Emden is a city in Lower Saxony, a state in Germany.

City hall Emden
and museum ship "SAR Georg Breusing"

Understand

Emden is primarily known in Germany as the "capital" of the region East Frisia and for its most famous son, comedian Otto Waalke, who frequently alludes to his East Frisian heritage. While Emden does have a somewhat important harbor, it is a rather small city in a mostly rural area and struggled economically in the early 2010s. Besides the harbor and a big Volkswagen car plant the main economic draws in the area are tourists who pass through on their way to Borkum and the production and sale of windmills for the generation of energy.

Get in

By train

Emden sees regular hourly train service from Bremen. There is also Inter-City service from further away with direct service to/from Cologne and Leipzig among others.

• 1 Emden Hauptbahnhof. The main station, for easy access to the city  
• 2 Bahnhof Emden Außenhafen. Next to the harbor where ships for Borkum leave.  

By car

A31 connects the city to the German Autobahn network.

By plane

• 3 Flugpatz Emden (EME  ^IATA). A tiny general aviation airstrip. OFD flies to Borkum.  

If you are arriving from farther away, Bremen (BRE ^IATA), Groningen (GRQ ^IATA) and Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (AMS ^IATA) are your best bet.

By boat

AG EMS runs ferries to Borkum and a couple of other places. The ferry to Borkum is able to carry cars.

See

• 1 Dat Otto Huus (Otto Waalkes' House), Große Straße 1, ☏ +49 4921 22121. Shop and museum of the German actor and comedian Otto Waalkes. 
• 2 Leaning Tower of Suurhusen. The village church steeple in Suurhusen was a previous Guiness World Record holder for having the largest angle of unintentional tilt. It beat the Leaning Tower of Pisa by over a degree. (updated Mar 2019)

Do

• VW factory, ☏ +49 4921 86 23 90, besucherdienst.emden@volkswagen.de. Mo-Fr 9:45-13:15. You can tour the local Volkswagen factory (prior advance notice necessary) at every weekday when it produces free. (updated Oct 2015)

Eat

• Hafenhaus, Promenade am alten Binnenhafen 8, ☏ +49 4921 689 56 90, hafen@hafenhaus.com. Daily 09:00-01:00. lunch from €6.30. (updated Oct 2015)

Sleep

• Heerens Hotel, Friedrich Ebert Straße 67, ☏ +49 4921 23740. Free Wi-fi for guests. single from €77 double from €95, suite from €90 (one person) or €118 (two people). (updated Oct 2015)

Go next

• Aurich
• Norden Norddeich
• Leer
• Delfzijl (Netherlands)
• Groningen (Netherlands)
• Many visitors to Emden only pass through on their way to Borkum, the largest by area of the East Frisian islands