In the heart of the Oude Noorden you will find the popular and multicultural Zwart Janstraat and the alternate Zwaanshals with its trendy boutiques and coffee shops. The streets intersect at the Noordplein. A good start for your visit to a unique piece of Rotterdam!
The Zwart Janstraat and its extension, the Noordmolenstraat, have been renamed Noorderboulevard by the district committee. You will find everything: second hand shops, discount stores, sports shops and opticians. The range of shops itself is not so special, but for an authentic Rotterdam atmosphere it is worthwhile to walk through the street, pick up a fries at the Bram Ladage or at Café Centraal with a beer in hand to peek at the passersby .
For better shopping, it is better to turn left at Noordplein to Zwaanshals. The street has become increasingly popular in recent years. One of our favorites is MNDS, where you will find special shoes with a modern look, but of classic quality. Also very nice is vintage shop Volle Kast. There it is chock-full of special designer clothes. Popular with curvier ladies is lingerie store SuperBra - they have the most helpful staff in Rotterdam.
Please note: many of the smaller boutiques are closed from Sunday to Tuesday.
There is also plenty to find for the inner man: you can get ice cream at Koen ice cream parlor, have a cup of coffee at Hopper, have a breakfast at Bertmans and for delicious tapas you can go to Destino at the Zaagmolenkade. Sweet-toothed women really have to go to the Noordplein along Lof der Zoetheid. As soon as you take a bite from their roomcones you are right in the seventh heaven, so it is not strange that it is almost always full here.
If we are talking about Noordplein: in addition to Lof der Zoetheid, you will find the enormous cooking shop Kookpunt, the classic café Postiljon and over the Rotte you have a beautiful view of the old Heineken building. The square itself is generally quite dead, with a nice electricity house and an ugly fountain, but fun things happen here so often that we like to overlook it. Special markets, festivals such as Muziek op de Rotte, Rrrollend and Rotterdam Bluegrass Festival, and Containerbar Noord in the summer, which turns the weekends into a party. So keep an eye on that town square.
On the first and third Saturday of the month you can visit the Rotterdam Oogstmarkt on the Noordplein. Fresh and delicious products, and often they also make a real party with music and activities.
The famous Swan Market is named after the Swan neck? The hugely popular market for starting entrepreneurs, curiosities and design is nowadays found throughout the Netherlands and Belgium, but started in a courtyard near the Zwaanshals. Who knows what else is going to grow from this area ..!
In a very small part of Rotterdam, yet outside the center, you can see so many typical old and new things in Rotterdam - it is really special. Also because it is sometimes beautiful of ugliness, emptiness or tragedy.
