3 Best Sights in Rotterdam, Netherlands

A sea lover's delight, the Maritiem Museum or Maritime Museum contains Rotterdam's noted nautical collection. Appropriately perched at the head of the Leuvehaven harbor, it was founded by Prince Hendrik in 1874. The seafaring ways of old Rotterdammers make more sense set against the background of modern and historical maritime objects. The main exhibit on the ground floor is a large model of the Europoort, which shows how the Rotterdam area has developed over the centuries into the major seaport of today. The upper floors are mainly given over to rotating exhibitions on seafaring themes. Children have half a floor dedicated to them, called "Professor Plons" (Professor Plunge), where museum staff are on hand to help with looking through a real periscope, donning a hard hat, and taking to the driving seat of a scaled-down crane, and engaging in many other aquatic and maritime activities. Outside the museum, a dozen or so old tugs and barges are moored along Leuvehaven. The wharf is also home to a number of cranes salvaged from ports around the country, and these are particularly striking when floodlighted at night.

Fittingly for a city of exciting modern architecture, Rotterdam is the home of the national architecture institute. The striking glass-and-metal building—designed by Rotterdam local Joe Conen in 1993—hosts temporary displays on architecture and interior design in seven exhibition spaces, giving a holistic interpretation of the history and development of architecture, especially the urban design and spatial planning of Rotterdam. Your museum ticket also includes a visit to the adjacent Huis Sonneveld (Jongkindstraat 12), designed and built in the early 1930s by the architects Brinkman & Van der Vlugt. Considered a classic of Nieuwe Bouwen style, stepping into the period-furnished interior gives a real sense of what ultramodern felt like—in 1933.

On a corner of rustic Veerhaven, surrounded by old sailing boats moored alongside modern yachts, this museum is devoted to non-Western cultures, many of which have had a sizable influence on Rotterdam. The permanent collection features more than 2,000 art objects from Asia, the Americas, Africa, and Oceania. Most of the exhibition space, however, is given over to changing themed exhibitions.