Travel & Hotspots

5X WHY YOU SHOULD GO TO ROTTERDAM

Lived. Worked. Studied. Rotterdam will always be - it’s the truth - one of my favorites. No nonsense, wonderfully honest and heartwarming. The port city is one of a kind and brimming with great spots (yes, many more than five). But if you go, don’t forget these lovely spots.

1. De Kaap

Via ‘the whore walker’ (a bridge, but that's what they call it in Rotterdam) you end up at De Kaap, officially on the map as Katendrecht. This is where the rough sea dogs used to come ashore. You immediately know where the little creature got its name from. What was once the dilapidated sister next to Hotel New York is now hot. You’ll find the Fenix Food Factory there, an indoor market with artisanal delicacies. At Theater Walhalla, you must go for an evening of theater, and at Deliplein, you can grab a bite. Think: Paris at Bistrot du Bac, bella Italia at delicatessen shop Burro e Salvia, and eat what the pot offers at the table of De Matroos en het Meisje.

2. Hey, pancake!

Everything in and around Pannekoekstraat is FUN. Unbelievable. After your round through the Markthal, you cross Blaak and dive into Pannekoekstraat next to the library. You settle down at Bokaal for a good glass of beer, marvel at (and thus buy) beautiful Scandinavian items at Louen, and grab a bite to take home at DeliGriek (or you can sit down, that works too). In this little street, you can easily spend a whole day.

3. Conceptual Hutspot

Okay, it was first in Amsterdam, but Hutspot just opened its doors in Rotjeknor. And do you know where? Next to Omoda and Filippa K. I don’t know, but that seems destined. A nice concept store belongs in a day of shopping, and at Hutspot, they serve you a mix of new designers and originality. A must-visit for the gift pile under your tree.

4. Artistic

Theo already told you that Peter Lindbergh is hanging out in the country. In the Kunsthal at the (seems logical) Museumpark to be precise. The building is already a piece of art in itself, designed by Rem Koolhaas. You saw artist Keith Haring, the exhibition S.H.O.E.S., and get a new perspective on African design. Definitely check the agenda of the Kunsthal when you visit Rotterdam.

5. Aloha (for when it becomes summer)

Brrrr, it’s raining non-stop and it’s freeeezing. But someday, yes someday, it will be summer again. And if you really want to see the port city at its best, then you go to the terrace of Aloha. A bar and restaurant in the wild water ride of the former swimming paradise Tropicana. There you eat a bitterball from oyster mushrooms, grown in their own pool. And you sip on the house-roasted coffee with a view of the Willemsbrug and Zwaan. Sigh. See you soon, beautiful city.