Visiting Rotterdam, Netherlands: Top Sights on Foot

Rotterdam is a Dutch port city shaped by art, architecture, waterways and a remarkable mix of historic and modern landmarks. From the medieval Grote of Sint-Laurenskerk to the industrial bridge De Hef and the museums of Museumpark, there are plenty of things to do in Rotterdam. Neywo’s free audio guide for Rotterdam includes 353 narrated places, helping you discover the city as you walk.

Rotterdam is part of South Holland, in the Netherlands. Its sights range from major museums and listed churches to public monuments and former railway infrastructure. The city is especially rewarding when explored by neighbourhood, since each area reveals a different part of its history.

What to see in Rotterdam

Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen

Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen is one of Rotterdam’s major art museums. Its collection brings together visual art, applied art and design from the early Middle Ages to the twenty-first century.

The collection includes Dutch and European works associated with Jan van Eyck, Pieter Bruegel, Rembrandt, Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet and Salvador Dalí. Among its highlights are Bruegel’s The Tower of Babel, Jan van Eyck’s The Three Marys, Rembrandt’s Titus at the Reading Desk and Dalí’s Lips Bench.

The museum opened in 1849 around the collection of Frans Jacob Otto Boijmans. Its name changed in 1958 after the collection of Daniël George van Beuningen was added. The building dates from 1935 and includes a print room, a library and an important drawing collection.

Kunsthal

Also in Museumpark, the Kunsthal is an exhibition space designed for changing discoveries rather than a permanent collection. It opened in 1992 as the first Kunsthal in the Netherlands.

Its building stands on Westzeedijk, opposite Koningin Emmaplein. The Natuurhistorisch Museum Rotterdam is next door, making Museumpark a concentrated area for exploring art, architecture and natural history.

Natuurhistorisch Museum Rotterdam

The Natuurhistorisch Museum Rotterdam brings the natural world into Villa Dijkzigt, a neoclassical city villa built in the mid-nineteenth century for the Van Hoboken family. The villa was designed by Johan Frederik Metzelaar and stood on the Land van Hoboken estate.

The museum was founded in 1927 and has been housed in Villa Dijkzigt since 1987. In 1995, the building was expanded with a glass pavilion designed by Erick van Egeraat. The contrast between the historic villa and the transparent modern addition is one of the museum’s defining features.

Chabot Museum

The Chabot Museum occupies a monumental villa in Museumpark. Its collection focuses on international Expressionism, with particular attention to the painter and sculptor Henk Chabot and artists of his generation.

The museum also contains the Schortemeijer collection, with works from the 1920s, and twenty-six works connected with the Second World War from the private collection of Mrs Tol-Breugem. Its location near Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen and the Netherlands Architecture Institute places it at the heart of Rotterdam’s museum district.

Grote of Sint-Laurenskerk

The Grote of Sint-Laurenskerk, usually called the Laurenskerk, is the only surviving remnant of Rotterdam’s medieval city. This Gothic church is therefore one of the clearest links to Rotterdam’s distant past.

The Protestant church is dedicated to Laurentius of Rome, the city’s patron saint. Its design combines a hall church with a cross basilica. Inside an exhibition chapel, a knopkapiteel—a distinctive capital from the earlier church on the site—offers a tangible glimpse of the building that came before it.

Erasmus statue

On Grotekerkplein, opposite the Church of Saint Lawrence, stands a bronze statue of Desiderius Erasmus. The monument was inaugurated on April 30, 1622, and is regarded, as far as is known, as the oldest bronze statue in the Netherlands.

The statue stands in the Stadsdriehoek district, in the centre of Rotterdam. It is a small but significant historic landmark in an area where the city’s medieval past remains visible.

De Hef

De Hef, officially the Koningshavenbrug, spans the Koningshaven between Noordereiland and Feijenoord. The bridge opened in 1927 as part of the Breda–Rotterdam railway line and carried trains across the harbour channel until railway service ended here on September 24, 1993.

Its name means “the lift”, referring to its vertical-lift design. Although it no longer carries railway traffic, De Hef remains a Rijksmonument and a distinctive reminder of Rotterdam’s railway and harbour history.

Wereldmuseum Rotterdam

At the corner of Veerhaven and Willemskade, Wereldmuseum Rotterdam explores cultures from around the world through objects, stories and history. Founded in 1883, it continues the work of the former Museum voor Land- en Volkenkunde.

Its collection contains more than 1,800 ethnographic objects connected with cultures in Asia, Oceania, Africa, the Americas and the Islamic heritage. The museum occupies the former building of Rotterdam’s Royal Nautical Club in the Scheepvaartkwartier district.

Hillegondakerk

The Hillegondakerk is Rotterdam’s oldest church and stands on a donk, a sandy ridge above the surrounding peat landscape. The earliest document mentioning Hillegersberg dates from 993, while another document refers to a gift to the church of Rotta in 1025.

The present church dates from around 1500 and is a national monument. Huis ten Berghe castle once stood on the same hill, until the Hoeken destroyed it together with the church in 1426 during the Hook and Cod conflicts. The castle was never rebuilt, but remnants of its tower were reused during the church’s reconstruction.

Inside are historic objects including a pulpit from 1631, a reading desk from 1724 and an organ made by Abraham Meere in 1830. The organ was restored in 1982.

Sint-Lambertuskerk and Hoflaankerk

The pointed tower of Sint-Lambertuskerk is one of the defining sights of Kralingen. Designed in Neo-Gothic style by Evert Margry, a pupil of P.J.H. Cuypers, the Roman Catholic church was built between 1875 and 1878 and consecrated on June 26, 1878.

The church’s interior developed over time. A new organ by Michaël Maarschalkerweerd was installed in 1900, polychrome paintings were added in 1903, and the side aisles were enlarged during the 1920s. Sint-Lambertuskerk is listed as a national monument.

Nearby, the Hoflaankerk is the oldest church building in Rotterdam’s Kralingen neighbourhood, giving it a special place in the district’s history.

Other notable churches

Rotterdam’s religious landmarks reflect the city’s varied communities and architectural history. The Paradijskerk, also known as the Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, is an Old Catholic church on Nieuwe Binnenweg and a protected Rijksmonument.

The Greek Orthodox church, or Cathedral of Saint Nicholas, is another important religious landmark. The Nieuw-Apostolische Kerk adds a further local place of worship to the city’s architectural landscape.

Stieltjesmonument

On Noordereiland, the Stieltjesmonument is a public artwork created as a memorial to Th.J. Stieltjes. It provides a focused place to pause and remember the person it commemorates.

Noordereiland also appears alongside De Hef in Rotterdam’s maritime and industrial history, making the monument a natural stop when exploring this part of the city.

Explore Rotterdam with a free audio guide

Neywo offers a free audio guide for Rotterdam with 353 narrated places. The app includes 7 walking tours, 1 bus route and 1 bike route, with narration available in 11 languages.

The walks include routes through Museumpark, the rebuilt city centre, Rotterdam’s maritime district, Noordereiland, Delfshaven, the theatres and squares, and the Van Nelle Factory and Spangen. Their lengths range from 2.16 to 4.1 km and from 88 to 115 minutes, with 7 to 12 narrated stops per walk.

The bus route covers 8 km in 34 minutes and has 6 stops. The bike route along the Maas covers 3.9 km in 20 minutes and has 10 stops.

Download Neywo and explore Rotterdam at your own pace: the app tells the story of each place as you reach it, with no group and no schedule. After Rotterdam, you can continue exploring nearby destinations such as Dordrecht, Delft or The Hague.