The Usual Hotel is a sustainable design hotel in the city centre, BREEAM In-Use Outstanding and Green Key Gold certified. He has lived in Rotterdam for four years and knows the city the way only someone who lives there can. We asked him to put together a guide for guests staying at The Usual, and for anyone searching for an honest, local take on what Rotterdam is really like.
He describes the city in three words: Bold. Honest. Alive.
Here are his recommendations.
Pasquale recommends starting the day in Delfshaven, at Harvest. He loves it for the bread, made by a baker with a Michelin background, and for the fact that everything about the place is done sustainably, from the coffee beans to the packaging. He likes to take his coffee outside and walk along the canal before the city fully wakes up.
From there, he heads towards Het Park, walking along the Maas as the skyline opens up. It's one of his favorite stretches in the city, wide, unhurried, with the Euromast rising beside the park if you want a panoramic view of the port.
While in the area, he also recommends stopping at Het Nieuwe Instituut — Rotterdam's museum for architecture, design and digital culture. It's where locals actually go, unpretentious and genuinely interesting, and the building itself is worth seeing.
On Saturdays, he skips Blaak entirely, too crowded by midday, and instead walks along the Rotte, stops at the public roof garden at the Hofbogen, and visits OogstMarkt in Noordplein. A small local market, far better than anything in the tourist centre, with great cafés all around. He says to go before 17:00.
Any other day, he heads to Blaak. A walk through the Markthal and the Oude Haven, then a ride on the Water Taxi. Fast, informal, very Rotterdam. The route past Hotel New York through to Katendrecht is one of his favourite ways to show guests the city.
On a rainy day
When it rains, Pasquale starts at Dune: minimalist, calm, and genuinely sustainable. He recommends taking a tram there and not rushing.
After that, he goes to Beest Boulders. A climbing space that, he says, works surprisingly well on a grey day. Communal and warm, you leave feeling like you actually did something.
He also loves Centrale Bibliotheek Rotterdam on a rainy day. One of the most architecturally striking public libraries in the Netherlands, free to enter, with multiple floors, and the kind of place where an hour easily becomes three. Very local, rarely on the tourist radar.
Later in the day, he heads back to Delfshaven and Poolcafé Delfshaven, pool, beer, and a very local atmosphere. He says you always stay longer than you planned.
And if you want to go dancing, Club Mono is where locals actually go. Underground, unpretentious, and one of the best nights out the city has to offer.
The hotel is located in the city centre, designed with intention, and run by a team that genuinely knows and loves Rotterdam. Pasquale's guide above reflects exactly that: real places, honest recommendations, and a city worth exploring properly.
-> Ready to explore Rotterdam? Book your stay at The Usual and let the city surprise you.
