Rotterdam from Amsterdam: A Day Trip by Train

The train from Amsterdam to Rotterdam

Domestic trains in the Netherlands cannot be reserved: you simply board the next one. Which train to take depends mostly on where you leave from.

Intercity Direct, via Amsterdam Zuid and Schiphol

The Intercity Direct uses the high-speed line between Schiphol Airport and Rotterdam. Since December 2024 it no longer leaves from Amsterdam Centraal, which is being renovated, but from Amsterdam Zuid, the station of the business district in the south of the city. Allow about 35 minutes between Amsterdam Zuid and Rotterdam Centraal, with several departures an hour during the day.

This train requires a €3.20 supplement for the Schiphol-Rotterdam stretch, on top of your ticket. You can buy it in the NS app with your e-ticket or, if you travel with your contactless bank card (OVpay), by tapping it on the supplement pole on the platform after your usual check-in. Without the supplement, you risk a fine if your ticket is inspected.

Regular Intercity, from Amsterdam Centraal

From Amsterdam Central Station, Intercity trains run without a change several times an hour to Rotterdam, via Leiden and The Hague. They take about 1 hr 10, with no supplement. If you are staying near Centraal, this is often the simplest choice: getting to Amsterdam Zuid by metro (line 52) or changing at Schiphol eats up part of the time saved.

NS fares found in October 2026, e-ticket or contactless card; a return costs twice as much. A ticket on a single-use card, bought from a machine, costs €1.60 extra. For how check-in and check-out work, see our guide to getting to Amsterdam by train.

Getting around Rotterdam

Rotterdam Centraal station, with its large pointed canopy opened in 2014, faces straight onto the centre. Many stops can be reached on foot, but distances are longer than in Amsterdam.

• RET metro, tram and bus: as in Amsterdam, you can pay with your contactless bank card (OVpay), checking in and out. Lines D and E link Centraal with Beurs, the hub of the network, then with Wilhelminaplein, at the foot of Kop van Zuid; lines A, B and C serve Blaak and Delfshaven. A one-day ticket costs €12 (€6 for a child), a two-hour ticket €5.50.
• Water taxi: the small boats of Watertaxi Rotterdam serve some fifty stops on the Maas, booked through their app, their website or by phone. The fare is per person and depends on the zones crossed: €5.25 within the central zone, €9 for two zones, €15 for three; half price up to age 12.

Morning: the Markthal and the Cube Houses

Start in the Blaak area, about twenty minutes' walk from the station. The Markthal, Ds. Jan Scharpstraat 298, is a 40-metre-high arch of apartments housing a covered market: stalls selling cheese, fish and food from around the world on the ground floor, under a ceiling painted all over with giant fruit and flowers. Entry is free; the market opens Monday to Thursday and Saturday from 10am to 8pm, Friday until 9pm and Sunday from noon to 6pm. It is also the easiest place for a quick lunch.

Right opposite, Piet Blom's Cube Houses (Kubuswoningen), completed in 1984, perch tilted yellow cubes on pillars above the street. They are lived in, except for the Kijk-Kubus, Overblaak 70, fitted out as a show home: open daily from 10am to 6pm, it costs €3.50, €2.50 for students and over-65s, €1.50 up to age 12.

Close by, the Laurenskerk, a Gothic church burnt out in 1940 and then restored, and the Witte Huis, an office building from 1898, are among the few buildings of the old centre left standing.

Midday: the Museumpark

The Museumpark, a fifteen-minute walk from the station, brings together the city's main art venues.

• Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen, Museumpark 24: the first museum storage depot fully open to the public, a bowl-shaped building clad in mirrors. You walk among the stored collection of the Boijmans museum, more than 155,000 objects, and watch conservators at work; the tree-planted roof looks out over the whole city. Open Tuesday to Sunday from 11am to 5pm, only with a time slot booked online or at the machine by the entrance. Tickets €20, €10.50 for students, free under 18 and with the Museumkaart. From 9 October 2026 to 29 March 2027, a €2.50 surcharge applies during the exhibition devoted to Marisol.
• Kunsthal, Westzeedijk 341: a temporary exhibition centre designed by Rem Koolhaas, with no permanent collection. Open Tuesday to Sunday from 10am to 5pm; €20, free under 18 and with the Museumkaart. Booking an entry time online is compulsory for everyone, and payment is by card only.

If you plan to visit several Dutch museums, the Museumkaart, explained in our guide to museum passes in Amsterdam, covers both of these.

Afternoon: the Erasmus Bridge and Kop van Zuid

Then head down to the Maas. The Erasmusbrug, the white 802-metre cable-stayed bridge designed by Ben van Berkel and opened in 1996, takes about ten minutes to cross on foot. Its outline has earned it the nickname "the Swan".

On the other side lies Kop van Zuid, a former port area turned high-rise district. At the end of the Wilhelminapier, Hotel New York occupies the former head office of the Holland America Line, completed in 1917: this is the quay from which the liners left, carrying hundreds of thousands of European emigrants to America. The building became a hotel and restaurant in 1993.

Further south, on the Katendrecht peninsula, the old sailors' quarter, two stops carry this story on:

• Fenix, Paul Nijghkade 5: an art museum about migration, opened on 16 May 2025 in a 1923 Holland America Line warehouse. On the roof, a 30-metre spiral of polished steel, the Tornado, has become a new landmark of the port. Open Tuesday to Sunday from 10am to 5pm; €15, €7.50 for ages 19 to 25, free up to 18. Metro to Wilhelminaplein, then a few minutes on foot.
• SS Rotterdam: the former flagship liner of the Holland America Line, moored at the tip of Katendrecht, is now a hotel. Its 1950s lounges can be visited with an audio guide or a guide.

The water taxi links the foot of the Erasmus Bridge, Hotel New York and Katendrecht in a few minutes: it is the most pleasant way to cross from one bank to the other.

End of the day: the Euromast or a harbour cruise

Two ways to see the city from above or from the water before catching the train back:

• The Euromast, Parkhaven 20, in Het Park, a fifteen-minute walk from the Kunsthal: its observation deck is at 112 metres and the Euroscoop, a glass cabin that rotates as it climbs, reaches 185 metres. Open daily from 9:30am to 10pm; from €13.50 online for an adult and €10 for ages 4 to 11, more at the ticket desk.
• The Spido cruise: a 75-minute trip from Willemsplein, at the foot of the Erasmus Bridge, which passes Hotel New York and the towers of Kop van Zuid, then heads into the port, among cranes and container ships, with an audio guide. €18.75 per adult, €10.55 for ages 4 to 11.

Delfshaven, the old harbour of the Pilgrim Fathers

If you would rather end the day quietly, take the metro (lines A, B or C) to Delfshaven. This small harbour, once part of Delft, escaped the 1940 bombing: canals, gabled houses and warehouses recall the towns you know around Amsterdam. It was from here that the Pilgrim Fathers set sail in 1620 for England, before crossing the Atlantic on the Mayflower; a plaque on the facade of the Pelgrimvaderskerk, Aelbrechtskolk 20, marks their departure.

Alternative: an afternoon at Kinderdijk

The nineteen UNESCO-listed windmills of Kinderdijk are about thirty minutes from Rotterdam on the WaterShuttle, which leaves from the Erasmus Bridge landing stage. In that case, keep the morning for the Markthal and the Cube Houses, then board in the early afternoon: the site needs at least two or three hours. Opening hours, the combined boat ticket and bus access are detailed on its page; to compare with the windmills closer to Amsterdam, see our guide to windmills around Amsterdam.

The day at a glance

Prices found in October 2026 on the venues' and operators' websites.

Tips for a successful day

• Avoid Mondays: the Depot Boijmans, the Kunsthal and Fenix are closed that day. On Sundays, the Markthal only opens at noon.
• Book the day before your Depot time slot and your Kunsthal entry time: these two visits set the pace of the day.
• Luggage: if you check out of your hotel on the day of the trip, leave your bags in Amsterdam before you go; the options are compared in our guide to luggage storage in Amsterdam.
• An architect's eye: to compare with Amsterdam's architecture, from canal houses to the buildings of the Amsterdam School, read our guide to Amsterdam architecture.

Further reading

Rotterdam is only one of the cities within easy reach by train: our guide to day trips from Amsterdam compares them all. If you prefer a closer canal city, see Utrecht from Amsterdam; and for Vermeer's museums and blue pottery, on the same line as Rotterdam, our guide The Hague and Delft from Amsterdam.