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The Ruhr (German: Ruhrgebiet) is a region in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Once the uncontested heart of Germany's economy, the region was formed during the 19th and 20th century by the coal and steel industries and is currently going through a structural transformation, which makes it one of the most dynamic regions in Europe. Its borders are defined by the Ruhr River in the south, the Lippe in the north, the Rhine in the west and the city of Hamm in the east. That makes the region about 100 km from west to east and about 40 km from north to south. About 5.3 million people live in the Ruhr, the third-most-populous metropolitan region in population in Western Europe after London and Paris.

Map of the Ruhr

Cities

  • Bochum - the region's cultural hub
  • Dortmund - most populous city in the region famous for its football team and Europe's most attended and Germany's largest stadium
  • Duisburg - world's largest inland harbour
  • Essen - hosting the UNESCO World Heritage former industrial complex of Zollverein
  • Gelsenkirchen - with a number of parks
  • Hagen - home to an open-air museum dedicated to early industry
  • Hamm - with an impressive railway station building
  • Oberhausen - famous for the CentrO multi-functional centre incorporating shopping, culture and tourist attractions
  • Hattingen - medieval and industrial heritage

The city of Düsseldorf is located very close to the Ruhr but is not part of the Ruhr area.

Panorama view of the Ruhr

Understand

The Ruhr area used to be mostly rural until the 19th century, when the region's rich coal deposits were suddenly in great demand. Enormous immigration inflated the population fifty-fold and the favourable geographic conditions, including the location close to four rivers, caused towns to rapidly grow to accommodate the bustling heavy industry and its workforce. This led to a development of a contiguous urban area with barely noticeable borders between the cities and an efficient transportation network.

Because of its strategic importance, the Ruhr area was extensively bombed during the Second World War. After the war, the region rebounded in the 1950s and 60s, driving the German "economic miracle" with GDP growth rates of 9% a year. With the economic crises of the 1970s came a downturn, however, as the coal mines and steel works, by then uneconomical, started to close. The Ruhr began a slow process of reorientation towards more high-tech industries, while also cleaning up its polluted environment.

While there is still significant steel production in the Ruhr and new industries have partially replaced coal mining, Ruhr still has higher-than-average unemployment. Thanks to the overall economic strength, the region does not come off as impoverished, and can surprise with the abundance of greenery and cultural potential. It has also retained its many Sportvereine, hosting some of the most successful German teams in association football in particular.

Climate

The main rule about the central European climate is that you cannot predict the weather. Sometimes summers can be cold and wet, while April (most years very rainy) is warm and sunny. But in general the best chance for sun will be from May to August and in October. July and August can become very hot with temperatures up to 35 degrees Celsius. In wintertime, from December to February, the average temperature is around the freezing point (0 degrees Celsius). Winter is not generally recommended for travelling to the Ruhr area, but on the other hand in December, Germany's famous Christmas markets take place. The Christmas markets in Dortmund and Münster are definitely worth a visit.

Heavy Industry near Bottrop
Farmland at the banks of River Ruhr
Street view in central Bochum
... and this is also The Ruhr: medival City Center of Hattingen
coal seam at Mutten-valley
Industrial ambiente: Colosseum Theater

Talk

The pronounced Ruhr dialect of the 20th century is by now hardly spoken, though you will still here whether people are from there or not if you have a trained ear. Do not expect everyone to understand English, although most people have had English lessons at school. You will have fewer problems if you are able to communicate in German. In some neighbourhoods, you will find immigrant populations using their own languages, including especially Turkish, Polish and Russian.

Get in

While not one of Germany's largest, Dortmund Airport is modern, efficient and comfortable

By plane

As this region is rather densely populated, there should be more than one airport within reasonable proximity to choose from. Airports that serve this area, both within and outside it include the following:

Dortmund Airport (DTM IATA) is the region's international airport, with scheduled service to several European cities and sizeable holiday charter traffic. Shuttle buses connect the airport to Dortmund Hauptbahnhof and the local railway station in Holzwickende, where you can change to trains heading towards other cities in the Ruhr region.

Düsseldorf Airport (DUS IATA) is one of Germany's largest, with flights to all major European airports and some intercontinental services. It is immediately south of the Ruhr area and has its own train station on the high-speed line towards it. Both high-speed and regional trains depart from there towards all the major cities in the Ruhr. Travel times to most of them are below one hour. The airport is also well connected to the local highway system.

Germany's largest airport by passenger traffic, Frankfurt Airport (FRA IATA) also has very frequent direct high-speed train service to major cities in the Ruhr, taking between one and a half and two hours. There are also direct long-distance buses offering similar travel times by not stopping along the way, but the departure frequency is low. Frankfurt has a large network of connections not only all over Europe, but also to all other continents except Antarctica.

Cologne-Bonn Airport (CGN IATA) is also a major airport in terms of domestic and European traffic, also served by a dedicated on-site train station but with direct train connections to Ruhr less frequent. That said, by changing at Cologne's train station one may almost seamlessly get to the Ruhr in 1.5 hours or less. Direct bus services are also offered.

Some low-fare carriers, in particular Ryanair, use the Niederrhein Airport Weeze (NRN IATA) east of the Ruhr. There is shuttle transportation offered from the airport to Duisburg and Essen, but no direct train connection.

Other nearby regional airports are Münster-Osnabrück Airport (FMO IATA) and Paderborn-Lippstadt (PAD IATA). Travelling from there requires taking a bus to the respective city's main train station and taking a direct train from there to any of the major cities in the Ruhr, which in total should take around 2 hours.

By train

The cities of Duisburg, Mülheim (note that not all trains stop here), Essen, Bochum, Dortmund and Hamm are situated at the main south-north route and are therefore often hit by long-distance trains. From there, there is a non-straight-tight, but sufficient network of commuter trains and subways in other cities at the Ruhr.

By bus

Direct long-distance buses run from many major European cities. Deutsche Touring is the major operator. Domestic bus lines with limited cross-border "hops" have (with a few exceptions) only been legal since 2012 and thus the market is still expanding.

By car

Highways lead to the Ruhr from all directions. In the north-south direction, the A1 (Hamburg-Cologne) leads through the eastern Ruhr area. The A3 (Arnhem-Cologne-Frankfurt) opens to the west part and Oberhausen and Duisburg. In east-west direction, the A2 (Oberhausen-Hannover) runs through the northern part of the Ruhr. The central and southern area around Duisburg, Essen and Dortmund is accessible from the A40 (Ruhrschnellweg). East of Dortmund, the A40 changes its name to A44. Directly from the north, crossing the Münsterland, the A31 leads to the center of the region, from the south the A45 (Sauerland line) leads the Ruhr.There are numerous other highways which run through the different regions of the Ruhr.

Get around

In general inside the big cities public transport is well developed and faster than going by car. But outside and between cities the car can be a better choice - outside rush hour, that is.

Public Transport

Since most cities have their separate transport association, coordination is not always the best. But they are all linked together including trains like S-Bahn and Regionals-Express by Verkehrsverbund Rhein Ruhr (VRR) and Tarifraum Münsterland/Ruhr-Lippe (VRL) at the eastern limits. Look for tarifs and timetables there. Within a city use bus, tram or underground. Many lines cross city limits several times during their route, this is common and should not be considered alarming. Since most cities in the region blend into one another, traveling across cities is possible but slow. However riding a bus or tram can give you views and insights you will get nowhere else. If you are short on time, use the S-Bahn or Regional-Express. These are trains, and you will have to get to the nearest station. They all have the same pricing system so that the tickets are valid for all vehicles within the VRR and VRL respectively. For change from VRR to VRL and vice versa special conditions apply. Refer to the internet sites or contact one of the information offices of the organisations.

Generally, single tickets are quite expensive, usually cheaper are day tickets, group tickets, family tickets or for longer stays, tickets with a monthly pass. There are 5 fare levels. As a rule of thumb: if you travel 3-4 bus stops or 1.5 km (different rules for each city) you need level K, for travelling within one city or two adjacent suburbs you need level A, for a ride to the next neighbour city fare level B is needed, if you transit to a neighbour city of a neighbour city use level C, and level D is for rides to any location within the area of VRR.

You can obtain tickets from the customer offices of the local transport association, from the ticket-machines at the subway stations, from ticket machines within the trams, from bus drivers and from designated kiosks. The surface of the ticket machines can be switched to several languages, english is always among them. If there is a ticket machine at a station, it is usually not possible to buy a ticket within the vehicle. Even if you just enter the platforms of a subway station without holding a valid (stamped) ticket, you may be fined. Tickets are rarely checked on platforms.

Since tickets are not stamped when bought, you have to do it by yourself before entering a vehicle. The orange stamp boxes are located at the entrance of the platforms of subway and trains and within trams and busses.

If you depart from a station without being able to buy tickets and without a ticket machine on board the train, you need to ask the conductor or, if there is none, the driver what to do.

Regional Transport

Regional trains may be used with tickets of VRR within the VRR-area.

By taxi

Going by taxi is quite expensive. Calculate a price of about 1.60€/km plus a onetime charge from the approach. As taxis have to drive on the same roads regular cars do, they are not even faster than public transport during rush hour.

By car

As some things aren't really close to each other, you might wish to take a car. You can do so, the road network is consistently good if sometimes congested. Finding where you have to go can be difficult as the huge number of places and roads thing you there can be confusing - a navigation device comes highly recommend. Avoid the rush hour, which is more extended to the early morning and late afternoon than elsewhere in Germany. All highways are very prone to traffic jam. This is particularly true for the A1 around Dortmund, the A3 between Dusseldorf and Oberhausen, the A40 along the entire length between Duisburg and Dortmund, the A42 between Oberhausen and Herne and the A43, between Bochum and Recklinghausen.

By 2010, the A40, between Bochum and Gelsenkirchen will be expanded, which means additional risk of traffic jam. But this highway should be avoided anyway. The better alternative is the A2 or change to bus and train. Only the major traffic jams will be reported during rush hours in the radio program of WDR, information about all jams is available on medium wave 720 KHz. Jam forecasts for the next hour with great accuracy is available from road NRW. There, long-term forecasts as well as a travel time calculator are offered, which is very useful for travel planning.

You will find parking garages in most major cities, but take note of the opening hours as most close for the night.

By bicycle

The Ruhr is not a good spot for cyclists. In the northern part, the situation is perhaps a little better because of the spirit of the Münsterland region nearby than in the southern part, which is quite mountainous. But there are exceptions. The Ruhr Regional Association is buying disused industrial railway lines and converts them to cycle paths. If your target is beside such trails the bike is an opportunity on fine days. But remember, even the core of the Ruhr is 50 km long and the sights are spread over the entire area, in contrast to classical capitals. A list of routes can be found at item “sport”. That being said, cycling is making a comeback and local politicians have to at least pay lip service to cycle friendliness if they want to win elections, so there are numerous programs to upgrade and expand cycling infrastructure, including the bike-share system Metropolradruhr. A project that is currently under way is the first "bicycle highway" in all of Germany, the Radschnellweg Ruhr or rs1 which is planned to offer an east-west link for cyclists throughout the Ruhr area from Duisburg to Hamm. Parts of the route are already in service and given that there is support at the federal level, completion in the years to come seems likely.

See

Industrial Heritage Trail

The most interesting sites of the industrial heritage of the Ruhr region are combined under the keyword Industrial Heritage Trail. Among the most prominent sites on the trail are the Zollverein in Essen (a UNESCO World Heritage site), Gasometer in Oberhausen and Zollern Mine in Dortmund. A number of objects relate to the importance of riverine transportation, like the entire Innenhafen of Duisburg or the Henrichenburg ship lift in Waltrop. There are also preserved industrialist residences, for example the Hochenhof in Hagen

Workers Settlements

Miners settlement Dahlhauser Heide

The booming population of the Ruhr area needed to be housed, and thus the local industrialists built numerous workers' settlements throughout the 19th and early 20th century. Some of them have been preserved. The oldest one is Eisenheim in Oberhausen, which is pretty basic and reminiscent of the sombre beginnings of industrial revolution. Other, however, paint a different picture, forming elegant garden cities and surprising with unique architecture. Among them are Margarethenhöhe in Essen, Dahlhauser Heide in Bochum and Teutoburgia in Herne.

Pit heaps

Halde Haniel Amphitheater, built on a pit heap

Extensive mining operations brought large masses of waste rock above ground, which needed to be stored away. This led to the creation of pit heaps, called Halde in German, close to main mining shafts, which formed a landscape typical of all of the mining regions of Europe. Today, most pit heaps have been recultivated and have the appearance of green hills rather than grim spoil tips.

Some of the more interesting ones are Halde Haniel and Halde Beckstrasse in Bottrop, Hoheward and Hoppenbruch in Herten as well as Großes Holz in Kamen.

Museums of industry, technology and trade

  • German Mining Museum. In Bochum, one of the largest of its kind. Open Tue-Fri: 8.30 - 17.00, Sundays, Saturdays and holidays: 10.00 - 17.00, Am Bergbaumuseum 28, 44791 Bochum
  • German Railway Museum. In Bochum's suburb Dahlhausen. Open from March till mid od November, Tue-Fri and Sun: 10-17.00, Dr.-C.-Otto-Straße 191, 44879 Bochum
  • The Museum of Heavy Industry in Oberhausen presents an overview of heavy industry at the Ruhr. Open Tue-Sun: 10-17.00, Hansastraße 20, 46049 Oberhausen
  • Deutsche Arbeitsschutz Ausstellung (DASA). In Dortmund. In spite of the name German Occupational Safte and Health Exebition it is a very interesting museum dealing with many branches of work with a lot of hands-on activities. Open Tue-Sat: 9-17.00, Sundays: 10-17.00 charge 3 €, Friedrich-Henkel-Weg 1-25. 44149 Dortmund
  • Duisburg: Binnenschifffahrtsmuseum (Inland Waterway Museum) - all about inland water transport

Open-air museums

  • Open air museum of craftmanship. In Hagen. Over 60 crafts and trades of a period from the late 18th century to the end of the 19th century are presented. You can watch working methods in action inside a lot of authentic buildings that strech over a lovely hillside. Open from April to the end of October, Tue-Sun: 9-18.00, Mäckingerbachtal, 58091 Hagen
  • The Muttental a nice valley within a forest near Witten (Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis) presents equipments and galleries from the beginning of mining. Open every time, free entrance
  • Duisburg: Landschaftspark (Landscape Park) - the steel plant Meiderich as a park, highlight is the accessible furnace

Art museums

  • Worth seeing are the changing exhibitions in the Folkwang Museum in Essen. Open Tue-Sun: 10-18.00, Kahrstraße 16, 45128 Essen, Phone: +49 201 8845301
  • The Museum am Ostwall in [Dortmund] is dedicated to arts of the 20th and 21st century. open Tue, Wed, Fri, Sun 10-17.00, Thu 10-20.00, Sat 12-17.00, Ostwall 7, 44122 Dortmund

Zoos, Gardens and Parks

Many of the region's large parks are redeveloped former industrial sites, many being parts of the Industrial Heritage Trail, like Nordosternpark in Gelsenkirchen or Maximilanpark in Hamm. Both of them were developed to host a garden exhibition, as was the earlier Westfalenpark in Dortmund. Besides those, noteworthy are botanical gardens in Dortmund, Essen and Bochum, the latter featuring a splendid Chinese Garden. Pretty much all of the large cities also have zoos.

Do

Theatre, Musicals

The municipal Theatre in Bochum has an excellet reputation.

A lot of private Theatres in all cities offer excellent shows. Ask at the tourist offices of the cities for addresses and shows.

Musical Starlight Express in Bochum is among the most successful musicals worldwide.

Visit Colosseum Theatre in Essen. It is a former production hall with an wonderful industrial ambiente.

The play and concert festival Ruhr Triennale offers a wide range of events spread all over the region.

Another example for the re-use of a former industrial building is the Jahrhunderhalle (Hall of the Century) in Bochum - one of the most extraordinary stages worldwide.

Festivals

Every year at the first weekend of summer schoolout starts Bochum Total. For 4 days the city turns into a stage for rock music.

Sport

In May the Ruhr Marathon takes place with about 20.000 athletes and 100.000 viewers. You must have seen it.

Football/soccer is the most popular sport in the region. Every town has several pitches and in the summer there are few grassy areas not used for playing. The Ruhr also has several professional football teams, creating at times an intense rivalry. The most intense is between supporters of Borussia Dortmund and Schalke 04. As a rule of thumb you should avoid wearing football jersies in blue and white in Dortmund and yellow and black in Gelsenkirchen. The rivalry between these two teams rarely turns into violence, but the atmosphere can get a bit hostile, especially if you don't understand the people. Both Dortmund and Schalke have been very competitive on the national and European level but other teams (mentioned below) also have a storied history that is taken very seriously by the fans. Some people have argued that there are more people in the soccer stadiums on Saturdays than in church on Sunday, and though nobody has counted, it may well be true judging from the quasi-religious fervor for soccer in this area.

Bochum, Oberhausen, Essen and Duisburg also have professional teams, but these are considered non-contenders by supporters of the two big teams. Matchdays are between Friday and Sunday and can lead to heavy traffic at the roads and public transport. You should behave like the locals and avoid the playing cities on match day unless you have tickets for the match.

Other team spectator sports play second or even third fiddle, but there are regular games in the (professional) team Handball, Ice-Hockey and Basketball leagues as well as several semi-pro and amateur leagues of other sports including American Football.

Excellent conditions for cycling are offered by the Ruhrtalradweg with a length of about 230 kilometers through rural regions, the Emscher Radweg goes for 225 km besides the river Emscher and Rhein-Herne-Canal through industrial panorama. For short trips Lake Kemnade and Lake Baldeney (not at the weekend) as well as the Ore-Route (Erzbahntrasse - without any crossing) from Bochum Westpark to river Emscher with connection (from October 2008) to Emscher-Route and Kray-Wanner-Route (5 street-crossings) from Colliery Zollverein towards to the city of Wanne-Eickel with connection to Ore-Route. Both routes offer an excellent view on industry surroundings, settlements and suburbs.

Inline skating you can do very well around Lake Kemnade (910 km) at the southern limits of Bochum and Lake Baldeney (16 km) at the southern limits of Essen. But avoid to visit these locations at the weekend - it will be too crowded.

For jogging, the routes above are very suitable but also there are Nordsternpark at Gelsenkirchen, Gyserberg-Park at Herne and Rombergpark at Dortmund (for all of them entry admission free)

Buy

Shopping

Characteristic for the Ruhr are lots of kiosks in the suburbs, smallest shops for nearly everything. Opened mainly from afternoon till late night they act also as a communication spot for the neighborhood.

The city centers of Duisburg, Essen, Bochum and Dortmund offer excellent shopping conditions.

Popular shopping centers are Centro at Oberhausen, Rhein-Ruhr-Zentrum at Mülheim, Limbecker Platz in Essen and Ruhr Park in Bochum. But the centers of the major cities offer also best shopping conditions.

Souvenirs

Buy a pit lamp.

Eat

Restaurants

The traditional Ruhr cuisine has died out. Today it is mainly an international cuisine with influences from Westphalia and Rhineland as well as from the Mediterranean cuisine. Since a high percentage of the population has a migration background and Germans like to taste foreign food you will find a lot of foreign restaurants. Most of all Italian, Greek or Chinese restaurants, but there are also Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish, Egyptian, Arabic, Mongolian, Russian, Indian and Japanese restaurants. All those who like pancake should visit a 'Pfannkuchenhaus'. There is a wide variation of covering: you can get them sweet or with bacon, meat or vegetables.

Seasonal dishes

During all months ending with letter 'r' (that would be September- April in German) blue mussels are offered.

During May fresh asparagus (Spargel) is available. White asparagus is the widely preferred variety in Germany and while green asparagus is increasingly available, restaurants usually serve the white variety. As most asparagus comes from Germany itself or is imported from elsewhere in Europe and the harvest is labor intensive and difficult to mechanize, prices are high with 5€ for a kilo or even half a kilo entirely normal depending on climate and time during the season. Traditionally the last day of asparagus season is 24 June, as the plants have to get enough rest time to regenerate for the next season.

Fast Food

Takeaway bars can be found everywhere. The most common fast food is Pizza, Döner as well as chips and fried sausage.

The typical German 'Currywurst', a fried sausage with ketchup and curry powder is available everywhere. But insiders say the best one you will get in Bochum made by 'Dönninghaus'. Note that Currywurst as a traditional workers' food while invented in Berlin has strong cultural ties in the area and comparing it unfavorably to that in Berlin is certainly a no-no.

Cafes

Cafes and ice cream palours are very common. On warm days many of them offer some tables at the pavement where you can see and watch and being watched.

Drink

The traditional drink is Pils, simply called beer. Not so long ago, the region had the highest density of brewing houses in Germany. The decline of heavy industry followed a decline of breweries. Local breweries are still Fiege from Bochum, Stauder from Essen and König Pilsener from Duisburg. An excellent beer from a smaller brewing house with smooth taste is 'Borbecker Dampfbier', but it is not available everywhere; the same applies to 'Rüttenscheider' which you will only get in Rüttenscheid (a suburb of Essen). Of course you can also get non-local beers in most bars and restaurants.

Recently, lots of cocktail bars opened in the region, especially in the cities of the bigger towns. Many restaurants also offer a huge varieties of wines. In the last years, there has been a tendency to drink German white wine, but grape varieties from all over the world are also common.

Stay Safe

The cities within the Ruhr area are among the safest in Germany. Since the Ruhr area has fewer tourists, it is not in the focus of pickpockets. But it is still a good idea to take the usual precautions. Never leave your camera unattended or flash around a fat wallet. Since many citizens are from elsewhere, strangers are widely accepted and the chance of encountering racism or other prejudices is low. Because of unemployment and the demise of the once excellent German social system, beggars and bottle collectors are becoming rather common problems, but they are usually harmless.

Go next

This region travel guide to Ruhr is an outline and may need more content. It has a template, but there is not enough information present. If there are Cities and Other destinations listed, they may not all be at usable status or there may not be a valid regional structure and a "Get in" section describing all of the typical ways to get here. Please plunge forward and help it grow!