Experience
Netherlands

BUCKET LIST TRAVEL : ROTTERDAM

A port city teleported into the future

Europe’s largest port, Rotterdam, is a city sure to surprise with its unique architecture and its utterly innovative design. This port city shows another side of The Netherlands, very different from Amsterdam, thanks to its ultra-modern market, skyscrapers and iconic cable-stayed bridge.

A PASSION FOR PINBALL

“Look, don’t touch” is thrown out the window at the Dutch Pinball Museum. This incredible pinball museum opened in 2020 in a former distillery on a little island in the middle of the Rotterdam canals. Not only are you allowed to touch things, but it’s strongly recommended that you experience the hundreds of machines on display first-hand.

The rules of the game are always the same (use the buttons to send the ball into the holes to win points) but the themes and designs of the pinball machines change. Go on a trip through time and pop culture over the last hundred years, going from Cinderella (1948) to Godzilla (1998), from Big Ben (1954) to Deadpool (2018) and from Disco Fever (1978) to Star Wars (1992).

You’ll learn all about the game’s development from the oldest of the museum’s machines, which dates back to 1934, to the newest acquisition in 2021. You’ll also have the chance to check out pinball’s ancestor: the Dutch spinning top, a game from 1853 which the most prominent members of the nobility used to play in French castles.

Must-sees in Rotterdam

ERASMUS BRIDGE

You have to see this cable-stayed bridge when you visit Rotterdam. It opened in 1996, connecting the north and south of the city. It’s 808 metres long and has a 139-metre-high asymmetrical pylon, earning it its nickname, The Swan.

THE CUBE HOUSES

The cube houses are an architectural wonder in the city. Dutch architect Piet Blom designed this unusual residential complex and created 40 yellow and grey cube houses tilted at 45 degrees. The Show Cube museum allows you to see inside a cube. Another architectural gem, in the shape of a horseshoe, is the Market Hall, comprising 4,600 m2 of retail space that includes a covered market and restaurants.

MUSEUM BOIJMANS VAN BEUNINGEN

This fine art museum is closed for renovations until 2026. In the meantime, its Depot Boijmans storage facility has been open to the public since November 2021. In a world first, you can visit this storage facility which houses 150,000 works from the Middle Ages to the present day.

ROTTERDAM ZOO

This zoo, recognised as one of the most beautiful and oldest in Europe, is northwest of the city in the Blijdorp district. Its highlights include its Oceanium with sharks and king penguins, the butterfly paradise that is Amazonica and immersing yourself in the savannah with the giraffes, zebras and tigers.

KINDERDIJK WINDMILLS

Symbolic of the Netherlands, the Kinderdijk windmills are a UNESCO World Heritage Site just a few kilometres from Rotterdam. In total, nineteen majestic windmills tower up into the sky. They were built in the 18th century to combat the floods in the region.