Rotterdam Metro Map 2026: Lines, Tickets & Prices

Rotterdam Metro: Key facts for travelers

• The network has five lettered lines and spans more than 100 km. Beurs is the only station where travelers can transfer between all five.
• Line E is the direct regional service to Den Haag Centraal, while Line B reaches Hoek van Holland Strand on the North Sea coast.
• Pay-as-you-go fares start at EUR 1.16 (≈ USD 1.35) plus a distance charge. A two-hour ticket or day pass may suit travelers making several trips.
• Service frequency varies by line and day. September 2026 timetables show central services mostly every 10 minutes on weekdays and every 15 minutes later or on Sundays.
• There is no terminal station at Rotterdam The Hague Airport. Travelers can use bus 33 directly or change from Line E at Meijersplein.

Current Rotterdam Metro service updates

RET publishes disruptions, diversions and longer elevator or escalator outages through its current travel notices. Check the journey planner shortly before departure because work and special events can alter individual trips.

All current notices: RET service updates.

Rotterdam opened the Netherlands’ first metro on February 9, 1968. Today, Rotterdamse Elektrische Tram, usually shortened to RET, operates the five routes shown on the Rotterdam Metro Map.

RET’s timetable dated August 12, 2026 serves 70 physical stations. RET describes a network of more than 100 km, and the MRDH 2024 public-transport monitor recorded 100,654,477 boardings and check-ins. Transfers count again in that total.

The metro is only one part of local transport. RET organizes metro, tram and bus as separate operations. Waterbus has its own routes and tickets, while NS trains serve national rail stations such as Rotterdam Centraal, Alexander and Blaak.

Rotterdam Metro lines A-E at a glance

The current RET route diagram assigns each service its own official color. Standard endpoints are useful for checking direction, although short workings and temporary timetable changes can end earlier.

• Line A, #00983D: Binnenhof to Schiedam Centrum.
• Line B, #FFDC00: Nesselande to Hoek van Holland Strand.
• Line C, #E52711: De Terp to De Akkers.
• Line D, #00ACD9: Rotterdam Centraal to De Akkers.
• Line E, #0F3F94: Slinge to Den Haag Centraal.

Beurs is the only interchange shown for all five routes. Rotterdam Centraal connects Lines D and E with NS trains, while Schiedam Centrum and Blaak connect Lines A, B and C with the national rail network.

How Line E connects Rotterdam and The Hague

Line E is RET’s RandstadRail metro service between Rotterdam and Den Haag. HTM operates the separate RandstadRail branches toward Zoetermeer, so those tram services should not be counted as extra Rotterdam lines.

A direct Line E trip from Rotterdam Centraal to Den Haag Centraal takes 32 scheduled minutes in RET’s timetable dated August 12, 2026. Travelers should still check the departure selected for their trip.

Pay-as-you-go remains distance-based, with 2026 rates of EUR 0.178 per km (≈ USD 0.21 per km) in Rotterdam and EUR 0.201 per km (≈ USD 0.23 per km) in Den Haag. RET’s 2026 Uit-kaartje is not valid between Berkel Westpolder and Den Haag Centraal, an important product boundary for regional travel.

How Line B reaches Hoek van Holland beach

Line B continues west on the Hoekse Lijn to Hoek van Holland Strand. RET opened the final 1.2 km extension on March 31, 2023, placing the terminal close to the North Sea beach.

RET’s March 2023 opening release gave 37 minutes for the direct journey from Beurs to the beach. Rotterdam Centraal is not on Line B, so travelers change at Beurs. A Line D or E trip followed by Line B at Beurs took about 47 minutes in RET’s August 12, 2026 timetable, but the actual connection depends on the departure.

RET planned additional Line B trips from early May for the 2026 beach season. The operator also adds evening service on warm summer days, while noting that passengers use the coastal link in spring and fall as well.

How to read the Rotterdam Metro map

Choose the line letter, then follow the destination shown at the end of that route. For cross-city trips, Beurs is the main A-E transfer point. NS symbols mark rail interchanges, not additional metro routes.

The local and official term is “metro”; “subway” is the common American English equivalent. The PDF uses a Dutch legend; station names, line letters and colors remain the key navigation cues.

For most trips, identify the nearest station, choose the line by letter and board toward its terminal. Central interchanges make the five-line system easy to combine, while some attractions still require a walk or a separate surface service.

Rotterdam Metro destinations and nearest stations

The destination matrix keeps metro access separate from a more convenient tram or walking approach. It lists the line, nearest station and the practical final step for seven popular places.

How to reach Rotterdam The Hague Airport by metro and bus

Rotterdam The Hague Airport has no direct metro terminal. From Rotterdam Centraal, take Line E to Meijersplein/Airport and change to bus 33, which stops beside the departures hall.

Bus 33 also runs directly from Rotterdam Centraal to the airport. The airport’s public-transport directions state that this direct bus trip takes under 30 minutes. That time does not describe the Line E plus bus connection, whose total varies with the transfer.

Travelers can use OVpay at full fare. Bus 533 is an additional Meijersplein to airport shuttle listed in the standard planner, with its pilot scheduled through summer 2027.

How to travel from Schiphol Airport to the Rotterdam Metro

Schiphol’s NS station is directly below the terminal. Intercity direct connects the airport with Rotterdam Centraal in 26 minutes, often without a change, before passengers transfer separately to Lines D or E.

The NS train from Schiphol Airport and the RET Metro require separate fares. The domestic Intercity direct supplement is EUR 3.20 (≈ USD 3.71), or EUR 1.92 (≈ USD 2.23) off-peak at a supplement pole, on top of the NS ticket.

Fares are distance-based unless a time or day product is chosen. RET’s 2026 travel-balance conditions set pay-as-you-go at EUR 1.16 (≈ USD 1.35), then add EUR 0.178 per km (≈ USD 0.21 per km) in Rotterdam or EUR 0.201 per km (≈ USD 0.23 per km) in Den Haag. These prices apply as of August 12, 2026.

The USD conversions use the European Central Bank reference rate of EUR 1 = USD 1.1605 on August 19, 2026. Products have different time limits and network boundaries, so the cheapest choice depends on the number and type of trips.

The purchase and validation process starts after choosing a fare. Contactless OVpay accepts Maestro, Mastercard, V PAY and Visa through a physical debit or credit card, smartphone or smartwatch, without preregistration.

Each traveler needs a separate payment medium. Tap in at the gate or post and tap out with the exact same card or device. A physical card and its phone-wallet version count as different cards, even when both use the same bank account.

At a transfer, check out from the first service and check in for the next. A change within 35 minutes normally charges the base fare only once, except when transferring to or from an NS train.

At Rotterdam Centraal, an airport passenger must check out from NS and then check in with RET. The national train and the local network are separate operators with separate fares.

Keep unused cards away from the reader to avoid card clash. A missed RET check-out normally triggers a EUR 4.00 (≈ USD 4.64) correction fare. OVpay errors can be corrected from six hours after travel until 60 days later.

An OV-chipkaart also works for one passenger at a time and requires check-in and check-out, including transfers. The 1-day product ends no later than 4:00 AM the next day, so it is not a rolling 24-hour ticket.

There is no reliable single opening and closing time for the entire system. RET publishes schedules by route, date, direction and station, and first and last departures vary materially between weekdays and weekends.

For example, the September 2026 timetable shows Line D departures from Rotterdam Centraal from 5:50 AM to 12:47 AM on Tuesday. On Friday and Saturday, the last departure was 1:50 AM.

On central sections of Lines A through D, trains usually ran every 10 minutes during weekday daytime service and every 15 minutes later. Sunday service was usually every 15 minutes in the September 2026 timetables.

Outer branches differ. In the September 2026 timetables, the Line B beach branch ran mostly every 20 minutes by day and every 30 minutes later on Tuesday. Line E was roughly every five minutes through inner Rotterdam, while direct service to Den Haag was mostly every 10 minutes.

How late does the Rotterdam Metro run?

Rotterdam Metro closing times depend on the route and day. Individual weekend tables include departures around 2:00 AM, followed by an overnight gap, while some Sunday morning services start substantially later than weekday trains.

Use the journey-planner button above for an exact trip. RET’s schedule is organized by line, direction, date and station, which is more dependable than a single citywide last-train time.

Does the Rotterdam Metro run at night?

The system is not a 24-hour service. RET instead operates 13 night-bus routes on Friday night into Saturday and Saturday night into Sunday, generally from about 12:45 AM until after 6:00 AM.

Night buses usually run hourly. Services toward Hoogvliet and Spijkenisse can run every 30 minutes. Current route numbers are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 16 and 19; route 13 serves Rotterdam Airport.

Current investment centers on capacity, vehicles, workshops, signaling and station projects rather than a newly approved route. MRDH’s February 2026 investment decision committed almost EUR 1 billion (≈ USD 1.2 billion) to modernization, with several milestones extending into the 2030s.

• In implementation: 38 new 90 m trains worth more than EUR 578 million (≈ USD 671 million) are expected to enter service in 2030.
• In implementation: Waalhaven engineering began in 2026, with yard work due in spring or summer 2027 and the first workshop section scheduled from January through the end of 2028.
• Planned: five-minute weekday service on Line E in both directions and peak Line C service between Capelsebrug and Hoogvliet are targeted from 2033.
• Under study: a roughly three-year Metro and RandstadRail signaling plan study began in 2026.
• In exploration: Beurs has no firm completion date, and the Rijnhaven study starting in summer 2026 has no construction timetable.
• Rescheduled: Spijkenisse Centrum renovation moved to the end of December 2026, with reopening planned for early January 2027.

The Oostflank decision illustrates why proposals need careful labeling. Metro was one option studied in 2020, but the current official solution is a new tram between Zuidplein and Kralingse Zoom, not a new line for this network.

Fun Fact: In 2024, passengers traveled 689,159,150 passenger-km across the system.

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