Rotterdam Must Do Tour: Highlights, History, WW2 and Architecture
Description
This 2-hour guided walking tour takes you from the newly built Central Station, past architecturally iconic locations, and buildings such as The Timmerhuis, designed by the world-famous architects of OMA, and the Markthal, Europe's most unique and beautiful covered market. Your guide will expose you to the everyday life and history of the city. Meet your guide at Rotterdam's Central Station and learn about the Town Hall, St. Lawrence Church, and Europe's first high-rise building. Hear about what happened during the World War II bombing and why the wealth of modern architecture is so abundant in Rotterdam. Next, your guide will take you to see the city's modern structures. Admire the impressive new Markthal, the renowned Cube Houses, and the Erasmus Bridge. Keep walking through beautiful shopping streets and experience the modern Rotterdam lifestyle. As you go along, feel free to ask your guide any questions about the city you may have.
Tour Options
Itinerary
Join this 2-hour tour with a local guide and explore the city of Rotterdam. Learn about the city's history, harbor, and architecture. Visit the city's iconic places such as the Cube Houses, Markthal, and the Coolsingel.
Meet your guide at the central station of Rotterdam. Here your guide will introduce himself and tell you about the architecture of the city.
Completed in 1953 it is one of the first major buildings built after the bombing of Rotterdam in the Second World War.
The Kruiskade and the West-Kruiskade are well-known shopping streets in the center of Rotterdam.
The Lijnbaan is the main shopping street of Rotterdam. It was opened in 1953, as the main pedestrian street in the new shopping district, after the old shopping district was completely destroyed during the bombing of Rotterdam
The Luchtsingel is wooden pedestrian bridge of 390 meters. It connects Rotterdam North with Rotterdam Center and brings new life to a forgotten area. This part of the city had been abandoned for years and was dominated by vacancy and neglect.
The Delftsche Poort in Rotterdam was a city gate, the last of which was built in 1764. Fifty years later, a reconstruction in steel, designed by the artist Cor Kraat, was erected on virtually the original site of the Delft gate on the Pompenburg.
The Sint-Laurenskerk is a Protestant church in Rotterdam. It is the only remnant of the medieval city of Rotterdam. You can also go inside the church for free.
The Markthal was designed by architectural firm MVRDV. The grey nature stone building has an archwise structure like a horseshoe. Inside you can find many restaurants and an impressive artwork that shows strongly enlarged fruits, vegetables, seeds, fish, flowers and insects.
The 'Old Harbour' is the historical hotspot of the Rotterdam city centre, developed itself into a vibrant city area at the north of the Maas river. Here you can also find the famous Cube Houses.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Service animals allowed
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
Reviews(31)
Excellent leadership, great insights
Great way to spend a few hours in Rotterdam! With a week in the Netherlands, we were keen to see more than Amsterdam. This tour was a perfect introduction to the port city of Rotterdam. Heavily bombed in WWII and mostly destroyed by fire, this city is different to the others we’ve seen. Modern and interesting architecture, wide streets, plenty of sculptures, and more. Edwin was the perfect guide. He tailored the tour to our interests, answered all of our questions and gave lots of information. He showed us the remaining pre WWII large buildings, museums, the famous cube houses , took us into the market, and suggested places for us to visit after the tour. We also appreciated that he offered to take a few photos of us. Most importantly, on a very hot day he kept us cool by sticking to the shade. Thoroughly recommend booking a walking tour with Edwin.
The guide was punctual, engaged, and very friendly. However, this does not change the fact that from our perspective, the content quality of the tour was very poor. The explanations were very superficial, and even upon further questions, the guide could not provide in-depth answers. Even the basic facts were missing, for example, who built what and when. Simply naming an attraction is not enough. Unfortunately, it was very disappointing, despite the nice guide.
Our tour guide (and I wish I had gotten his name) was exceptional. He was both informative and entertaining. He answered all my questions, even about stuff that he wasn't currently talking about re Rotterdam. The tour covered the many points of interest the city has to offer. I messed up a little and couldn't initially find the meeting point. Called the help number and they got me there right away. I may have missed the guide introducing himself, hence I don't have his name. One suggestion to the guide is to get an app that allows us to tip him via credit card. It's a bit expensive for some of us to trade our home currency for euros (for some of us...).
The guide just charged ahead without looking back to see whether all his guests are following n catching up with him. He moves very fast n most often. my husband n I were left far behind, sometimes 50-80 m behind. We couldn't enjoy the scenery we passed. Although he's quite witty n knowledgeable, I found he's not aware of his guests' needs. His comments are very general in nature. So I felt I didn't learn much on this tour as he's more concerned about telling us what he's on his mind. I did tip him. Although none of the other guests did!
Paola was excelent and gave us a good understanding of Rotterdam history and architecture timeline and population statistics.
Wear layers, bring water and use the restroom. Comfortable shoes are recommended. Susan is very knowledgeable and we liked the small private tour.
Thank you for your helpful review! We're glad you enjoyed the small group experience and Susan’s knowledge of Rotterdam. We appreciate your practical tips and support!
Susan had a wealth of knowledge of Rotterdam - history, interesting stories and location snippets, pace was good and she encouraged questions. Only 3 in the group so it was an excellent and informative experience. Love Rotterdam!
Thank you for your fantastic review! We're delighted that Susan's knowledge and storytelling helped make your visit to Rotterdam so enjoyable. We're glad you loved the city as much as we do!
Very nice tour, almost private. Paula was very knowledgeable tour guide and provided a lot of history and insights of the city. we truly enjoyed walking at our pace and learning the city
Thank you for your wonderful review! We're happy to hear you enjoyed the personal pace of the tour and Paula's knowledge of Rotterdam's history and architecture. We appreciate your support!
The meeting point was clear and easy to find. My guide, Paula, gave not just history and a well paced tour, she provided insight into the evolution of the city through a lens of art, religion and culture bringing depth to the tour.
Thanks so much! Happy to hear Paula added so much depth and insight to your Rotterdam tour.
