9 Best Hotels in Rotterdam, Netherlands

On the first 14 floors of the Millennium tower, this five-star hotel in the city center offers spacious rooms with luxuriously huge beds that will make you feel like a member of the glitterati---the panorama across town to the Erasmus Bridge (dramatically floodlighted after dark) makes the extra rates for rooms on the upper floors more than worth it. Smack opposite Centraal Station, this is primarily a business hotel, and executive rooms on the upper floors have free access to the 10th-floor Executive Lounge. 

Spacious high-ceilinged rooms at this boutique hotel, housed in a lovely old customs building in the trendy Kop van Zuid district, are individually furnished, tastefully modern, and manage a respectful nod to the surroundings–rooms at the front overlook the Maas River and the iconic Erasmus Bridge, and there is a handy water taxi jetty across the street.

The town-house facade is dramatically yoked to a metallic skyscraper, and rooms have been renovated in uncluttered modern styles; the best are those at the back overlooking a quiet, grassy garden. The Park restaurant in the classical surroundings of the old wing of the hotel serves a menu inspired by chef Erik van Loo of the Parkheuvel, and it has a garden terrace open in summer. Another plus is the staff, who offer the sort of apparently effortless, unobtrusive attention to your every need that makes a stay here very pleasant.

Despite the businesslike, anonymous name, this is a welcoming and comfortable modern hotel with snug, stylish rooms and lots of flowers and plants, so the overall feeling is spruce and nicely kept. They have family rooms, in case you're traveling with children. This place is particularly handy for Museumpark and strolls along the Westersingel. Enjoy the buffet breakfast before setting out.

An atmospheric standout on Rotterdam's business-oriented hotel scene occupies the former twin-towered, waterside headquarters of the Holland-America Line, offering individually decorated rooms with high ceilings that contrast with the modernist, vaguely nautical decor, and excellent views. The enormous restaurant seats 400 but somehow maintains an intimate café atmosphere, although those in the know delight in afternoon tea but don't stay for dinner. Other amenities include an oyster bar, tea salon, and water taxi connecting the Kop van Zuid with the city center (€4.50 one-way).

The friendly and gregarious owner proudly refreshes rooms on a rotating basis, with the always-modern decor of each floor determined by the current best buys in furniture, plus there is a bar-lounge, as well as a small restaurant with a summer-garden extension. "Comfort" rooms are worth the small premium for additional facilities like refrigerators, tea/coffeemaking equipment, and air-conditioning.

The majority of the rooms in this modern high-rise, built at the opening to the Leuvehaven inner harbor, have water views and all are simply but tastefully decorated, wearing a designer-look edge. The conservatory-style breakfast room overlooks a terrace for true relaxation, and a top-floor health club includes a pool and a sauna. An incredibly friendly staff goes to real effort to make your stay pleasant.

This modern chain hotel, with all the usual amenities for visitors, business folks, and tour groups looking for a reliable name, has one major plus: the location, right in the middle of downtown. During the International Film Festival at the end of January, the hotel often hosts some of the notable participants, thanks in part to its top facilities, a number of suites, and meeting rooms.

If you're on a budget, this modern hostel in the middle of the city is just the ticket, and it occupies several of Rotterdam's most iconic and eye-catching buildings: the Piet Blom–designed "cube houses," built in 1984 between Blaak station and the Oude Haven (home to several good waterside bars). It's hard to figure out how they find space for 250 beds inside these oddly shaped structures with few obvious vertical walls, but they do. Dorms contain four to nine beds, but each has its own en suite bathroom. Book way in advance to try for one of the five double rooms, best for extra privacy. There's air-conditioning, which is unusual for a hostel. The entrance is up one level from the street, accessed via steps or a ramp.