (city hall)
4. Beurstraverse a.k.a. "Koopgoot", which means "buying gutter" - Major shopping area
5. Lijnbaan - Major shopping area
6. Korte lijnbaan - Shopping area
7. Hoogstraat - Shopping area
8. Statue "the city without heart" by Zadkine. A man without a heart, representing the destruction of the city caused by the WWII bombings.
9. Bijenkorf department store
10. V&D department store
11. Schouwburgplein - Pathé cinemas, theater and going out
12. Holland Casino
13. Meent area - going out
14. Karel Doormanstraat - going out
15. Witte de Withstraat - going out
16. Nieuwe Binnenweg - going out
17. Stadhuisplein - going out

M= metro/subway station. The combined stations of Beurs and Churchillplein is the major hub in the subway network.

The so-called Scheepvaartkwartier and Westelijk Handelsterrein (both areas for eating/going out) lie south (underside) of this map, close to the river.

Following the Schiedamsedijk (just on the map) south you will end up at the Erasmusbridge. Across the bridge you will find the new Luxor theater as well as the so-called "Kop van Zuid" area where the famous Hotel New York is located.

Following the "Blaak" a bit further to the east (right) you will pass Blaak train and subway station and then have the "cubic houses" and the Oude Haven (old harbour) area with lots of terraces in summer on your right.

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The Laughinh Pope, smartshop in Rotterdam
(I censured the picture because of privacy of the people visiting )
Daily opened from 10 am in the morning.
For smart people who like some good stuff, friendly staff and reliable..

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Rotterdam’s main city park, sometimes called Euromast park, is one of the largest green islands in the city. OK, compared to Hyde Park it is rather small, but it has all things you would expect in a city park like flower gardens and fish ponds. This park is for relaxing, so it is fine to lay down on the lawn or for kids to play on it. However, playing football or barbecueing is not allowed in this park - although there’s a small barbecue zone in this park. For that, a visit to Vorsenpark (in the Northwest) or Kralingen (Northeast) may be the better options. A café is found on the northern side of the park and it is not uncommon to find some kind of cultural event going on in the park. Check out my tips about “Summer Sundays” and the Euromast for further information.

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It was the ashtrays ON the bar that caught my eye as I was wandering looking for somewhere comfortable to watch the Netherlands v Slovakia World Cup match. The Dutch smoking ban had been in place for a year and a half or so but I'd always found an odd refusnik here and there around the country and in my experience those were always the best bars - the only tourists you got in those were us "tobacco tourists".

The "Brown Bar" is a sort of Dutch tradition - a simple little owner-run one-room bar with a mostly regular trade, usually comprising a cross-section of society. I was about to write "where suits mix with overalls" but despite being a nice phrase that isn't actually true - very few Dutch people wear suits.

Cafe Visser is a perfect "Brown Bar" with a very much local custom. No frills just character and characters. With the football being on - note the small screen TV in the pic - there was a pleasant buzz amongst the drinking company and my bar stool gave me centre-stage amongst them.

The absolutely gorgeous barmaid (Dutch women have the best legs of any nation, definitely) was attentively serving the beers whilst keeping her keen eye on the game and during periods of relative inactivity kept a constant flow of excellent nibbly bits passed around.

The sausages, the kaas and a sort of omelettey tosti flowed, the beers torrented, cigarettes were chain-smoked and the knuckle-biting game was eventually won. Celebrations started with a round of beers on the house and when I offered to pay for the next round my suggestion was met with withering glances as another beer was set in front of me - "Hup Holland!"

Yep my sort of bar!

As I was writing this tip I found that the Dutch government has now made these sort of bars smoker-fiendly (with or without the "r") - Halleluja for common sense!!!

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Although Rotterdam was originally named due to its location on the River Rotte it is the River Maas that has contributed to the ascendancy of the city as a port. The original docks were built during the 14th century to allow seafaring vessels to transfer their cargoes onto craft plying their trade on the inland waterways of the Rhine and Maas.

The modern port of Rotterdam, the largest in Europe, has shifted its focus from the city to the North Sea coast and the old harbour now houses the Maritiem and the Haven museums. On my last visit I was too late (having gotten waylaid by the football and a very attractive barmaid) for a visit to either but the riverside has an interesting set of outdoor exhibits including several historic ships and dockland equipment and is well worth a wander even if the museums are closed.

And if you keep going towards the Erasmus bridge you'll also find a couple of interesting waterfront bars ;))

For tasters of the museums the websites are below:

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This is just something that I noticed which piqued my interest and so have done a little research.

The airship pictured is the Zeppelin NT, based at Friedrichshafen, Germany, and is operated by a company called Zeppelinvlucht.nl which offers various city and countryside tours at various locations around Benelux

If I remember correctly the original Zeppelins were an early 1900's innovation and were briefly popular as a mode of luxury transportation across the Atlantic in the 1930's.

However the Hindenburg disaster in 1937, when the airship burst into flames whilst landing at Lakehurst, put paid to the temporary popularity of airship travel. The Hindenburg catastrophe was actually quite avoidable as the explosion only happened due to the use of the highly-inflammable Hydrogen gas instead of the intended, inert, Helium which was subject to a US embargo at the time.

The modern Zeppelin operated by Zeppelinvlucht.nl since 2008 is of course Helium filled and the company offers unique sightseeing tours of Rotterdam in June and July. The Zeppelin leaves from Rotterdam airport and cruises over the city at a height of 300 metres. It can only accommodate 12 passengers at a time and so is quite expensive (about 300 Euros for a 60 minute trip) but certainly looks interesting.

When visiting the Netherlands,
you will find some of the most
unconventional are the cube
houses near the city centre of
Rotterdam in the south.
These houses were designed
by architect Blom in the 1980s.
He just tilted the conventional
house 45 degrees.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The houses all rest on pilons, have windows, and are all attached
one to the other. And perhaps the most amazing thing: people
actually live in them.

Since they were disturbed so often by curious passers by, one owner
decided to open a "show cube", which is furnished as a normal house.
Once inside, you get an idea how it is possible that one can live in such
a strangely shaped house ......

The Dutch lansdcape is unique in the world. It's geometrical, man-made, flat, with plenty of water and lush green.
Given it's temperate maritime weather, simmilar to the Brittish one, the Dutch urban parks are beautiful. In Rotterdam, the Kralingse Plas is a typical Dutch park with canals, some windmills, a huge lake in the middle and plenty of grass and trees.
It the summer one can lay in the park or in the lake beach - though the water is not that clean, or take a walk through it. We can find geese there. They are huge. For any misterious reason, in Holland,all the living beings tend to be bigger than elsewhere. Not only humans, also the seagulls, geese and dogs ae huge.