Rotterdam: Harbor, Culture and Nature

A whisper-boat tour by the Maritime Museum takes visitors through Rotterdam’s old city harbors, from Leuvehaven via Wijnhaven and Oude Haven to Haringvliet.

Culture

At the Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam welcomes visitors daily to its storage and working spaces; guided tours are possible without prior registration and last approximately 10 minutes.

The Het Lage Licht lighthouse is the starting point for visiting the Maritime Museum’s museum harbor.

The Laurenskerk is the only surviving medieval building in central Rotterdam, and visitors can climb the 365 steps of its tower.

The Markthal houses market stalls, shops and food-service establishments under one roof.

The Cube Houses are examples of monuments in Rotterdam.

The “Simson” steam crane can be visited and was the largest floating steam crane in the Benelux at the time.

The “Time is Money” is a motorized sales vessel from 1962 and can still be visited in the museum harbor.

More destinations

More destinations at the same level: Hoogvliet Rotterdam, Pernis, Hoek van Holland

Getting around

Four signposted routes in central Rotterdam run along the Maas; they are 3.5 km, 5 km, 10 km and 21 km long.

The Rotterdam-Rent routes can be used for walking, cycling and skating.

The Green Marathon Route is a more than 42-kilometer-long route through the Rotterdam urban area that passes through parks, canals, gardens, dike paths, country lanes, forests and agricultural land.

Harbor

Spido offers a 75-minute cruise on the Nieuwe Maas; the Spido cruises pass container ships and historic shipyards.

Portlantis is an interactive experience center about the Port of Rotterdam.

Portlantis offers guided expeditions beyond the harbor fences by bus, boat or on foot.

The red exterior stairs of Portlantis lead to the panoramic level.

Nature

Diergaarde Blijdorp offers up-close insights into wildlife in carefully designed habitats and has eight themed areas.

Diergaarde Blijdorp contributes to nature conservation and the care of endangered animal species.

The Euromast is 185 meters high.

The Euromast’s Euroscoop offers panoramic views from heights of up to 180 meters.

Trompenburg Tuinen & Arboretum is an eight-hectare botanical garden in Kralingen with collections of trees, shrubs, perennials, flower bulbs and tubers.

Trompenburg Tuinen & Arboretum includes English-style gardens, a developing woodland garden and a desert greenhouse with cacti and succulents.

Regular workshops, markets and other activities take place at Trompenburg Tuinen & Arboretum.

The places mentioned combine different aspects of the urban area: Historic buildings and museum ships are followed by harbor basins, shipyards and container ships, while paths, animal areas, the observation tower and botanical gardens provide further specific settings. The named routes, heights, durations and area size also keep the destinations’ spatial and temporal dimensions visible.

To the overarching travel overview: Rotterdam.