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 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.