Travelling to Rotterdam from 5th July-7th July. Suggestions?

Hi all,

I will be in rotterdam from the 5th of July to the 7th of July. I know its a really short trip as I am just stopping by and trying to see as much of rotterdam and do as much as i can there. 4 of my friends and I are going and we would like to know where to stay when we are on a tight budget. (about.. 400 Euro? is that too little?) It would be great if the place is nearby the main attractions.

We have not planned much yet so I am hoping that you guys could help me out on:

- Place to stay
- Must see places that can be done in 2-3 days.
- Means of transportation (i wonder if we could rent bicycles? that would be pretty cool)
- Places to eat
- Things to do

Thanks ! Your help would be very very greatly appreciated ! THANK YOU !

The only places I can think of worth visiting in Rotterdam are the Netherlands Architecture Institute and the Cube Houses.

Hi Yijean

400 euro for 5 persons, 2 days incl accommodation, food etc? That is not much... Well, of the big cities in Holland, Rotterdam is one of the cheaper ones but still count on at least 25 euro per night per person.
Of course accommodation in the center sounds more attractive but the public transport in Rotterdam is really good so if it is cheaper to be outside of the center I would definitely consider it if I where you.

Indeed as buzzcock says the cube houses are interesting to go to, actually Rotterdam is a major city for modern architecture anyway. The biggest part of it got bombed during WW II and so the most buildings are new and a lot of architects took the opportunity to experiment with all this empty space. The ´swan bridge´ (officialy erasmus bridge) is definitely worth it as well.

A fun thing to do is taking the fast water taxi from one point in the center to the shore where Hotel New York is located (which is a beautiful place to go for a drink, the ships of the Holland-America line used to dock here). A trip with this taxi seems to be about 4 euro per person, and it is real fun because you go with a quick speedboat. Unfortunately the website is not available in English but on the link below you can see the places where the water taxi stops or can come to pick you up. Just call 010 - 4030303 to ask them to come and pick you up.

http://maps.google.nl/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=112830581649792566267.000001126620d2f0e3377&ll=51.916321,4.408264&spn=0.024671,0.068836&z=14&om=1

If you are looking for some green to relax you can go to ´Kralingsebos´. It is has grass, trees and even a (fake) beach. If you start to get hungry you could go to the pancake restaurant over there to get a real Dutch diner (costs between 8-12 euro per pancake - a big one - ).

Last tip ´to do´ is climb the Euromast, the highest tower in Holland. not the cheapest thing to do but the view is so worth it! just have a look at the website: http://www.euromast.nl/english/index.html

bicycles will be for rent for sure, on this website you will find that one bike per day per person is 6 euro. And it is a Kronan bike which is very Dutch and really cool! (and fits a cradle of beer on the front ;-) )
If you dont take the bicycle there are buses, trams and metros in the city so don´t worry about getting around.

Hope this helps, if you have more questions don´t hesitate to ask!

OHannemarie

Actually what i meant was 400 euro per person. Hehe anyway thanks !

In your opinion, which place is more worth visiting?

- Giethoorn
- Kralingse bos
- Kinderdjik

Is it located near one another?

??

[ Edit: Edited on 26-Jun-2009, at 05:24 by yijean ]

Quoting OHannemari

Hi Yijean

400 euro for 5 persons, 2 days incl accommodation, food etc? That is not much... Well, of the big cities in Holland, Rotterdam is one of the cheaper ones but still count on at least 25 euro per night per person.
Of course accommodation in the center sounds more attractive but the public transport in Rotterdam is really good so if it is cheaper to be outside of the center I would definitely consider it if I where you.

Indeed as buzzcock says the cube houses are interesting to go to, actually Rotterdam is a major city for modern architecture anyway. The biggest part of it got bombed during WW II and so the most buildings are new and a lot of architects took the opportunity to experiment with all this empty space. The ´swan bridge´ (officialy erasmus bridge) is definitely worth it as well.

A fun thing to do is taking the fast water taxi from one point in the center to the shore where Hotel New York is located (which is a beautiful place to go for a drink, the ships of the Holland-America line used to dock here). A trip with this taxi seems to be about 4 euro per person, and it is real fun because you go with a quick speedboat. Unfortunately the website is not available in English but on the link below you can see the places where the water taxi stops or can come to pick you up. Just call 010 - 4030303 to ask them to come and pick you up.

http://maps.google.nl/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=112830581649792566267.000001126620d2f0e3377&ll=51.916321,4.408264&spn=0.024671,0.068836&z=14&om=1

If you are looking for some green to relax you can go to ´Kralingsebos´. It is has grass, trees and even a (fake) beach. If you start to get hungry you could go to the pancake restaurant over there to get a real Dutch diner (costs between 8-12 euro per pancake - a big one - ).

Last tip ´to do´ is climb the Euromast, the highest tower in Holland. not the cheapest thing to do but the view is so worth it! just have a look at the website: http://www.euromast.nl/english/index.html

bicycles will be for rent for sure, on this website you will find that one bike per day per person is 6 euro. And it is a Kronan bike which is very Dutch and really cool! (and fits a cradle of beer on the front ;-) )
If you dont take the bicycle there are buses, trams and metros in the city so don´t worry about getting around.

Hope this helps, if you have more questions don´t hesitate to ask!

OHannemarie

By the way, do you happen to know any nice but cheap place to stay at the center? (and also convinient for sightseeing)

And.. how are the prices for shopping in rotterdam?

Hello Yijean,

Well 400 euro´s per person is much so you can do a lot of nice things!

Giethoorn is much fun when it is nice weather, you can rent a little motor-boat or canoe for one day. but Giethoorn is very far away from Rotterdam, it´s almost on the other side of Holland, so I don´t recommend it.

You can better go to Kralingse Bos or Kinderdijk, both are close to Rotterdam.
In Kralingse Bos you can relax on the beach or take a walk, if you want to do some culture stuff you can see a typical Dutch ´Molen´. They are used to make bread and Holland is famous because of these ´molens´. There is also a sailing port in Kralingse Bos so maybe that´s nice to look at. You can go to Kralingse Bos with the bus and of course also with the bike.
Kinderdijk is a little bit away from Rotterdam, it´s close to Krimpen aan de lek on the other side of the water.
If you want to see a lot of ´molens´ you really have to go here. There are 19 ´molens´ and there is one where you can actually go in, it cost €3,50 per person. You can also go on a boat which goes along all the ´molens´, this cost €3,00 per person. If you want to go to Kinderdijk you have to take the underground to Rotterdam-Zuid and from there take the bus to Kinderdijk.

You have different websites where you can find a cheap hotel an where you also can see the location.
Just type ´hotel rotterdam´ in google and you´ll find a lot.
When I was in Rotterdam for a weekend I stayed in the Westin hotel. A very big hotel close to the central station and also very close to the city, but the hotel in not so cheap, you just have to check the website because sometimes they have cheaper rooms.

Shopping in Rotterdam is very nice, the shopping street is very new and close to the city there is a shopping-centre called winkelpassage Plaza. Shopping in Rotterdam is not very cheap, but you just have to find the best shops.

If you have any more questions, just ask me!

OHannemarie

There are some great little coffee shops in Rotterdam. They're normally not fulla idiots - like the 1000's of punch drunk tourists that overdo it in Amsterdam. More relaxing and a very friendly city. World's biggest shipping port too - it's huge.