From Wikitravel

[edit] Smoking

the section on smoking seems largely juvenile and at times misleading. It is not legal to smoke (or posess) cannabis in the Netherlands, merely tolerated. his should be cleared up.

Please plunge forward and make the changes as you see fit in future. -- Tim (writeme!) 12:55, 6 June 2007 (EDT)

I agree with the anon comment above. I've removed the line section;

Let's be honest, most people (especially youngsters from the UK, USA and Canada) don't go to the Netherlands for its fine architecture or the historical value, no matter what they tell their parents.

I haven't attempted to fix the rest of the section because I have been to Rotterdam (yet) and I have no interest/idea about this stuff anyway.Teiresias84 05:00, 11 March 2008 (EDT)

Hello. Sorry for contributing as anon. However, it's a common misconception that it's "just tolerated" to smoke cannabis. Although officially named "active tolerance", in practice this means full and unquestionable decriminalization. The reason why it is not legal is mostly because the Netherlands is required to adhere to international (and European) treaties that prevent this. Wikipedia also says that "international pressure" has something to do with it, although I am personally skeptical about that.

No matter what way you look at it, you might mention that cannabis is "illegal by the book", but it would be skewed to say that it's "merely tolerated". Saying that makes me think of a disgruntled police officer who yearns for the day he is finally allowed to nab those annoying drug tourists; cannabis is fully integrated into society by now and accepted as fact of life. It's comparable to gay marriage; no church is required to bless these marriages, but in practice most of them do; in this case, it would also be skewed to say "exclusively the government is obliged to marry gay couples", which, although true, does not convey the true stance of the public on the issue. Hope this helps clear up some things. 195.241.69.171 16:42, 21 October 2008 (EDT)

[edit] Hotels

I removed the following entry, since the address is in Spijkenisse and not in Rotterdam.

• Carlton Oasis Hotel, Curieweg 1 3208KJ Spijkenisse, ☎ +31 (0)181-625222 (info@oasis.carlton.nl, fax: +31(0)181-611094), [1].  editCarlton Oasis is a luxury hotel located between Rotterdam and Zeeland.

--WallyTheWalrus 09:44, 20 September 2009 (EDT)

Thanks, I added it to Spijkenisse as its first listing. --globe-trotter 13:02, 18 January 2010 (EST)

[edit] Districts of Rotterdam

I think Rotterdam's article now is big enough for it to be districtified. The problem is that I am not really well-known in this city.. Could anyone who is more familiar with Rotterdam draw up a districts scheme? --globe-trotter 13:10, 18 January 2010 (EST)

I agree. The City Map at http://www.scribd.com/full/17031198?access_key=key-wrkogz2j7ssbaxfrsde (found the link on [2]) has districts, however these seem to be small to me to provide district pages with enough info. I'll think about this and will post a suggestion soon. --WallyTheWalrus 06:20, 6 February 2010 (EST)

Suggestion:

• Rotterdam-Centrum = between 's Gravendijkwal, Goudsesingel, Oostplein, railwayline and Nieuwe Maas river plus Kop van Zuid on the South Bank.
• Rotterdam-West = between Schiedam, 's Gravendijkwal, railwayline and Nieuwe Maas river. This includes deelgemeenten Delfshaven and a part of Centrum (between Heemraadssingel and 's Gravendijkwal) (note that the Dutch Wikipedia takes the Westersingel as the eastern boundary of Rotterdam-West)
• Rotterdam-Noord (North): deelgemeenten Noord, Hillegersberg-Schiebroek, Overschie
• Rotterdam-Oost (East): deelgemeenten Kralingen-Crooswijk, Prins Alexander
• Rotterdam-Zuid (South): all of the Rotterdam municipality south of the Nieuwe Maas river (deelgemeenten Charlois, IJsselmonde, Feijenoord (and Hoogvliet). Excluding Kop van Zuid (is part of Centrum)

Discussion: Pernis, Rozenburg (from march 2010) and Hoek van Holland: these are all municipality Rotterdam. Pernis and Rozenburg could be added to Rotterdam-Zuid. Hoek van Holland as a separate district?

--WallyTheWalrus 09:23, 6 February 2010 (EST)

Interesting suggestions. I think most tourist activity will be in the city center though. So we might want to split up the center, otherwise we'll get 1 full district and 4 pretty much empty ones. I like the map of the VVV Tourist Authority as a regional subdivision, but these seem not to correspond with the official neighborhoods of Rotterdam Centrum? --globe-trotter 09:45, 6 February 2010 (EST)

the tourist map is indeed not 100% accurate in terms of official neighborhoods. I would stick with the Rotterdam-Centrum district for the time being. Splitting up further in subdistricts gives small listings due to the small size of these subdistricts. In terms of my other suggestions: the guideline is pretty clear on the matter [3]: make districts when there is enough information to fill. --WallyTheWalrus 11:24, 7 February 2010 (EST)

I made a (simple) map to illustrate the districts you have proposed. Are they correctly displayed this way? About Hook of Holland, I think maybe it should also be a separate district of Rotterdam, as Rotterdam/Hook of Holland. But could it contain enough content for a district? Or maybe it should be included in South? (though that feels a bit weird I think). --globe-trotter 19:12, 10 February 2010 (EST)

Good work. Hoek van Holland could be covered in the main article as it is covered at this moment (under beach). It probably won't contain enough information for a district page. Regarding your map: it is a very large area including Pernis, Rozenburg and the harbor area around these places which are all most likely not interesting for tourists. I would not show that part on the map. The boundaries of the proposed districts seem to be correct. --WallyTheWalrus 17:15, 11 February 2010 (EST)

[edit] Do/Nightlife

I think the Nightlife section (under Do) need some work. Bars and clubs should be listed under drink. The general information about the different area's could be added to the drink section, by creating subheadings under Drink for each category. --WallyTheWalrus 18:13, 10 February 2010 (EST)

[edit] Fly to Rotterdam if possible

You might have a better deal if you fly to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport the article says. Why? If Rotterdam is your final destination, its always quicker to fly to Rotterdam if possible from where you start. The handling is so much quicker. In 10 - 20 minutes after landing you are outside to take the bus or a taxi. And this way it's much cheaper to reach the centre of Rotterdam. Salix2 12:40, 21 November 2010 (EST)