As someone who really, really likes Amsterdam, it makes sense that I’d want to see more of The Netherlands. I recently visited Maastricht and enjoyed the city too but, despite at least six visits to Amsterdam (or more, I’ve lost count!) I’d never made it to Rotterdam. In July 2026, that changed, when our football team, Burnley, planned to play a friendly against Ajax. We were free, we decided to fly over for the weekend to support them, and finally made spending a day in Rotterdam work. But is Rotterdam worth visiting, if you only have a day? I’ve written this post, covering spending a day in Rotterdam, to help you decide.
By sheer coincidence, we ended up in Rotterdam on 25th July, which in 2026 was The Netherlands Carnival. Carnival sees a 5km street parade party its way through the city for about 7 hours, with over 2,500 people taking part in the parade. Originally South American countries, Carnival now has a wide variety of people from different countries taking part in the excitement. It was big, colourful, loud, exciting and pretty overwhelming when I wasn’t expecting it.
My big learning from this trip– if there’s a city you really want to see, check what’s going on in that city when you’re planning to visit. It wouldn’t have changed a thing for us this time as we only had Saturday free for Rotterdam, but it may have meant we decided to keep visiting Rotterdam for another time. Neither of us are great with crowds, but we did enjoy standing still watching some of the parade pass.
Things to do in Rotterdam
Rotterdam is less touristy than Amsterdam and so the list of must sees in the city is a lot smaller, but there’s still a good list of things to do in Rotterdam. Knowing I’d only be spending a day in Rotterdam, I focused on the things I really wanted to see, but the city does have more to offer, on a day where there isn’t a massive party working its way through the streets.
Markthal
Rotterdam’s Markthal, a large indoor food market, is famous for a beautiful painted curved ceiling that has to be seen to be believed. The large curved glass building has apartments on top and a food market inside, with so many different food stalls we found it hard to choose. We ended up going for Korean Fried Chicken and there’s a review post coming up for that.
It was pretty busy but queues for food moved fast. It is definitely worth noting that whilst there are some tables, it’s a really small number and we also couldn’t see benches outside. Markthal, you’re great, but please add somewhere to sit!
Cube Houses
Rotterdam’s iconic yellow cube houses are one of my top things to do in Rotterdam. I’ve had these on my travel bucket list for as long as I’ve been solo travelling, at least ten years, and I felt pretty emotional to finally get there and have a look at these frankly weird apartments.
Walking inside the little neighbourhood really makes you appreciate how cool it must be to live there, in a quieter bit of the city, away from the hustle and bustle. As such a tourist attraction there are bound to be people milling around in the main courtyard, but everyone was respectful and didn’t try to go up steps to the landings where people enter their houses.
You can pay £3 to go into the Kube House Museum, and have a taste of how people live inside them. Whilst the museum gets quite cramped when full of people, there’s no other time when you’ll get to see inside something quite so unusual so I’d recommend a look, despite the crowding.
Euromast Tower
One of things to do in Rotterdam that you shouldn’t miss is taking the lift to the top of Euromast Tower. I love a good aerial viewpoint and this is Rotterdam’s best, but I didn’t book in advance and it turned out I needed to, so we missed out on this one. I have seen photos of the views and they would be well worth the trip to the tower.
Boat tour
We did book this one in advance, happily. J spotted a pancake boat experience, which wasn’t a tour with commentary but was a trip down the river with an unlimited pancake buffet instead. We felt it was a great idea for a good feed and whilst I only nibbled at a couple of pancakes, J had five, with a variety of toppings, as he has a typical person’s appetite. We didn’t need a meal for tea.
If you don’t fancy pancakes but do enjoy a boat tour, this 1 hour splash tour, with a bus that drives into the river and shows you a bit of the city on land and a bit on water, would be my top suggestion. I’m desperate to try one of these. This 1 hour 15 minute boat tour with commentary seems a bit less exciting, but for those who are a bit terrified of being driven into water, it’s a great option.
Witte de Withstraat
Witte de Withstraat is a famous Rotterdam street known for being full of street art, restaurants and bars. I was really looking forward to wandering around here taking photos, having a couple of cocktails and relaxing. It turned out that the Carnival parade was all the way down the road so it was not a relaxing experience and I didn’t see it that well, but it’s clearly a beautiful, colourful road. You shouldn’t miss it when you’re planning things to do in Rotterdam.
Santa Claus Sculpture
This sculpture is absolutely famous for looking like Santa with a butt plug, lets be fair. It’s supposed to be a Christmas tree but I think the artist was having a joke.
He was made in 2001 by Paul McCarthy, and you can find him in Eendrachtsplein Square.
So, is Rotterdam worth visiting? For me it’s a big yes! Spending a day in Rotterdam is something I’d love to do again (with no carnival!) so I can really appreciate everything the city has to offer, go up the Euromast tower and properly check out the street art. One day, I’ll be back.
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