Germany (Lonely Planet, 6th Edition) - Andrea Schulte-Peevers [521]
Return to beginning of chapter
Getting There & Away
The only remaining budget carrier serving Dortmund Airport ( 921 301; www.dortmund-airport.de) is Air Berlin. The Airport Express bus makes the trip to the Hauptbahnhof in about 20 minutes (adult/child €5.50/2, 5am to 10.30pm, mostly hourly).
There are frequent ICE and IC trains in all directions and RE and S-Bahn trains to other Ruhrgebiet cities departing every few minutes.
Dortmund is on the A1, A2 and A45. The B1 runs right through the city and is the link between the A40 to Essen and the A44 to Kassel. It’s very busy and often clogged.
Return to beginning of chapter
Getting Around
For public transport, Click here. For a taxi call 144 444 or 194 10. Bikes can be hired from Fahrradstation am Hauptbahnhof ( 181 1756; Königswall 15; per hr/day €4/12).
Return to beginning of chapter
ELSEWHERE IN THE RUHRGEBIET
The Ruhrgebiet has plenty of other places of interest, many of them on the Industrial Heritage Trail.
Return to beginning of chapter
Bochum
0234 / pop 394,000
Industrial cities are not exactly the stuff of heartfelt anthems, but that didn’t stop singer-songwriter Herbert Grönemeyer from rhapsodising about his home town in the 1984 song ‘Bochum’. The homage not only boosted Grönemeyer’s career but also the image of this classic Ruhrgebiet city, halfway between Essen and Dortmund.
Though indeed no beauty, as one of the lyrics says, Bochum is worth a quick stop if only to get ‘down and dirty’ in the Deutsches Bergbau-Museum (German Mining Museum; 587 70; www.bergbaumuseum.de; Am Bergbaumuseum 28; adult/concession/family €6.50/3/14; 8.30am-5pm Tue-Fri, 10am-5pm Sat & Sun), one of Germany’s most-visited museums. Besides learning about all aspects of life unter Tage (below ground), you can descend into the earth’s belly for a spin around a demonstration pit followed by a ride up the landmark winding tower for commanding views. The U-Bahn 35 goes to the museum from the Hauptbahnhof.
It’s a bit away from the centre, but fans of historic ‘iron horses’ have plenty to admire at the Eisenbahnmuseum (Train Museum; 492 516; Dr-C-Otto-Strasse 191; adult/child/family €6/3/14; 10am-5pm Tue-Fri & Sun Mar–mid-Nov). It displays around 180 steam and electric locomotives, coaches and wagons dating back as far as 1853. From the Hauptbahnhof take tram 318 to Bochum-Dahlhausen, then walk for 1200m or take the historic shuttle (Sundays only).
Bochum is also a Ruhrgebiet party hub, with most of the action concentrated in the so-called Bermuda Dreieck (Bermuda Triangle). Formed by Kortumstrasse, Viktoriastrasse and Brüderstrasse, it’s just a five-minute walk from the Hauptbahnhof. Nearby, the Bochum Symphony is getting dramatic new digs in the emerging Viktoria Quartier around the Marienkirche, a church that’s being converted into a cultural centre.
Return to beginning of chapter
Oberhausen
0208 / pop 215,000
A barrel-shaped tower that once stored gas to power blast furnaces, the Gasometer Oberhausen ( 850 3730; www.gasometer.de; Arenastrasse 11; admission varies; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun) has been reborn as one of Germany’s most exciting and popular art and exhibit spaces. Since 1994, it has drawn sizeable crowds with its site-specific installations by top artists, Bill Viola and Christo and Jeanne-Claude included. Top off your visit – literally – by riding a pair of elevators to a 117m-high platform for sweeping views over the entire western Ruhrgebiet.
Down below, you’ll see sprawling CentrO, one of Europe’s largest malls with more than 200 shops, some 20 restaurants and entertainment venues, including a multiplex cinema and the family-oriented CentrO Adventure Park ( 456 780; Promenade 10; unlimited rides under/over 1.2m tall €9.50/12.50; 10am-6pm or 7pm, days