We booked a tour in May for the ultimate ‘De Rotterdam’ Tour. This was during Rotterdam Architecture Month but it can also be booked at any time of the year with the tour company. We find tours like this as the best way to explore the city where we live, but also other cities with similar experiences. Rotterdam has some fantastic locations for summer and winter, well worth your time too!
Rotterdam Architecture Month
Rotterdam Architecture Month allows you to visit some of the coolest skyscrapers and hidden locations in Rotterdam. You can join a rooftop tour with the Dakendagen Weekend, visit underground locations, learn about the city and discover other buildings during the Day Of Architecture. There are also special programmes to watch films, lectures and live music. For 2019 the dates were 24 May to 16 June.
For 2019 we also took a tour on the roof and hidden areas of Rotterdam Centraal Station!
De Rotterdam Tour
For one hour you can have a tour with this company in the largest building in the Netherlands, called De Rotterdam. With a height of 149.1 meters / 489.2 feet and a total of 44 floors, making a hotel, office space and apartments. The building is split up in 3 sections, the left one for the hotel NHow, the middle one is offices and the right one for apartments and more offices.
We didn’t ask how many glass panels the building has, but you can see its rather a lot!
In The Entrance Hall
The group gathered together in the entrance hall of De Rotterdam. The tour started with an explanation of the construction of the building, which started in 2009. Our tour guide gave us some interesting facts and explanations, such as the original design having diagonal elevators.
Inside The Parking Garage
Our tour guide gave us a good explanation about the building during the construction in the parking garage too. As the building was built, it became extremely heavy on the main concrete pillars. Ultimately the building was built on an upward arching floor, which over time of the construction became flat. However if the parking floor started arching downwards, they can use pressurised pumps to raise the concrete of the whole building.
In the photo you can see the gap between the concrete that they raised during the construction. If needed, the pumps can be put in place to raise the building again, or lower it. The interesting thing is that all concrete pillars in the parking garage have been raised or lowered at different levels too.
On The 31st Floor
This was the bit we were all excited for most, taking the elevator to the 31st floor. It would have been cooler to be straight to the rooftop, but no complaints! The 31st floor was completely empty with its’ concrete structure and 360° views.
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Summary
We absolutely loved our tour with De Rotterdam Tours and our tour guide. She explained really well the history and construction process, which included her showing us photos from the past. We enjoyed that you first start in the lobby of the building and explore the surrounding area and parking. This builds up the tour and the final part of the views at the top. We can highly recommend doing this tour, whether with Rotterdam Architecture Month or during another Rotterdam event.
*This post has not been sponsored.*
Tips
- Book as soon as you can for a spot during the Rotterdam Architecture Month
- Take a drink with you to stay hydrated and don’t leave any rubbish behind
- Wear sensible shoes, its a walking tour after all
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Have you ever joined the De Rotterdam Tour in Rotterdam? Would you love the views? Let us know in the comments!Â
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