Escort Rotterdam: steel, skyline, harbour nights

The Maas splits Rotterdam in two. The Erasmus Bridge, the white cable-stayed span locals call the Swan, connects the city centre with Kop van Zuid, whose towers line Wilhelminakade. Around Blaak stand the Markthal with its painted arch and the tilted Cube Houses. To the west, the Euromast looks down over Het Park.

Witte de Withstraat is the street for culture and bars. Oude Haven has terraces right on the water. Rotterdam Centraal, with its sharp pointed roof, is where most visitors arrive.

Business hotels crowd the centre around Centraal and Weena. The high-rise hotels with the big views stand on Kop van Zuid and along the river, a few of them inside old port buildings. Around the old harbour you find smaller, design-driven places.

Further south, near Rotterdam Ahoy, hotels serve concertgoers and trade visitors. On a big event night that part of the city gets congested, so give extra time.

Big towers often have more than one entrance. Tell the desk which one, plus the floor, and she walks straight in.

The fastest train from Amsterdam Centraal to Rotterdam Centraal takes around 40 minutes via Schiphol. Regular intercity services take about an hour or a little more. By road it is roughly an hour on the A4 and A13, and often longer at rush hour.

That makes Rotterdam the longest trip on our map, and it needs the most notice. Message early in the evening, or during the day if you want someone late. Share the exact address and the desk gives you an honest arrival time before confirming.

The city has its own calendar. The marathon in spring, festivals through summer, World Port Days in September. On those weekends hotels fill and roads clog, so plan further ahead.

Rotterdam is big and spread out, and the river decides most journeys. From Centraal, the metro runs south under the centre and across to the Kop van Zuid side in a few minutes. Trams cross the Erasmus Bridge. Water taxis zip between the piers, day and evening, and they are the fastest way to some of the riverside towers.

For a hotel on the north bank near Centraal or the Coolsingel, a taxi from the station takes five to ten minutes. The south bank takes a little longer once you factor in the bridge. Out at the Ahoy side or near the old harbour piers in the west, allow more.

Leaving late? The last intercity to Amsterdam goes after midnight and the hourly night train covers the rest. Many visitors simply stay.

This city never pretended to be quaint. It was rebuilt after the war in concrete, glass and steel, and it still likes to show off. At night the skyline does the work: the lit bridge, the towers on the south bank, the cranes further out.

Weekends pull people to the bars around Witte de Withstraat and the Oude Haven. Midweek belongs to business travellers and the concert crowd at the Ahoy. Late summer brings the harbour festival and the big outdoor events, with roads closed along the river.

The tone is direct. People say what they mean. That suits the way this desk works, and it suits a companion who is sharp, quick and not easily impressed.

Rotterdam nights have an edge. Dinner high up with the lights of the port below. A cocktail on Witte de Withstraat. A walk across the Erasmus Bridge when the cables are lit. Or none of it: a room high above the Maas and the river doing the talking.

Trains back toward Amsterdam thin out after midnight. One more reason a Rotterdam booking works best planned into the evening, not squeezed onto the end of it.

Match the city. Stacy is sultry, bold and up for anything, a street photographer with metallic nightlife glam. Milena is fierce, glamorous and direct, company that suits glass and steel. The full roster is on the girls page.

Nearby: Den Haag is a short train ride north and Utrecht lies to the north-east. Rates start from €180 per hour.