Ruhr is a metropolitan area where industrial history meets innovative cultural activities. A coal-mining and steel-producing powerhouse from the 1700s to the 1960s, today Ruhr has reinvented itself as a youthful tourist-friendly destination. The region is framed by the rivers Rhine, Ruhr and Lippe and surrounded by rural countryside of the North Rhine-Westphalia state. Find 100 concert venues, 120 performing arts centers and 200 museums, many revealing the industrial past.
Dortmund is a good place to start your vacation. The Museum of Art and Cultural History is one of 20 museums spread across 15 locations that make up the RuhrArtMuseums. See impressive landmarks such as the Florian Tower, Reinoldkirche church and ruined Hohensyburg Castle. Relax at Rombergpark Botanical Garden and tour the Kokerei Hansa cooking plant.
Visit the Railway Museum and watch concerts at the Jahrhunderthalle in Bochum. Uncover the region’s coal-mining impact at the one-time colliery Zollverein Coal Mine World Heritage Site (Zeche Zollverein) in Essen. The Folkwang Museum displays art from the 1800s and 1900s while the Ruhr Museum highlights natural and cultural history. Learn about everything from beer brewing to bread making and 18th-century handicrafts at the open-air LWL-Freilichtmuseum in Hagen.
Straddling the Rhine River is Duisburg, where an iron smelting plant has been turned into a recreational space called Duisburg-Nord Landscape Park. Spend an evening exploring the waterfront bars and restaurants of Innenhafen Duisburg. In Oberhausen, browse over 1,500 exhibits on industrial activities at the Rhenish Industrial Museum and see innovative exhibitions at the Gasometer. Have fun with the interactive water-based exhibits at the Aquarius Wassermuseum in Mülheim.
Come in June for ExtraSchicht, the Night of Industrial Culture, a one-night festival spread across 20 cities. Enjoy concerts, street art, theater productions and poetry readings at old gasometers, mines and steelworks.
Reach the Ruhr region by flying to Dortmund Airport and get around using Germany’s reliable train network. For an active vacation, rent a bike and cycle amid breathtaking countryside via the 140-mile-long (230-kilometer) Ruhr Valley Cycle Route.
