CURRENT POPULATION: 589,000
% POP GROWTH: -0.98 %
CITY AREA: 319 KM2

CITY DENSITY: 2,851 INH/KM2
GDP PER CAPITA: €23,200
DIALLING CODE: +31

FRIENDS
KWIEZIEN
DELISTRAAT 20-22
TEL. 010 215 440
This brand new restaurant is on the Katendrecht peninsula on the south bank of the river Maas. The interior is warm, chic and trendy. The French-Dutch orientated kitchen is good and owner Karin Muires only uses the best products. This definitely includes the exquisite wines.

ENTERTAINING A CLIENT
ORIËNT
WESTERSINGEL 4
TEL. 010 436 77 53
This Chinese restaurant is so recommended it’s visited by the Chinese themselves. And that’s a good sign. Oriënt is right in the city centre close to the Central Station. Sea food is great here. The duck is also delicious, though it’s served in the Chinese way with the head on the plate.

CLOSING THE DEAL
LEPELS
KORTE HAVEN 5, SCHIEDAM
TEL. 010 246 73 58
The tables in this restaurant are far apart so conversation cannot be overheard. Lepels is the newest high quality restaurant in Schiedam, a town to the west of Rotterdam with beautiful old canals and 200-year-old merchant houses. The Mediterranean-French kitchen is exquisite – a real feast of flavours by chef Marc Smeets.

STYLE
BOUDEWIJN
NIEUWE BINNENWEG 53 A/B
TEL. 010 436 35 62
Boudewijn is a new café, based on the style of 1920s Belgian cafés with old advertisements on the wall, a long bar and brown wood. It attracts a mix of young creatives and business people, and there is a choice of more than 40 Belgian beers.

RELAX
STOBBE
KORTEKADE 20
TEL. 010 452 73 05
This café in the Kralingen area attracts many people who used to study or still work at the Erasmus University close by. The interior hasn’t change in the past 20 years and that’s exactly what the customers want. It’s a fine relaxed place for a drink or a simple meal.

MUSIC
STALLES
NIEUWE BINNENWEG 11A
TEL. 010 436 16 55
Next to Rotown – the best live music café in Rotterdam – is Stalles. Music lovers will find this café is worth checking out. For example, on the Singer’s Sundays, which start at about 5pm singers from all over Europe can be heard.

VALUE
ROOM
VAN VOLLENHOVENSTRAAT 62
TEL. 010 282 72 77
Budget Hostel ROOM Rotterdam in the city centre has 84 beds divided over 16 rooms, styled according to a Rotterdam theme, such as the zoo room with leopard prints, a nightclub room with red walls and the port room with the atmosphere of a container ship. The smallest rooms are for two people, the biggest for 10.

BUSINESS
DOMINA HOTEL
ENERGIEWEG 2
TEL. 010 713 90 00
Brand new is the Domina Hotel & Conference Rotterdam situated inside the Roel Langerak park, a green area just a few kilometres from the airport and from the city centre, and close to Diergaarde Blijdorp (zoo and ocean museum). There are 189 Italian style rooms with facilities such as broadband internet, and an Italian restaurant inspired by Dutch painter Van Gogh.

BESPOKE
MYCITYLOFTS
VARIOUS LOCATIONS
TEL. 06 488 84774
Ideal for short-stay travellers seeking luxury and privacy are the MyCityLofts that Arlette Goslinga-van Poppel recently opened in Rotterdam. “It’s like staying in a friend’s designer apartment,” she says. Services include a personal welcome with tips for what to see, filling the fridge, replacing the linen and towels and free Wi-Fi. Minimum stay is two nights.

For six years, Herlinde Koelbl photographed human hair all over the world. In the exhibition HAIR (www.kunsthal.nl), she shows that hair can be attractive or repulsive, concealing or seductive, depending on the body part it is located on, how you style it and who you want to be with. It’s on at the Kunsthal until 25 January 2009.

A good, healthy way to explore Rotterdam is to rent a step scooter at the Step King (www.destepkoning.nl). It also offers a GPS tour guiding you to the best bars in the city.

Shismaref is an island in Alaska that is disappearing because of global warming. The inhabitants are said to be the first climate fugitives of the north pole. Watch the pictures of the 600 people and their collapsing houses in the Las Palmas building at 326 Wilhelminakade (behind Hotel New York) from 9 November until 4 January 2009.

Dona Daria (www.donadaria.nl) is a public place for ‘women and emancipation’ at 129 Gerard Scholtenstraat in the ‘old north’ quarter. Here you can have a look at Rotterdam’s oldest toilet, which was installed in the 19th century. Alas, you cannot use the porcelain bowl with beautiful blue flowers anymore – because of a glass wall protecting it!

WORDS BY HELMUT DE HOOGH