Rotterdam is a major port city in South Holland, Netherlands. It is Netherlands ‘ second biggest city and is home to the largest port in Europe. The city is full of world-class architecture and urban design.

We only had just the one day exploring the city. Here are my top highlights and the order we did them in:

Marktal

Marktal is a fantastic place. Not only does it hold the world’s largest painting, but it is also a great place to grab some street food. I enjoyed some poffertjes. Poffertjes are mini Dutch pancakes covered in a sauce of your choice. This is also where we parked our car for the day. It is worth noting: if you book your car parking ticket in advance, it works out a little cheaper.

Cube Houses

The incredible Cube Houses were conceived and constructed by architect Piet Blom, in the 1970s. Rotterdam town planners needed to solve the dilemma of building houses on top of a pedestrian bridge. They decided to contact Piet Blom. He had built similar houses earlier, in another town. He decided to repeat the design in Rotterdam.

If you are interested to see what they look like inside, you can pay €2.50 to go in one.

Witte Huis

The Witte Huis, located near the marina, use to be the tallest building in Europe. It was built in 1898, towering 43-metres into the sky, with just 10 floors. Today, the tallest building in Europe towers a whopping 462.5-metres high into the sky.

Williamsburg Bridge

The Williamsburg Bridge is a bright red bridge that connects the northern section of Rotterdam, with the southern part of Rotterdam. The bridge opened in 1878 and was completely renovated in 1981. The total span of the bridge is 318-metres.

We walked across the bridge to get to the south bank of Rotterdam. As you cross the bridge, you get great views of the city and the river.

Bobbing Forest

The Bobbing Forest is basically a forest on the water. Every time they knock a tree down to build a building, they plant a tree on the water. The Dutch artist, Jorge Bakker is trying to provide a solution for increasing vegetation in an urban environment. He is an artist who is known for his sculptures and installations with an architectural impact. It’s such a great idea!

Vers

We stopped for lunch at a beautiful cafe bar called Vers. The food was that good, I thought it deserved a mention in my blog. I had some traditional Dutch food; Bitterballen and Alex had a delicious Club Sandwich. We sat on the tables outside, watching the world go by. They even provided me with a blanket to keep warm.

Erasmusbrug

The Erasmusbrug has the nickname ‘The Swan’. The beautiful 802-metre long bridge was designed by Ben van Berkel and was built in 1996. It connects the north of Rotterdam to the south.

We walked across the beautiful bridge to get back to the north bank of Rotterdam. As you walk across it, you get great views of the city.

Euromast

The Euromast is an observation tower, designed by Hugh Maaskant. It was built between 1958 and 1960. It provides views across Rotterdam at a height of 185-metres above ground level. The day I visited, they were charging €10.25 for an adult ticket, which gave you access to the top. I decided to save my money and gave going up a miss. Instead, the day we visited they have a base jumping event on. I sat and watched people base jump off the 100-metre viewing platform. This was fun to see!

Luchtsingel Bridge

Luchtsingel Bridge is the world’s first crowdfunded bridge. It is a 390-metre long, wooden, pedestrian bridge. The bridge connects the centre of Rotterdam to the north. There were a total of six phases for construction. The first phase happened in 2012. The last phase was completed in 2014. Luchtsingel Bridge, officially opened on June 20th, 2015.