Pay to park in Rotterdam by mobile phone
The number of parking meters will be reduced in the coming years and at the same time, payment by mobile phone for street parking is stimulated in Rotterdam. Currently you can already pay anywhere with your mobile. Just park you car and check-in and check-out your parking transaction with your mobile phone by calling a hotline, by SMS or through an app on your smartphone. The disadvantage of paying with your mobile is that you need to subscribe to this service in advance using one of the following providers: Yellowbrick, Park-Line, Parkmobile and SMSparking. Tourists can use the service as well and register their foreign license plate. Once registered you can use the service in many other cities in the Netherlands. In addition to the parking fees you will be charged a small fee of approx. €0,25 for checking in and out and the costs for using your mobile phone. The costs will be charged on your registered credit card.

Public car parks in Rotterdam
There are many car parks in Rotterdam and so parking in the centre of Rotterdam is made easy. The parking garages are indoor and under camera suerveillance. Electronic signs show the number of free parking spots still available in the indoor garages in Rotterdam. In the Rotterdam car parks you can pay with cash, cash card or credit card at the ticket machine when retrieving your car, so you never pay too much. The parking costs are calculated per x number of minutes. Unfortunately this number of minutes is different at  almost every car park, ranging from 15 minutes to an hour! Detailed information can be found on the page about parking rates in Rotterdam.

Parkings in Rotterdam City Centre
If you want to park downtown close to the shops in Rotterdam city centre, you have a wide choice of indoor car parks. During the weekend, there are often long queues to enter the multi-storey car parks in Rotterdam city centre, so you might want to consider the use the Park + Ride parking lots. The car parks Beurs-WTC, WTC-V&D, Lijnbaan, Beursplein, de Bijenkorf, Schouwburgplein and Kruisplein are located in the heart of Rotterdam. The Parkings Kiphof, Oude Haven and Sint Jacobsplaats are further away from the Lijnbaan shopping area, but close to the Rotterdam Market and Hoogstraat.

Free parking Rotterdam: Park + Ride
The P+R (Park & Ride) parking lots just outside Rotterdam city centre are free, provided that you use public transport. The P+R areas in Rotterdam are always located at a bus or subway station and you are in downtown Rotterdam within a couple of minutes without any traffic jams. You only pay the ride with a special Travel Chipcard. Park and Ride areas might also be more expensive compared to parking in the city centre, because each passenger must pay for public transport. More information can be found on the page about Park and Ride areas in Rotterdam.