A trendy, booming city, living on the water. Here is the face of the new Rotterdam. This destination is ideal for exploring Dutch architecture and design. An idea for a 100% contemporary stay or a festival weekend.

The workers’ towns behind the docks, the cranes near the cargo ships, the Erasmus bridge spanning the New Meuse and, in the distance, the North Sea. From its mobile platform, built 185 m above the ground on the riverside, the Euro mast concrete and glass tower offers breath taking views of Rotterdam. The first tourists of the year are already there, carefully bundled up, to observe, below, the incessant activity on the river which has shaped the industrial city into one of the three main ports in the world. The snow, falling in big flakes, changes nothing. The Dutch metropolis, always in motion, now lives on the water without taking into account the seasons.

Seen from above, the public gardens resemble huge white labyrinths and the dormitories, like long red rectangles with their brick facades. In a bitter cold and a sun piercing the clouds, the birthplace of Erasmus has everything of a Dutchwoman and even more. Certainly, less known than Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands, Rotterdam indeed offers many riches that make it one of the trendiest places in Europe often to the surprise of visitors.

Variable geometry

Kunsthal Museum, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Dutch Institute, Grand-Café Dudok, Café de Unie etc. The northern part of the city is a huge theatre of urban exploration since the 1920s where Rotterdam already enjoyed the international renown of a center of modern architecture, with the development of the residential area De Kiefhoek and the construction of the Van Nelle factory.
All these names have become veritable institutions where avant-gardism reigns. Thus, the Grand-Café Dudok, in the Art Deco style, which is none other than an old insurance office as its renovation still suggests. Ideal for warming up by drinking one of the best coffees in Rotterdam accompanied by an apple pie, while leafing through your daily life under a lamp in dim light or taking a look at the new hanging fabrics on the walls every month. The Museum Boijmans van Beuningen is also one of the essentials, in a completely different register, regularly hosting very large-scale exhibitions like the one devoted to Dalí in 2005 which had attracted thousands of fans.

In fact, everywhere, geometry remained the rule during the reconstruction in the emergency of the post-war period, especially on Witte Withstraat, one of the artiest streets. Associated with the tower of Blaak, more popularly called “the Pencil”, the Kijk Kubus or “tree houses” of Piet Blom, suspended above the street in the village, have become one of the curiosities since the mid-years eighty. These flattened cubes are thus tilted so that three of their angles are directed towards the ground and three towards the sky … where from a development, frankly, new! One of them is open to the public. You must absolutely take a look through the window of the last space, at the top of the pyramid, before setting off to discover the more recent developments.

Glass and steel

As in many contemporary cities, skyscrapers have of course gradually emerged, in an anarchic way. In the business district, the World Trade Center, a small glass replica of the two old American towers, is the best example. This is where the purse is.

But the tallest buildings are undoubtedly the surrounding luxury hotels, constantly competing for a few additional floors to dominate the neighboring roofs. Always climb higher! Their proximity to the town hall, in Flemish neo-Renaissance style, is therefore surprising, even if nothing here seems to shock passers-by in search of good deals! Shopping is indeed one of the activities that bring the center to life. The large pedestrian street of the Lijnbaan, parallel to the main artery of the Coolsingel, has thus become the meeting place for young fashion victims who find all the major international fashion brands in the middle of the record stores. We also discover some of the city’s many steel sculptures, like an impassive character sitting in an armchair reading.

But it’s actually on the Wilhelminakade, the Rotterdam embankment, where most of the symbolic places are concentrated. Along the spice warehouses of the former colonies of Holland on the river aboard a Spido, one of the stars with futuristic lines renowned for their circuits at the heart of economic activity, or in a water taxi, one of the famous yellow and black speedboat which one takes almost like the bus with some additional thrills, one arrives at the New York Hotel. It was installed in the historic walls of the shipping company Holland Amerika Linj having transported so many Europeans to Ellis Island. In addition to the beautiful decor of the coffee counter with a model of a boat behind the bottles, the reception area of the establishment goes back in time with its clocks and trunks from around the world. The rooms, very cozy,

A few steps away, here are the great monuments of Art Nouveau and Art Deco, the Las Palmas club and the New Luxor theater, where the last bands in the wind are performing. Unless you prefer the Now & Wow Club, cradle of house and dance music, probably the trendiest club in Rotterdam. This huge silo has been transformed into an indescribable place to party until the end of the night with the best DJs.

Dock out and gallery in

We finally head towards Delfshaven along the patrician facades of Avenue Westersingel. It is from this old historic port that the Pilgrim Fathers embarked, aboard the Speedwell towards Southampton, then from the Mayflower towards America, in 1620. A melancholic district where it is good to stroll, on foot or by bicycle, on the edge canals whose old halls are partly converted into trendy cafes and contemporary art galleries!
Here, we love the creation of young talents. The Art Rotterdam festival, which takes place every year at the end of winter, has thus become a benchmark for quality and dynamism. It will take place from February 16 to 20, not failing to bring together again countless works of the most original in photography, painting and sculpture. No less than ten countries will be represented at this fair. But there is also the International Film Festival, which has just celebrated its 35th edition, the Summer Carnival, which is now the event of the year, or the Dance parade, the largest gathering of Europe to wiggle. Because in Rotterdam, we’re on the move.

Good addresses and practical information

How to get there?
– By train: 3 h 10 by Thalys, from Paris Gare du Nord. Internet: www.thalys.com.
– By plane: 3 h 30 (one stopover).

Where to get information?
– Dutch tourist office in Paris: 7, rue Auber, 75009. Tel.: 01-43-12-34-20. Internet: www.holland.com.
– Rotterdam Tourist Office: Coolsingel 67. Tel.: 403-40-65. Internet: www.gorotterdam.com. Sells the Rotterdam Card (25 € for 24 hours and 50 € for 72 hours) which allows free access to the main attractions of the city (museums, port), transport, as well as certain discounts in partner hotels.

Or sleep?
– Hôtel Bazar: Witte de Withstraat 16. Tel.: 206-51-51. Internet: www.hotelbazar.nl. Themed hotel with a slightly crazy decor, bright colors, objects gleaned from flea markets. Rooms from 75 to 120 €. Also does fusion food restaurant.
– Van Walsum Hotel: Mathenesserlaan 199-201. Phone.: 436-32-75. Internet: www.hotelvanwalsum.nl. Subtle charm, 19th century atmosphere. Very comfortable rooms ranging from 98 to 110 €.
-New York Hotel: Koninginnenhoofd. Phone.: 439-05-00. Internet: www.hotelnewyork.nl. 72 rooms, each one more beautiful than the other, between 95 and 173 € anyway … You can be satisfied with a breakfast or a high tea served in the restaurant in a very pleasant setting.

Where to have a drink?
– Grand-Café Dudok: Meent 88. Tel.: 433-31-02. Internet: www.dudok.nl. Open from 10 a.m. to midnight. A huge Art Deco brasserie where the best coffees in the city are served.
– Café Rotterdam: Wihelminakade 699. Tel.: 290-84-42. Internet: www.caferotterdam.nl. The ideal place to unwind, in the old Holland-Ameika Lijn terminal.

Where to go out?
– Now & Wow Club: www.now-wow.com.
– Club Las Palmas: www.club-laspalmas.nl.

To see
– Boijmans van Beuningen Museum: Museumpark 18-20. Phone.: 441-94-00. Internet: www.boijmans.rotterdam.nl. Closed Mondays and holidays. Paintings and sculptures from the mid-18th century to the contemporary era. A must.
– Historical museum: Schielandhuis. Korte Hoogstraat 31. Tel.: 217-67-67. Internet: www.hmr.rotterdam.nl. A nice museum retracing the history of the city and its inhabitants.
– Dutch Institute of Architecture: Museupark 25. Tel.: 440-12-00. Internet: www.nai.nl. In addition to a library and a center for archives, drawings and models, the institute organizes interesting exhibitions on town planning and all related disciplines of architecture.
– Cubic houses: Overblaak 70. Tel: 414-22-85. Internet: www.cubehouse.nl.
– Euromast: Parkhaven 20. Tel.: 436-48-11. Internet: www.euromast.nl. Giant lollipop in the Rotterdam sky erected in the 1960s to symbolize the birth of the city.

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