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In this blog I want to talk about Rotterdam, which is close to Belgium. I’m from Belgium and there is a lot to do in this beautiful, small underrated country, read about Belgium in my other blog What to do in Belgium? Where to get fries, beer & sweets.
Belgian people love to visit the neighboring countries. The Netherlands is one of those countries which is easy for us to visit by car, bus or train.
My friend and I had some days off from work, so we decided to go on a little trip. After seeking for something with a reasonable price we decided to go to Rotterdam for three days. Rotterdam is an amazing city, the architecture is extraordinary, the food is delicious and, there are way too many clothing stores.
It’s perfect for a city trip. I’m going to tell you about what we did in our three days.
The subjects I’m going to talk about are:
Must do in Rotterdam
There are some amazing places in Rotterdam. Below I summarize all the places that are worth a visit. We did a lot but there was so much more to do. The locals of Rotterdam also gave a lot of tips, so go check out those places when you’re in Rotterdam.
Koopgoot
In English ‘Shopping gutter‘. It’s a place with a lot of clothing stores so perfect if you want to go shopping. The passage goes under the Coolsingel. This area together with the streets called the Lijnbaan and Hoogstraat are the place to be for a shopping spree.
Laurenskerk
It’s a beautiful church that you must see. It’s also called the Great Church of Rotterdam. This church is the only building that is left over from the medieval structure in Rotterdam. If you walk around Rotterdam you immediately notice how modern it is. It is nice to visit this church because it’s a medieval building. The church was damaged because of the bombings in 1940, luckily the people of Rotterdam restored it in 1952.
Markthal
In English ‘Market Hall’. It’s a huge building with the combination of food, living, leisure and a parking. Here you can find a lot of food stalls, so go there and choose something to eat. You can go above the stands to sit and enjoy the view of all the stands.
Kubuswoningen
In English: ‘Cube houses‘. You must see the cube houses designed by architect Piet Blom. Walk around those beautiful buildings and check out an example of the inside of a cube. It’s based on the concept of living as an urban roof. The design of the houses represents a village within a city. Each house stands for a tree and all the houses together represent a forest. The idea of the cubes is for optimizing the space.
Witte de Withstraat
It’s a street with a lot of places to eat or drink something. The street is one of the most popular ones in Rotterdam. Here you need to go for the night life because it’s amazing. There are many art galleries, popular bars and shops that are different than most places.
Erasmusbrug
In English: ‘Erasmus Bridge‘. A beautiful bridge that you must see! The construction began in 1986 and it was finished in 1996. The bridge has a 139 meters high steel pylon with 40 cables secured. It crosses over the river ‘Maas’ and it’s 800 meters long. Besides that, the bridge connects the North side with the South side of Rotterdam.
Spido
Here you can book a tour to see Rotterdam by boat. They have different boat trips for on the river ‘Maas’. You can check out their tours on their website. It’s nice if you want to discover the city from a different perspective.
Central station
It’s the train station of Rotterdam, really an impressive building.
West-Kruiskade
China town of Rotterdam, it’s a street with a lot of culture. Here you can eat Chinese, Vietnamese, Surinam, etc. or go to the Oriental, it’s a food store with food from different countries.
Euromast
Euromast Rotterdam is the top of the city. It’s a tower with a view over Rotterdam. You can also eat something here. For more information about this tower you can check out their website.
Where to eat in Rotterdam
In Rotterdam there are many amazing places where you can eat an drink something. Below I give some places where you can eat or drink something:
Nhow bar/restaurant
It’s a bar/restaurant with a terrace that has an amazing view over the Erasmusbrug and the city. The food isn’t that cheap, it’s around €30 per person, but you can choose to just drink something. It’s amazing for the views.
Happy Italy
It’s the best place to eat pizza and it’s cheap for a good Italian pizza. You can also find it in other cities in the Netherlands. It’s also nice to look at the desserts because they have a chocolate pizza.
Op Het Dak
It’s a restaurant on a rooftop, definitely go there it’s beautiful. Its open from 9 am till 5 pm, so go for a breakfast, a lunch or a drink. EDIT: Unfortunately this place is permanently closed!
Biergarten
Is a nice outside bar where you can sit and relax.
Fenix Food Factory
Locals told us that this is an amazing place to eat something. It’s not in the city center but it’s worth a visit.
Dinner Wheel
Experience the height and see Rotterdam from above and enjoy a luxurious diner in an exclusive Giant Wheel gondola. EDIT: Unfortunately this place is permanently closed!
There are so many places to eat or drink something so checkout Rotterdam Tourist Information.
Of course, there’s a lot more to see in this outstanding city. You can go to a museum or to the zoo of Rotterdam or when it’s good weather go rent a bike and do one of the cycle routes. You can find more information about the cycle routes here. Unfortunately, we only stayed for three days so we couldn’t do everything and the weather wasn’t great.
Our 3 days in Rotterdam
Day one
We left Bruges in the morning and arrived around 12 am in the afternoon. The drive from Bruges to Rotterdam was around two hours. When we arrived, we asked for a room in the hotel. We didn’t book a thing and just went in and asked for a room and believe me, it was €20 cheaper than when you order online. The only problem that we had when we didn’t book online was that there wasn’t any space in the parking lot, so we had to park our car on the streets and that’s expensive, total for three days around €48.
Anyway, we walked to the city center and grabbed a bite in the Markthal. We ate wok for €25,25 (for two woks, mini spring rolls, kroepoek and three drinks). In the afternoon we visited the city center including the Laurenskerk, the cube houses and the koopgoot. Of course, we did some shopping and had a drink at the Beurs, a lovely place to eat or drink something.
In the evening we ate at Happy Italy and yes that made me very happy! Happy Italy is an amazing place, like I mentioned before, you can also find them in other cities in the Netherlands. We paid €23,60 for two pizzas, which were the size of four pizzas, and three drinks. They make fresh pastas, salads, sandwiches and pizzas. You can find the menu here.
We had an amazing day and saw the whole city center so after our pizza we watched some Netflix and fell asleep.
Day Two
Okay here we go, day two. We ate a healthy bowl for breakfast at Served and we payed €24,05 together. Afterwards we went to the hotel to do our make up because yes, we were going to the Erasmusbrug, a beautiful bridge in Rotterdam.
For lunch we ate at the Witte de Withstreet. This street has a lot of restaurants and bars. We ate at the Metropole Café NRC and payed €40,80 for two for a chicken with saté sauce, fries and drinks. In the afternoon we went to the Euromast and afterwards to the city center where we bought some sweets like candy, cupcakes, macaroons and stroopwafels (waffles with a sort of syrup inside, it’s typically from the Netherlands). Lastly, we went to the Happy Italy again to get a Nutella pizza for €5,70.
We got back to our hotel and ate from all the sweet things that we bought. In the end we ate too much, so we put the TV on and went to sleep.
Day three
First, we went to the train station of Rotterdam because that building is beautiful. After that, we were so hungry, so we looked for a place to eat. Our breakfast was delicious! We went to Bagels & Beans and ate for €20 for two. After this delicious breakfast we went to the Laurenskerk again and to the Koopgoot. We walked around and came across a Febo, it’s where you can buy something to eat and get it from a wall. You just put €2 in it and you can open a little door to take what you want to eat. Febo is typically from some cities in the Netherlands.
After the Febo we drank something at a bar and started our walk to the West-Kruiskade. They call it the China Town of Rotterdam. We walked to the end of the street and even further to go to Roopram. Roopram is a place where you can eat Roti from Suriname and drink some beer from Surinam. You also have this in Suriname and some other cities in the Netherlands. Surinam is a country in South America and was a colony of the Netherlands till 1975, in case you didn’t know. We payed €16 for our food and drinks.
In the end we went to Op Het Dak to drink something and at 4 pm we decided to drive back home because it’s a two-hour drive. These three days were amazing, and we had so much fun. I can’t wait until my next trip with my best friend.
How much did we spend in 3 days?
I have to say if you’re going during another weekend to Rotterdam it will be cheaper, but we went in a period that is very expensive. All the cheap rooms were already taken so we had a room with a king-size bed which was €120 for two nights per person in the Days Inn Hotel Rotterdam. Normally it’s around €40 or €50 a night per person if you want to stay in the city center and in a hotel. You can do everything by foot, but there are also trams and metros available.
| Price | What? |
| €41,19 | Gasoline for the car, Bruges to Rotterdam and back. |
| €240 | Days Inn Rotterdam City Centre, two nights and two persons with a king-size bed. |
| €48 | Parking |
| €153,7 | Food |
| €49,43 | Bought in a grocery store |
| €30 | Drinks (de Beurs, Op Het Dak, etc.) |
| TOTAL | €562,32 €281,16 per person for three days. |
We had an amazing time. So come on travelers, discover Rotterdam! For more information about Rotterdam you can always check out their website. If you know some other amazing places there, let me know because I’m going back there for sure.
