Emden is a city of 50,000 people (2020) in Lower Saxony. The 1,200-year history of the city is closely linked to the seaport. The cityscape of Emden is characterized by 150 km of canals and the typical brick buildings. The city can be explored very nicely by canoe or pedal boat ride from the water. For those who like it easy, there are harbour and canal cruises.

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 harbour, it is a rather small city in a mostly rural area and struggled economically in the early 2010s. Besides the harbour 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.

History

Alongside Geneva and Wittenberg, Emden was one of the most important sites of the Reformation in the 16th century. The baptism of 300 adults in an antechamber of the Great Church marked the beginning of the Anabaptist movement in north-west Germany and the Netherlands. The Synod of Emden (1571) was the first national synod of the Dutch Reformed Church.

Local information

• Emden City Council website

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 harbour 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. The house is an attraction itself, with Waalkes' "Ottifant"-character appearing to burst through the brick wall. See also the nearby traffic lights with the character on them. 
• 2 Mini-bahn Emden (Mini-dampfbahn). April-October: Sunday 10:00-17:00. Just by the train station, behind the full size steam locomotive, there is a miniature steam engine railway that is open on Sundays. Even if it's closed, it is interesting to explore the tracks. 
• 3 Leaning Tower of Suurhusen. The village church steeple in Suurhusen used to be Guinness 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)
• 4 Bunkermuseum Emden. May to October. Open since 1995, it's likely the first museum in an air raid shelter of Germany. In 26 rooms, each with a different thematic focus, it shows the history of the bunkers, the persecution and oppression by the National Socialists in the city of Emden from 1933 to 1945 and the post-war period up to the early 1950s.  
• 5 Ostfriesisches Landesmuseum Emden. The art, cultural and regional history museum of the East Frisia region. Special exhibitions on various art and cultural-historical topics are regularly presented.  
• 6 Crossed Locks in Emden (Kesselschleuse (Emden)). A waterway junction.  
• 7 Rathaus Emden (City hall).  

Do

• 1 VW factory, ☏ +49 4921 86 23 90, besucherdienst.emden@volkswagen.de. M-F 09:45-13:15. You can tour the local Volkswagen factory (prior advance notice necessary) at every weekday when it produces. free. (updated Oct 2015)

Eat

• 1 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