Rotterdam – The Gateway to Europe

Having arrived at Hoek van Holland on the overnight ferry from Harwich (read about that here), its really simple to get into the city of Rotterdam itself, with the ferry terminal having its own stop, Hoek van Holland Haven, on the Rotterdam Metro’s line B. From here there is a train every 20 minutes, with the journey to Beurs in the city centre taking around 40 minutes. If you want to head to Rotterdam Centraal, you can either change at Beurs for lines D & E, or change at Scheidam Centrum for rail services to Rotterdam Centraal. You can get a day ticket for the Rotterdam transport network for €17, or as with most major cities these days, pay as you go with a contactless enabled bank card.

After dropping our luggage off at the storage lockers at Rotterdam Centraal (conveniently located but expensive at (€15 for the day), we grabbed some much-needed caffeine whilst deciding on a plan for our day in the second largest city of The Netherlands. If you do end up at Rotterdam Centraal, make sure to spend some time looking at the stunning architecture of the station itself from both inside and out as it really is just spectacular. Obviously, Rotterdam Centraal is well located on two metro lines, several local, national and international rail routes and multiple tram lines, including Tram Line 10, the city’s historic tourist tram. Running from mid-April until late-October, Tram Line 10 operates historic trams on a circular route around many of the city’s main sites with tickets allowing you to hop on and off like you would with sightseeing buses.

Whilst Tram Line 10’s circuit officially starts and finishes at Willemsplein at the base of the Erasmus Bridge, you can jump on at any of the stops and so we started our tour at stop B, Rotterdam Centraal. Unfortunately, as the first tram of the day on the circuit, it was very busy and we were unable to get seats, however we were still able to enjoy the views as we were taken out to the west side of the city centre and the windmill at Delfshaven, before making our way back along the Westdijk to the Euromast. It was here we decided to bail and grab a coffee from The Koetshuys in het Park whilst waiting for a later tram in the hope we’d get a seat and plan worked out well as the next tram was much quieter and we were able to enjoy the rest of the tour without having to ‘tram surf’.

Leaving the tram again at the ‘official’ end of the circuit, we were able to enjoy lunch at the Prachtig restaurant next to the Maas in shadow of Erasmus Bridge, before heading down to one of the piers to catch a waterbus upstream towards the town of Kinderdijk. The waterbuses are part of Rotterdam’s transport system so are included in the travel day tickets or the pay as you go system the same as the metro or trams. The waterbus to Kinderdijk takes around 30 minutes from central Rotterdam and drops you off just across the road from the main attraction, the Kinderdijk Windmills.

A UNESCO World Heritage site since 1997, the Kinderdijk Windmills are a group of 19 historic windmills that were originally built in the 18^th century as part of the water management system for the area. Whilst a ticket to access to the museums and windmills costs €19.50, you can walk around the area and along the central dyke for free, enjoying the impressive view of all 19 windmills and the surrounding Dutch scenery. We only had a couple of hours at Kinderdijk, so we just chose the free option, however if you can dedicate some more time to visiting then the tickets do seem worthwhile, with a couple of exhibitions, the windmills themselves and a boat trip along the canals all being included in the price.

Due to a slight error on my part, we were booked to board the next train of our trip, the European Sleeper, from Roosendaal rather than Rotterdam and so our time in the latter was coming to an end. Travelling on the waterbus back to the Erasmus Bridge, we jumped on the metro from Leuvehaven back to Rotterdam Centraal before finding some delicious beige food along with some pints at Beer and Barrel a few minutes from the station. Unfortunately our time in Rotterdam was short and we couldn’t really do the city justice, but our small taste of the city certainly made us want to visit again. Easily accessible from the UK by ferry or Eurostar (or by flying into Amsterdam and jumping on a train for 40 minutes), Rotterdam would be a great city for a weekend break, especially during the spring and summer.