Luckily, Rotterdam is not all about doing business. A thriving city such as this could not but excel in the things that make up the much-envied European lifestyle: culture, arts, entertainment and sports.

The city hosts the De Doelen concert hall, home of the famous Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the Boijmans van Beuningen Museum, the Kunsthal (Art Gallery), the Prince Hendrik Maritime Museum, World Museum Rotterdam (former the Museum of Ethnology), the Dutch Institute for Architecture and the Dutch Photographic Institute.

Numerous cinemas, restaurants, cafes and pubs - many of them staging live jazz, rock and popular music - make up Rotterdam's nightlife. What is more, Ahoy Rotterdam is the venue where concerts by the biggest names in the world music scene today are given. In 1997 Ahoy Rotterdam paid host to the 1997 MTV European Music Awards.

At the end of January each year, Rotterdam hosts the International Film Festival attracting film producers and spectators from all over the world. Other festivals include the Antillian Carnival in August, the Dunya Festival in June (poetry, ethnic music and culinary delights), and the Metropolis Festival of new trends in Rock and Dance music in July. Read More...

The Latins used to say Anima Sana in Corpore Sano (a healthy spirit resides in a healthy body). Rotterdamers strive for this through hockey, tennis, swimming, judo, kickboxing and many more, and of course, football! Three professional teams, Feyenoord, Sparta and Excelsior, are based in Rotterdam, each with its own stadium.

And if all this is not enough, Rotterdam still has the solution: it is only one hour away from the nation's capital, Amsterdam, twenty minutes from the administrative capital, The Hague, and for those that really want to go international, Antwerp's (Belgium) seafood restaurants are just an hour away too.

 Tourist office

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