Rotterdam is a very family and tourist friendly city. We had a great (and busy) two days in August!
The package we booked cost £582 which included 2 nights at the Bilderberg Parkhotel with breakfast and return tickets on the Eurostar from St Pancras International. Although the hotel was very central and a perfect base, it wasn’t somewhere we would choose to spend any more time in than necessary (we did not see much for kids to do).
There are so many ways to get around the city (trams, trains, bikes, buses) which makes it easy to navigate with kids. We tried out as many as possible in our short stay which added extra fun for our boys.
Top tip: The Rotterdam Welcome Card is brilliant for discounts on various attractions, especially because we didn’t find any that were free. Buy it at Tourist Information Point in Rotterdam rather than online, so you don’t end up paying more than you should.
Day 1
We took the tram to the Miniworld which is absolutely perfect for families. The boys said it was their favourite part of the trip. It’s full of recognisable Dutch landscapes and has so much to look at and interact with. There is a moving clock that turns the whole place from day to night every 24 minutes.
Although we didn’t use it, there is a children’s play park directly opposite.
We chose lunch on the move from a very cool self-service, cashless convenience store in Rotterdam train station. It was then very easy to get the train to Rotterdam Zoo. It had some wonderful animals with a great aquarium and regular feeding times. The zoo supports many conservation projects in the world and is one of the top zoos for participating in breeding programmes for endangered species.
We got the bus back to De Markthal and ate at a restaurant we found highly recommended on TripAdvisor: Very Italian Pizza was delicious! The staff were very friendly and gave great service. Nice and full, it was then time to walk back to the hotel for bedtime!
Day 2
We started our last day at the Euromast Tower where you can try out the Euroscoop – a rotating glass elevator with panoramic views of the city. The boys loved looking at the industrial port as well as watching planes take off and land at the airport.
We then took the bus to the Maritime Museum which has an amazing indoor play area called Professor Splash. Even though the rest of the museum is not for children, we still managed to spend a few hours there.
If you are looking for food in this area, a street close to the museum called ‘Witte de withstraat’ is packed with restaurants. The boys wanted to eat rice so we got a recommendation from a lovely owner of another restaurant and got takeaway to make sure we didn’t miss our train back to London.
We also planned to go on a Splashtour but unfortunately, we missed it by a matter of minutes so if you do manage to give it a try, let me know how you get on!
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