Rotterdam, Ranked: 7 Unmissable Experiences

Flattened in 1940 and rebuilt without nostalgia, Rotterdam became the Netherlands' laboratory: a skyline city of experiments on the broad River Maas. It rewards visitors who like their Europe modern, maritime and a little audacious. Here is what to do, ranked.

Key facts

• Best months: May to September, when terraces and rooftops open up
• Getting around: metro, trams, water taxis and flat cycling
• Character: the un-Amsterdam — big skies, big port, bold buildings

1. Gape at the Markthal

Rotterdam's horseshoe-shaped market hall is the city in one building: apartments arching over a food market, the vault lined with a gigantic, fruit-and-flower mural often nicknamed the Dutch Sistine Chapel. Graze the stalls — cheese, stroopwafels, herring if you dare — and look up often.

2. Step inside the Cube Houses

Beside the Markthal tilt the famous yellow Cube Houses, Piet Blom's 1970s forest of dwellings rotated 45 degrees onto their corners. One cube is typically open as a show house, so you can experience the delightfully disorienting sloped-window life inside.

3. Cross the Erasmus Bridge at golden hour

The swan-necked Erasmusbrug is the city's signature, linking the centre to the Kop van Zuid towers. Walk or cycle it as the sun drops and the skyline lights come on — the harbour panorama is the best free show in the Netherlands.

4. See art in the mirror-ball Depot

On the Museumpark lawn sits a giant reflective bowl: the Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen, the world's first fully publicly accessible art-storage building. Instead of curated galleries you roam racks and vaults holding a legendary collection — Bosch to Dali — with a rooftop forest and restaurant crowning it. The neighbouring main museum building has been undergoing long-term renovation, so the Depot is the way in; check opening arrangements before you go.

5. Sail the port, or just ride a water taxi

Rotterdam remains Europe's largest seaport, and the water is where the city makes sense. Harbour cruises from the centre pass shipyards, docks and skyline; even a short hop by yellow water taxi to the Hotel New York — the former Holland America Line headquarters from whose piers emigrants left for the New World — delivers the maritime thrill.

6. Wander Delfshaven, the survivor

One historic quarter escaped the bombs: little Delfshaven, with its gabled canal houses, working windmill and the church associated with the Pilgrim Fathers' departure. It is a pocket of old Holland folded into the modern city — quietly moving at dusk.

7. Finish on Witte de Withstraat

The city's liveliest street packs galleries, bars and kitchens from every port the harbour ever traded with. Order bitterballen and a local beer, and watch un-touristy Rotterdam go by.

Tip: The Euromast tower adds a 100-metre-plus panorama if the weather is clear, but a water taxi at sunset gives more Rotterdam per euro. In summer, rooftop festivals and open harbour days pop up frequently — check the city's official agenda for your dates.