blackbird78

Hi there,
I'll be traveling to the Netherlands next month, to Rotterdam to be more specific for a weekend. I've never been anywhere to the Netherlands other then Amsterdam which was an unforgettable trip, but this time I would like to see more of the country.

I'm thinking about staying in Rotterdam, hoping to enjoy good food, visit museums and admire the architecture. Is there anything else you can recommend me doing to make my trip unforgettable? I'll be traveling with my boyfriend so it would be great if I could surprise him with something fun.

Thanks in advance for all your tips!

bvlenci

I used to live in Rotterdam. The most fun thing you can do there is get on a train for Delft. The old part of Rotterdam, Delfshaven, used to be attractive, but the last time I was there, it seemed to have gone downhill. Delfshaven is where people in the middle ages used to get on a boat for Delft.

Southam

http://www.fodors.com/world/europe/n...tad/rotterdam/
This list of attractions includes links to museums etc.
Rotterdam's harbour is one of the world's biggest, both in size and shipments. Tour boats operate daily. The maritime museum is moderately interesting and the old boats tied up beside it will keep a gearhead happy.
Much of the centre was levelled by WWII bombardment and has served as a workshop for experimental architecture ever since. The old section which survived has gone the boutique route but remains a pleasant stroll. A good place for lunch in that neighbourhood is the Pelgrim brewpub, beside the church which is said to have been the departure point for pilgrims who sailed to England and then America. Aelbrechtskolk 12; there are photos at http://www.pelgrimbier.nl/

hetismij2

There are some excellent museums in Rotterdam: http://www.boijmans.nl/en/
http://www.wereldmuseum.nl/en/home.html
http://www.kunsthal.nl/en-2-Kunsthal-Rotterdam.html
There is also teh DUtch photo museum.
Blijdorp is a wonderful zoo.
The Euromast and a Spido trip around the harbour maybe?
Splashtours looks fun, though I haven't been; www.splashtours.nl/en/

A tour of de Kuip (Feyenoord's stadium).

For architecture there are the cube houses, the aforementioned Kunsthal, the Erasmus bridge, the city hall (one of the few surviving old buildings in the city.

It is a great shopping city.

From Rotterdam you could go to Kinderdijk, Den Haag, Delft, the beach, hire bikes and ride along the river.

Oh and the old SS Rotterdam http://ssrotterdam.nl/en/ might be worth a look, or even as a place to stay.

cocomoco

You've already received a lot of great tips. I happened to have done a Vespa tour to Kinderdijk and the area around it. The company is called Holland Vespa Tours: http://www.hollandvespatours.nl

They have created all kinds for routes from Rotterdam to Delft, Gouda and Kinderdijk and programmed it all in a navigation. So you will be touring around all by yourselves. If you or your boyfriend aren't afraid to jump on a Vespa then this is a fun thing to do.

Make sure you have some dinner in 'de Ballentent'. When we were there guests started singing. Great experience and great meatballs ;-) Have fun! You're going to enjoy Rotterdam.

blackbird78

Thanks guys for all the wonderful information. I think it will be tricky to choose what to do!!?? I'm going to check out the links provided and will definitely pay a visit to the Pelgrim brewpub, one of the museums and if I have time I might squeeze a visit to the Kuip.

The Vespa tours sounds like loads of fun. Will have a look into that as well, especially if I can see some windmills. Always wanted to see more of the country!

Thanks again!

PalenQ

for Kinderdijk, the largest grouping of old behemoth Dutch windmills in one place you can also take a boat from Rotterdam's Centrum to Krimpel a/d Ijsel (sp?) and either walk or bike from there - rent a bike in Rotterdam and take it on the boat and ride thru the awesome windmill complex!

Now that should be fun and a treat for him and you!

https://www.google.com/search?q=kind...=1600&bih=1075

outwest

If you like modern architecture you should visit the Sonneveld House--it has a gread audio guide tour and was the most enjoyable thing we did on our weekend in Rotterdam.

PalenQ

Fun - some folks would call a visit to one of rotterdam's plethora of coffee shops, where cannabis products are sold over the counter - to smoke or eat

https://www.google.com/search?q=rott...=1600&bih=1075

If not an imbiber still fun to look in and see these world-famous places you'll find all over Holland.

IMDonehere

We are planning on a day trip to Rotterdam from Amsterdam in two weeks. The modern architecture interests us, especially juxtaposed to the other architectural styles of The Netherlands and Belgium.

menachem

Hello, I live in Rotterdam. Utterly strange that most advice is to leave the city.

Kinderdijk will eat up an entire day, and cool though the mills are, Rotterdam is cooler.

Nor is Rotterdam only whacky modern architecture.

To get a feel for the edgy, modern city Rotterdam is, I'd suggest 3 areas, with some interesting walking to do to get to them

First stop might be Witte de Withstraat. On its western end are Boymans (museum) and Kunsthal (modern art, topical shows) and Nieuwe Instituut (architecture). Witte de With itself has TENT, a modern art space, and mama gallery: interesting shows, though a hit and miss affair: what you see is what you get.

Eating and drinking: Bazar is a perennial favorite, but can be packed (by the way it's also a cool hotel). There's the Bagel Bakery, and on Schiedamse Vest Italian trattoria Gusto, and two new comers, a hip coffee place, Hopper, and Reijngoud, that serves excellent beer, many of them on draught (for instance, pilsner urquell, not to be missed).

Walk across the ship bridge in leuvenhaven, and cross Blaak and Hoogstraat and you'll be on the Kerkplein, where the St Laurens church is. This is one of the few remnants of Rotterdam pre-war. It was slated for demolition in 1945, but Rotterdammers fought to have it restored. Beyond it, across Binnenrotte (huge market on saturdays) is the area around Meent, Pannekoekstraat and Botersloot, Rotterdam's SoHo. Here you'll find small independent shops and a number of good coffee and lunch places (Urban Espresso Bar, Spirit, Picknick). A walk towards Central Station will bring you to the Hofbogen, the remnants of Hofplein Station, now a place where pioneers have set up businesses: restaurants, yet one more epresso place and an off beat mini mall.

The Central Station is the latest architectural addition to Rotterdam, preceded by Rem Koolhaas' Rotterdam building. The Markthal is to follow, and its structure already looms over Binnenrotte.

Delfshaven is nice, indeed, but it's a bit atypical. And not what Rotterdam is about, imo.

On your walks, remember to look down as well: you may notice red uplights at certain locations, and they're lit at night: these mark the "fire ring", the extent of the bombing on may 14 1940. Every year there's a commemoration and Rotterdammers have a fierce love for their city, that's still growing and evolving.

Dinner:

Hot places at the moment are Dertien on Schiedamse Vest (nordic themes, Pepijn Schmeink uses the wood fired oven a lot, dining there is an experience

Plancius in the Ethnographic Museum for lunch can't be beat, but is somewhat expensive perhaps.

And dinner with a view can be had in NHOW in the Rotterdam building.

Enjoy.

Cannabis: no longer much tolerated over here.

menachem

by the way, when are you traveling. there's a number of huge festivals during summer: Summer Carnival, Dance Parade is reincarnating as an electronic dance music festival (and the Dutch scene is at the top, with DJ's like Tiesto and Armin van Buren), there's World of Witte de With, a small scale whimsical art festival) and in september there's the Harbour Festival. Different areas in the city have their own outdoor festivally things.

PS, for Berlin Chic in Rotterdam either go to Burgertrut, at Hang, or Magnetronbar at Teijlingerstraat: they're both part of the Roodkapje collective, that has its gallery/performance space at Teijlingerstraat, right in the middle of Rotterdam's Kreuzberg.

and to google translate: many dinner options

http://www.debuikvan.nl/rotterdam

IMDonehere

Thanks for the suggestions Menachem.

PalenQ

http://use-it.nl/1/2/7

Use-It is a free (still ?) magazine listing events all over Holland - the Rotterdam version says this about coffee shops some of which apparently are tolerated by Rotterdam officials, legal or not - they are quasi legal meaning that you will never get busted for smoking inside the coffee shop but may get a reprimand for smoking outside in public, which is frowned upon.

But to say locals do not use cannabis belies what I saw on my last visit a few years back - in the museum area - contemporary architecture and art museums outside of the town center a tad - there is a bridge to nowhere there - a long bridge just going over a piece of park - that may flood at times - but there were hundreds and hundreds of quite young folks - from early teens to young 20s all quite openly smoking spliffs - as I smelt when I crossed the bridge with the group gathered below and unde it.

So unless in the last two years there has been a big crack down it seems rather tolerated to be done by such a large group in public.

That said I would not smoke any cannabis in Rotterdam if you were not used to it and especially do not eat those brownies all at once - can flip you out when it hits all of a sudden and kind of a trip.

Caveat emptor!

PalenQ

http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel...MISC-BR-1.html

"Fun Things to Do in Rotterdam is the name of this thread!

menachem

I'm not saying locals do not use cannabis, but it's tolerated less and less, socially. In Amsterdam it's something for tourists, mainly, but Rotterdam is not a tourist city, so its not as publicly used there. Hundreds and hundreds of young people smoking at night, in Museumpark on a summer's night? I doubt it.

Especially in Rotterdam, and especially in the centre of town, there's a lot of police repression, although the "stop and search" policy is now a thing of the past. However, local "law and order" party Leefbaar Rotterdam is set to dominate city government once more, so all this may come back again. Cannabis is far from essential if you visit NL.

PalenQ

Hundreds and hundreds of young people smoking at night, in Museumpark on a summer's night? I doubt it.>

in the middle of a Saturday afternoon and I saw it and smelt it - it was four years ago so maybe there has been a ground change since then? May well have been and you should know.

menachem

There has been. There's a pretty strong repression against cannabis use in public in Rotterdam, and against coffeeshops. In Amsterdam, it's a large part of the attractiveness to tourists, but that doesn't factor in Rotterdam, so it's seen as a local nuisance and dealt with in that fashion. Because of by laws stipulating that coffeeshops can not be nearer than 200 meters from a school, the majority has been close down. In 2010 this was already in full swing.