Old City Hall (Altes Rathaus)

Bielefeld is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany with around 300,000 citizens.

According to a German internet meme (which originated as a tongue-in-cheek take on various conspiracy theories), this city does not exist. Incidentally this is the one thing almost all Germans know about the town.

Understand

While the bizarre conspiracy theory of it not existing is the first thing most Germans will tell you about the city, it actually has a rather long history, dating back to a first mention in the 9th century and it was first called a city in a 1214 document, the 800-year anniversary of which was celebrated, naturally, under the headline "Das gibt's doch gar nicht" which can mean "That's unbelievable" or more literally "That doesn't exist". While a lot of the old town was destroyed in World War II, there are still some nice buildings left.

Get in

City Theatre at Niederwall (1904)

Central station (Hauptbahnhof)

By train

• 1 Bielefeld Hauptbahnhof. sees regular Deutsche Bahn service. There's even the occasional ICE. Flixtrain serves the city. (updated Feb 2024)

By bus

See also: Intercity buses in Germany

By plane

The nearest major airport is in Hanover (HAJ ^IATA); other than that the greater Ruhr area, as well as Cologne which are served by various airports are easily reachable by train.

Get around

The Bielefeld Stadtbahn

Bielefeld is served by a Stadtbahn which can be classified as a mixture of light rail, tram and metro. (see the network plan on the right). Where the Stadtbahn doesn't go, there is an extensive bus network. With headways as low as ten minutes. As is usual in Germany, tickets for bus and Stadtbahn are integrated with each other and operate on the proof of payment system.

See

• 1 Sparrenberg Castle. restored fortress  
• 2 Altes Rathaus (Old City Hall). built in 1904  
• 3 Stadttheater (City Theatre). it has a notable Jugendstil façade.  

Do

• 1 Kletterpark Bielefeld, Am Johannisberg 3. (updated Jul 2018)
• Football: Arminia Bielefeld were relegated back-to-back in 2022 and 2023, and now play soccer in 3. Liga, Germany's third tier. Their home ground is Bielefelder Alm (capacity 27,300), 1 km northwest of town centre.

Buy

• 1 LOOM Bielefeld, Bahnhofstraße 28. Shopping mall (updated Jul 2018)

Eat

Budget

In the city centre

• 1 Alt Bielefeld, Obernstr. 12, ☏ +49 521 66940. Daily 11:00-23:00. (updated Mar 2017)
• 2 Neues Kronenstübchen, Bahnhofstraße 47. (updated Sep 2022)
• 3 Le & Vi, Oberntorwall 8. (updated Sep 2022)
• 4 Pizza Pexla am Kesselbrink, Wilhelmstraße 14. (updated Sep 2022)
• 5 China To Go Jahnplatz, Jahnpl. 1. (updated Sep 2022)

Near the city centre

• 6 Sannes Leckerbissen, Werner-Bock-Straße 8. (updated Sep 2022)
• 7 Bürgerwache, Rolandstraße 16. (updated Sep 2022)
• 8 Tischlein deck dich, Siegfriedstraße 47. (updated Sep 2022)

Mid-range

• 9 Le Feu, Ritterstraße 22. (updated Sep 2022)
• 10 Bielefelder Fischgaststätte, Jahnpl. 6. (updated Sep 2022)
• 11 Kachelhaus, Hagenbruchstraße 13. (updated Sep 2022)
• 12 Hofbräu am Alten Rathaus, Niederwall 25. (updated Sep 2022)

Splurge

• 13 Klötzer's Restaurant, Niedernstraße 41, ☏ +49 521 9677520. (updated Sep 2022)
• 14 GlückundSeligkeit, Artur-Ladebeck-Straße 57. (updated Sep 2022)
• 15 Numa, Obernstraße 26. (updated Sep 2022)

Sleep

• 1 Hotel Büscher, Carl-Severing-Straße 136, ☏ +49 521 94614, hotel-buescher@t-online.de. 
• 2 Mercure Hotel Bielefeld Johannisberg, Am Johannisberg 5, ☏ +49 521 92380. (updated Jul 2018)

Go next

• Gütersloh
• Minden
• Paderborn