What's good in and around Dusseldorf

Fr Tod Umptious

Hi
I will be in Dusseldorf soon for work
Will have to spend a few weekends there
I have been there before
Can anyone recommend a place to go for a night in the area that would be no more than a few hours on the train?
Does not have to be big or mad, a good old European town or village would be perfect

I have already been to Amsterdam and Cologne

taz70

Really depends on what you like... and whether or not you have car. Train travel can be pricey.

I studied in Holland, so here are my favourites that are near enough to Dusseldorf:

- Maastricht (Holland) is fabulous (you can take the train or even the bus from Aachen) - lovely old town, good markets, great restaurants, terrific shopping (including apparently the most expensive shopping street in Europe)

- Tongeren (Belgium) has a spectacular antiques market on a Sunday - you can take a river cruise from Maastricht - or even just a bus

- Koblenz (Germany) is beautiful - where the Rhein meets the Mosel

- River cruises up the Rhein - may be better in summer, but really lovely from Mainz to Koblenz

- Luxembourg is nice (not too far for a weekend)

Anyway, hope these help!

undo

I agree with all taz70 said. Here are a few more suggestions:

* The Ruhr area is famous for its industrial heritage. There are no old towns or pretty landscapes here but a lot of industrial monuments to discover. I recommend the mining museum in Bochum (it is an actual underground mine you can visit).

* The open air museum in Hagen is a collection of old, wooden houses relocated to form a German village as it once was, complete with staff in costumes showing how the different craftsmen used to work.

* Wuppertal is a nearby city known for its hanging monorail. When they wanted to build some form of public transform in this city, the only place was above the river - and so they built a monorail. This is an old piece of technology, very unique and nothing like the modern monorails you might have seen in airports for example.

* Heading south, especially for Luxembourg, make sure to stop in Trier. I did Trier and Luxembourg in a weekend and felt it was enough time for both. Trier has a lot of Roman ruins and one big Roman-era city gate still standing, the Porta Nigra. It also has a pretty old town.

* Heading north, you could visit Münster. This city is just as crazy about bikes as the Netherlands. It has a huge student population and all the students are cycling everywhere. The city has a beautiful old town as well, a nice castle (which now belongs to the university) and a lake right in the center.

* If you have a car - or hire one for a weekend - the regions of Münsterland (around Münster) and Sauerland (Hagen and east of there) are both picturesque, full of tiny villages and beautiful landscapes.

* And finally, while you say you have been there before, there is *always* more to discover in Düsseldorf. On the weekends, this city attracts people from a huge radius as it has the best nightlife in this region of Germany.

Edit: Trains in Germany are very cheap if you get the right ticket. If you can plan ahead, you can get a €29 ticket for any train. If you are going to stay within the state of Northrhine-Westphalia, the various NRW-tickets will let you get around cheaply, especially on the weekends. And if you are heading north or north-east, you will be traveling around the VRR region. VRR tickets are cheap and valid on all local trains, buses, trams and the monorails in Düsseldorf, Dortmund and Wuppertal.

Fr Tod Umptious

Thanks for the info, will certainly give Wuppertal a look, that monorail looks funky