Rotterdam
Rotterdam city tours
Rotterdam is the one Dutch city that looks nothing like the postcard, and it is the more interesting for it. Understanding why takes about ten minutes and one date.
Ask about a Rotterdam tour
The date everything turns on
On 14 May 1940 the centre of Rotterdam was bombed flat. What went up afterwards was not a reconstruction: the city decided to build something else entirely, and it has never stopped. That decision is why the skyline keeps changing, and why Zadkine’s statue The Destroyed City, a figure with a hole where its heart should be, has stood near the harbour since 1953.
The walking tour
On foot through the centre, taking in the Cube Houses that Piet Blom finished in 1984, the Markthal that opened in 2014 with apartments curving over a food hall, and the views from the Erasmus Bridge. The distances are walkable and the contrasts arrive quickly.
The coach tour
The wider loop, past Blijdorp Zoo and along Coolsingel to the Cube Houses, across the Maas over the Willems Bridge and back over the Erasmus Bridge, passing the Euromast. This is the version most cruise calls take, since Rotterdam is a working cruise port and the ship is already in the middle of the subject.
Common questions
Why does Rotterdam look so different from the rest of the country?
The centre was destroyed by bombing in May 1940 and rebuilt as something new rather than as a copy of what was lost. Almost everything you see in the middle of the city is later than that.
Can you go inside the Cube Houses?
One of them is open as a show house. The tour covers the outside and the idea behind them; going inside is a short separate stop if the group wants it.
Do you guide cruise groups arriving in Rotterdam?
Yes. The coach tour is built to fit the time ashore, and the same call often continues to Delft and The Hague as a full day.
