Visit Rotterdam

Rotterdam's Beating Heart: The Port of Europe

Rotterdam began as a fishing village on the Rotte river as early as the 13th century and grew into the largest port in Europe. A 2018 study by the Erasmus Centre for Urban, Port and Transport Economics valued the port's total contribution to Dutch value added at €45.6 billion (6.2% of GDP); Havenbedrijf Rotterdam's own Havenmonitor reports a narrower direct-plus-indirect figure of around €30 billion for 2022 (published 2024). See the Rotterdam facts page for the full breakdown and sources.

Rotterdam Is More Than a Skyline

Rotterdam looks like no other Dutch city, and that's entirely on purpose. Instead of the gabled canal houses found everywhere else in the Netherlands, this is a city of glass towers, tilted cube houses and a horseshoe-shaped market hall the size of a football pitch, a skyline that keeps surprising first-time visitors the moment they step off the train. Rotterdam Centraal Station itself, fully reopened on 13 March 2014 after a decade-long renovation (source: Team CS/West 8, 2014), is usually the first hint of what's coming.

That same appetite for reinvention runs straight through the rest of the city: a food scene stitched together from residents of more than 170 nationalities (source: Municipality of Rotterdam, 2025 data), waterfront neighbourhoods built for long summer evenings, and a design culture that keeps turning old harbours and factories into some of the most talked-about spots in the city. Wherever you start, there's always one more corner of Rotterdam worth wandering into. See the full things-to-do guide for all of Rotterdam's architectural landmarks.

Unique Experiences Beyond the Obvious

Beyond the headline landmarks, Rotterdam rewards a slower look: the antique wooden escalators of the 1942 Maastunnel, Ossip Zadkine's bronze memorial "The Destroyed City" near the Maritime Museum, and Diergaarde Blijdorp's zoo and aquarium. See the things-to-do guide for these hidden gems, the art in Rotterdam guide for the city's public art and galleries, or the tours and activities guide for guided boat trips and city walks.