A very unique experience, though a bit pricey at around $24 USD (€20-22). It's important to know…read morethat this isn't a traditional museum; it's a high-tech art storage center that happens to be open to the public. The focus is really on the "behind-the-scenes" of art preservation--how pieces are crated, cleaned, and stored in climate-controlled rooms. The building itself is a masterpiece. It spans several floors, and while the individual sections feel small, the central atrium with its zig-zagging staircases is massive. There's an elevator if you want to skip the stairs! They offer free 10-minute "walk-in" tours of the storage compartments, plus more detailed "behind-the-scenes" tours that are worth the extra look. The top floor has a great cafe/restaurant (Renilde) and an outdoor space with a forest of birch trees. The 360-degree view of Rotterdam is breathtaking. If you love architecture or are curious about how museums actually work, it's worth the price. If you just want to see a standard art gallery, you might find it a bit expensive.

The Boijmans is the main art museum in Rotterdam. It opened in 1847, originally with the collection…read moreof Frans Jacob Otto Boijmans. Since then, it has grown and now contains some of the preeminent works of art. Not just Dutch artists, the collection includes Rembrant, Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh, René Magritte and Salvador Dalí. And those are just the more famous. There are Rubens and Bosch and many more! A friend of mine had visited a few months ago and found the Rembrant/Dali wing was closed. That wing was open this time, but the Kandinsky wing was closed. I'm a big fan of Kandinsky and I have a few posters of his work and his contemporaries. I was bummed. Even bummed, I still enjoyed the Bruegel "Tower of Babel", one of the most famous paintings in Rotterdam. And the Rodin sculptures. Amazing artworks! The museum wasn't particularly crowded on this weekday and they had no issue with photographs, as long as the flash was disabled. An audio tour is available, which I strongly recommend. Note: The museum is a member of the Museumkaart system, so if you're planning on visiting more than three or four museums in the Netherlands, get the card!

Rotterdam was bombed back in 1940 and the only thing left standing with the church were the walls…read moreand tower. On Sunday it is only open for church services and opening times depends on meetings and special occasions. Outside of that you can visit the church for €4 or the church and tower for €7,50. I recommend taking the 300+ steps up to the top for the views. The church itself it's beautiful for the most part but the exhibits seemed out of place for this space.

It is THE MUSEUM in Rotterdam. Part of the larger Musea area district in Rotterdam, this is fully…read morededicated to contemporary art and shows. It is a very modern well designed and great looking museum. It is noticeable when you are inside, from the outside is a pretty nice building which completely hide himself between the higher road and the lower park. It can get easily crowded. The bar/restaurant is big and nice... nothing spectacular but always a good stop in between shows or to end up your viewing experience. Part of the Museum Card network (for most of the shows). I was there for the Keith Haring show, a very loved artist in Rotterdam. All very good.

Who's everyone's favorite spy? Could it be James Bond a.k.a 007? Duh!! The Kunsthal has an expo on…read moreher majesty's favorite spy. It looks great! The first thing you see is the famous orange bikini from that equally famous scene. And smack dab in the middle of the auditorium there is the iconic Asthon Martin. The original James Bond, Sean Connory next to it in full life size glory. The expo consist of clips from favorite/ famous scenes, a lot of iconic props and costumes. There is a room soley dedicated to the casino scene's throughout the Bond movies. A life size casino table fills the room with manikins of the actors around it. There's also een fairly big replica of the ice hotel in one of the rooms. And check this out, the revolving round bed with the gold sprayed girl form 'Goldfinger" is also in the expo. Must sound very nice to a lot of male ears!! There is so much to see, enough to fill 1 or 1.5 hours. You can also look at Ian Flemming's original books and a small history about him. My fave is the photo wall of all the different Bond actors and their fake Bond ID's. So if you want something to do in the weekend that lightens up these gloomy winter days, go to the Kunsthal. The expo is there untill february 8, 2015.

Interesting museum that had 2 exhibits inside the museum that I liked. 1st one goes into the drug…read moretrade and it's history with the major port city of Rotterdam. The other exhibit showed models of various ships that extract oil resources from the ocean and you can hear real life stories from those who were board these ships. Outside they have some small ships, some of which you can board with your ticket. There is someone inside that will tell you a little bit about the history of the ships.

Great museum for both kids and adults, the Metro drops you off right there (exit Bauers) and you…read morejust walk across the street. You can't miss it. They take American credit cards *yay*. I took my two girls ages 6 and 10 and they had a great time exploring and learning. There is a level where you have very cool hands on activities and you get to experience what its like to be on an oil rig. From listening to videos, taking quizzes to trying to land a helicopter or track down leaks on an oil pipeline. They have about 9 stations that you can play to compete for points. The museum is surprisingly big. There is also a museum artwork/paintings exhibit that discusses the history of ships and the Dutch Fleet. There was also a cruiseline exhibit that shows the interiors of a ship, you walk into different rooms so you can see what it looked like to travel in ship back in the old days. And for kids, they have an awesome rooftop playground that has plenty of ships and boats to climb on. Lots of dollies, wheelcarts to push and other port labor inspired activities for the kids to play with. The views from the rooftop over the water are really nice! We spent about 3 hours inside the actual musuem and then headed down to their lovely cafe for a snack and beverages. There is also an area outside to explore but we were getting tired and still needed to hit the shopping strip a block away. Their gift store was cute but alot of little trinket toys that the kids can get anywhere in the states. Overall, I would definitely recommend a visit especially if you have kids.

This gives a pretty good overview of how Rotterdam developed through a time lapse map, a few built…read moremodels, and a variety of unearthed archaeological finds. They also had a special exhibition about people emigrating to the United States from the New York hotel here in Rotterdam. Interesting if you want to have some understanding of how this place developed.