Rotterdam 2026

Rotterdam is a city in constant transformation, shaped by ambitious urban development and a thriving culture of architecture and the arts. It offers an impressive range of museums that reflect both its maritime heritage and contemporary creative identity.

The Fenix Museum of Migration is now firmly established as part of the city’s cultural landscape, while the Nederlands Fotomuseum has recently entered a new chapter with its relocation to the striking Santos building — a former coffee warehouse historically connected to Brazil. Through a collaboration between the German architecture practice Renner Hainke Wirth Zirn and the Dutch firm WDJArchitecten, the building was transformed into a contemporary museum space extending across nine floors, which opened in February 2026.

I stayed at the Hotel nhow, set within the monumental De Rotterdam complex on Wilhelminapier. This hotel has become one of the defining architectural experiences of modern Rotterdam. Designed by Rem Koolhaas and his practice OMA, the building reflects Rotterdam’s ambition, scale, and constant reinvention. The hotel occupies part of the vast De Rotterdam “vertical city” development on the River Maas, directly beside the iconic Erasmus Bridge. Floor-to-ceiling windows frame dramatic views across the skyline, river traffic, and the evolving southern docklands.  See below, the view from my hotel room on the 22nd floor, which enhanced my visit as the Maas is such a busy river with constant traffic, and fascinating to look out onto. 

Architecturally, it perfectly suits the atmosphere of contemporary Rotterdam: raw concrete, steel, glass, industrial textures, and bold modern lines softened by contemporary art and playful installations. The interiors were also designed under Koolhaas’s direction, making it one of the few hotels where the architectural vision extends from exterior form through to the rooms and public spaces. I never drew closed the curtains the view was compelling.

River Maas

The Erasmusbrug"Erasmus Bridge" is a combined cable-stayed and bascule bridge. Construction began in 1986 and was completed in 1996. Nicknamed 'The Swan'

May Insects and Birds in Cambridgeshire

 

Rotterdam -

The River Maas supports a rich and constantly changing mix of water traffic, making it an especially compelling subject for observation while spending time in Rotterdam. Massive inland cargo barges glide past carrying containers, bulk goods, and fuel between the port and the European hinterland, while sleek seagoing vessels move steadily toward the North Sea. Interwoven with this heavy commerce are fast water taxis, commuter ferries, harbour service boats, and occasional river cruise ships, all sharing the same working waterway. Smaller tugs, pilot boats, and maintenance craft add further layers of movement, scale, and purpose. Together, this variety reflects Rotterdam’s identity as a living port city, where daily life, global trade, and river dynamics intersect in a continuous, visually engaging flow. I love taking a water taxi! Sadly, I don't have many images to show the water traffic.

An amphibious bus that looks as though it is sinking

The view from the Fenix Museum in Rotterdam looks out across the River Maas and captures the city in constant motion. From this vantage point, the broad sweep of the river reveals a measured choreography of passing barges, water taxis, and working harbour vessels, set against the crisp silhouettes of bridges, cranes, and modern towers lining the opposite bank. Light continually shifts as clouds drift overhead, casting steel blues and silvery greys across the water and softening the industrial forms. Historic port buildings sit comfortably beside contemporary architecture, underscoring Rotterdam’s layered identity as a harbour city shaped by both labour and design. Cutting decisively through the scene is the Erasmus Bridge, a striking white arc designed by Ben van Berkel, whose elegant profile anchors the view and symbolises the city’s confidence in renewal and movement. Near the river’s edge stands the Hotel New York, surrounded by tall skyscrapers yet firmly rooted in the past; once the headquarters of the Holland America Line, it served as a departure point for thousands of emigrants bound for North America, lending the modern skyline a quiet sense of memory and human history.