Centrum Bikes & Rent A Bike Rotterdam, Zuid-Holland, NetherlandsNetherlands is known for biking and has been building good biking infrastructure for decades. While Amsterdam is popular with tourists the many canals and bridges are not ideal for biking. Rotterdam being a flat city and heavily bombed in WWII has been able to rebuild a modern biking network.
I rented my bike from Centrum Bikes just south of the centre near the Maritime Museum by the harbour. Unlike other cities that have bike stations that you can use with an app (which I do not like as I do not have roaming wifi), Rotterdam still has a bike rental store where you can talk to locals for advice. Also with so many locals owning bikes they do not need to have rental stations.
I had to rent the bike for 24 hours as I wanted to take the 10am first ferry to Kinderdijk tomorrow Sunday morning and the rental store did not open till 10am either which would make me wait till the next ferry at 11.40 am. I was not keen on keeping the bike overnight and the hotel said I could not keep it in my room and did not have a storage room. The rental store explained they had a double lock with a wheel clamp which he said was common in the Netherlands and quite safe from theft if locked properly.
First I biked down and across the Erasmus bridge. If I had more time there is a tunnel to come back but no elevators and I would have to take the bike up and down the escalators or stairs.
Crossing back on the Erasmus Bridge then I went west along the waterfront to cut across to the park with the Euromast tower. I had come here in 2004 and gone up the tower.
Going back east towards the centre was good biking lanes, It was starting to get darker and colder and I had just arrived this morning from my long haul flight so I did not want to overdo it on day one.
Returning to the hotel I needed to park the bike for the night. All the racks were full outside the hotel but I managed to find a spot. I was more concerned with the double lock mechanism and keeping the bike safe for the night.
With the double lock first you lock the wheel in place with the wheel lock then use the chain to tie the bike and double lock it. It seemed to work and I would just have to take the rental stores advice that it was safe and normal in The Netherlands
Next morning I was running about an hour late being my first nights sleep after my flight. The bike was safely waiting at the rack which was empty from all the bikes parked last night.
First I went north and east towards Centraal Station. Again there are biking lanes in these busy routes.
I then went south thru the centre passing across Chinatown thru empty streets on Sunday morning
I went back to the Pencil House and Markethall area. I wanted to take my pics before the 10am ferry to Kinderdijk which I would take with my bike.
You can see the Kinderdijk biking and video in next entry. Returning from Kinderdijk thick mists had moved in so I was able to do all my biking before the rains
It was 20 Euros to rent the bike for 24 hours with 50 Euro cash deposit.
See also Vlog of Rotterdam biking (7 mins) - https://youtu.be/32EVOCLYJJU
2025-05-22