Rotterdam mini-break...any preschooler friendly top tips or hidden gems?

[SeLHopeful2024]

Just that really!
I've decided to have a little trip to Rotterdam with my 4yr old son.

I've listed most of the main attractions or points of interest to visit (will probably just get to a fraction, but that's fine!) so I have a rough plan to follow.

Wondered if anyone has any hidden gems to add to my plan though- nice coffee shops, ice cream places, child friendly restaurants etc. Or interesting places to visit that may not be in the top 10 thing to do lists.

Thanks for any replies.

Are you going to the food market place? I bet he’ll love that!

DierenPark Amersfoort - about 1.5hours away from Rotterdam by train and has dinosaurs and a full zoo.

And the Zoo?

If you can get there (train maybe?!), Efterling is only an hour from Rotterdam and it’s wonderful 😍

We have been here a couple of times. It is lovely. Lots of play areas, indoors and outdoors and a splash park. There are lots of animals too.

www.plaswijckpark.nl/

Miniworld is really good
https://www.miniworldrotterdam.com/

I agree with the Efteling recommendation too. It is a wonderful place!

Markthal! It's on on a Sunday.
Cube houses, stay in the stayokay. Really cool and good family rooms.

Kinderdijk windmills are great and not far from rotterdam. There are bike routes there but then its a full day. Get there by uber (or public transport) then you can rent a bike from cafe/restaurant de Klok. They should have one with a basket for your toddler. You can just walk around. Don't pay to go inside the visitor centre. Its extortionate and just nice to see the windmills.

The port for freight ship watching. There's a boat trip you can do but not sure 3yo would enjoy it.

Would you day trip to efteling? That's a separate trip maybe.

This is definitely on the list. Although, after being to miniature wonderland in Hamburg 3 times, I'm keeping my expectations in check.

DS will love it though.

@ZenNudist I had planned to take a trip to the Kinderdijk windmills, was planning a water taxi or whatever boats take us there.

Cube houses are definitely on the list.
We are already booked into a hotel near the central station, so that should be easy for the food market.

Thanks everyone. You've added some really cool sounding places that I hadn't come across.

Some of the places further out may require a second trip as we are only staying 3 nights.

This is great to know there's so much to explore as we've got easy access to Eurostar for future trips.

You can get the Waterbus route 21 direct to Kinderdijk from the Erasmusbrug, or use line 20 then change en route. A South Holland Tourist Day Ticket can be used on the Waterbus, but it may be cheaper to just pay the standard fares.

For Rotterdam and the surrounding area, check out whether a Rotterdam Welcome Card may be worth getting. You can get one which just gives discounts on most attractions or one which includes public transport for various numbers of days.

Tourist info at Rotterdam Centraal Station or on Coolsingel sells these cards and tickets, but I'm sure they're also available online.

As PP said, the boat tour round the port area may not be that interesting for a young child, but I guess it depends. Are you also considering the Euromast and the Euroscoop?

Have a great time. It really is a wonderful city.

@TreesAtSea I was planning on the Euromast.
Will need to look at Euroscoop as I've not come across that.

I went to Copenhagen last year and he enjoyed the canal boat trip then, so thought about doing it again in Rotterdam.
Can't decide if I just take a picnic like last year, or do the pancake boat tour.

Thanks for your info. It's so helpful to have different ideas. Google searches were a bit repetitive and didn't offer much new information.

There’s a London blogger called bablands who did a post about Rotterdam with kids and it sounded so fun.

The Euroscoop is the uppermost part of the Euromast: you go up in a glass lift which takes 7 minutes to reach the top. You can either do just the Euromast (which is great in itself with three different viewing platforms) or pay more and go up the Euroscoop. It was closed when I went a couple of years ago, so hope to do it next time.

The Waterbus trip is lovely, but most of the boat is enclosed. You can all the way down to Dordrecht which I really liked.
I didn't do the pancake boat but did go on the Spido boat tour round the port area: plenty of room to sit out in the open on that.

Oooh. I didn't realise. I followed her on insta, and if I'm thinking of the same person, I bought her book too!

I might try to go all the way to the top @TreesAtSea if it's open.
I do love a view point!
We missed out on Copenhagen due to poor weather and a bit of a negative cloud to the trip.
I'm hoping this trip goes more smoothly...hence the over prep!

Two other things I didn't do myself but which look fun...

Splashtours: an amphibious bus which does a city tour on land before driving into the river to continue the tour😀

Take a water taxi: you see these little black and yellow boats zipping round to/from various points, amongst all the other river traffic.