|
Rotterdam Tours and ExcursionsFrom: Rotterdam Travel Guide
Local tours and excursionsRotterdam's center is small enough, and the tourist office's free Citymap Rotterdam and other materials are good enough, that you can enjoy most of the city's sights on your own. (See Rotterdam Architecture & Art and Rotterdam Sightseeing & Attractions.) Still, some sights are best seen by boat, especially if you're interested in the Port of Rotterdam. Spido has operated sightseeing boats in Rotterdam since 1919, and its modern vessels offer 75-minute harbor tours with multilingual commentary throughout the year. In addition to cruising in the city center, the tours offer a look at container-handling facilities, dry docks, and ships in Europe's busiest port. A newer company, Splashtours, offers land/water sightseeing tours in a custom-built amphibious bus. The tour is popular, so book online to get a seat. Our own favorite tour (until it was suspended recently) was the Rebus Shipping Company's Kinderdijk cruise aboard an old-fashioned two-deck excursion boat, the Nehalennia. The leisurely three-hour trip took visitors to the UNESCO-listed windmills at Kinderdijk, which is upriver from Rotterdam. Nehalennia's itinerary now consists of a two-hour Rotterdam harbor tour, but if you'd like to visit Kinderdik, you can get there by Waterbus. Day trips by boatIn addition to its standard harbor cruises, Spido offers day cruises to the new Maasvlakte 2 port project across from the Hook of Holland. On these longer cruises, the spoken commentary is in Dutch only, but English- or German-speaking passengers are given written translations. The fares include apple pie and coffee upon boarding and a buffet lunch. Tours to other citiesFrom Rotterdam, you can easily reach Delft, Utrecht, Den Haag (The Hague) and other nearby cities by train. See the Netherlands Railways Web site for a journey planner and prices.
Bicyle toursUrbanGuides offers guided city tours and day trips, including a variety of bicycling tours. If you'd rather explore the city on your own, visit the tourist office's Rent a bike in Rotterdam page. Also see Peter Hilton's Rotterdam Cycling Routes, which has detailed step-by-step directions with photos for several tours in and around Rotterdam. Next page: Museums
Top photo: Spido Havenrondvaarten. |
| Europe for Visitors - Home | | About us | | Press clippings | | Testimonials | Copyright © 1996-2024 Durant and Cheryl Imboden. All rights reserved. |