Football, fields and promenade: Dortmund has a lot to offer – travel

Admittedly, the Ruhr area does not seem to be one of the most popular travel destinations in Germany at first glance. But it is worth a visit: With almost 600,000 inhabitants, Dortmund is the ninth largest city in Germany – and with 63 percent green space, one of the greenest in Europe. Seven tips for a relaxed Dortmund trip:

For football fans

A must for every visitor to Dortmund who is even remotely crazy about football is, of course, the Signal-Iduna-Park. Even if you stroll there from the train station, you will notice small and large details that reflect the black-and-yellow fever of the city: sometimes as striking as a picture of the south tribne on the steps leading up to the city center. Partly less obvious with electricity boxes, climbing barley or bin bins in black and yellow. Are they actually also black and yellow in other cities ?, one begins to wonder at some point. “You will find something with football everywhere here, that’s the way it is,” says Sigrun Spte from Dortmund Tourism with directness from the Ruhr area.

The black-and-yellow center has its center on the side of the Ruhr Expressway that is further away from the city: Signal-Iduna-Park, home of BVB Dortmund, is located on an avenue with a green parking lot. Depending on the current Corona rules, fans can take part in stadium tours, stock up on jerseys, trinkets and cups and maybe even get tickets for a game.

For families
There is something for everyone in the Westfalenpark: toddler playgrounds, rose gardens, an observatory and many small ponds. “Idyllic”, Sigrun Spte describes the park, “a very relaxed being.” Since cycling or roller skating is not allowed on the site, you do not have to watch out for any traffic. “It’s really great for families with children,” says Spte. A park train on rails trundles past the various small gardens, squares and restaurants or you let yourself be carried across the park by the cable car and get a slightly alpine feeling while taking a gondola. The Westfalenpark is not big enough for hiking, but it is easy to spend a varied day in it. The Florian Tower, Dortmund’s 220 meter high television tower in the middle of the park, is a good location for selfies and – when it is open – for a perfect view of Dortmund.

For strollers

The two kilometers from Westfalenpark to Phoenixsee are best done by bike along the Emscher promenade, a strip of green in the middle of the city. You can walk around the lake at a leisurely pace in one and a half hours (around three kilometers), and numerous cafes on its banks offer opportunities for breaks. Pedal boaters are just as happy here in summer as duck watchers.

The Phoenixsee is an example of successful structural change in Dortmund: You can only guess that there was once a steel mill here. The plant was sold to Chinese investors, says Sigrun Spte, “they shipped it and built it in China.” The lake was built on the former factory site, and modern residential buildings are located on the surrounding land. You can understand this story a little when you step onto the small cultural island on the quay promenade. There, illustrated banners and an industrial work of art tell of the past of the place. Today, many Dortmunders spend their free time here. “If people want to know who lives that way in Dortmund, they have to go around the Phoenixsee on Sunday afternoons,” says Spte, “there you see, as they say in the Ruhr area, all sorts of muses who live here. Including football professionals. “

For strollers
Dortmund’s Kreuzviertel, with its Art Nouveau houses and artfully decorated facades, is a trendy district and has plenty of nightlife options, but also small shops with second-hand fashion, houseplants and antiquarian books. In the ice cream parlors, homemade varieties such as marzipan poppy seeds or oat flakes are packed on the waffle, and there is a large selection of vegetarian and vegan options.

Those looking for peace and quiet can relax in the south-west cemetery, a few hundred meters away is the west park with barbecue areas, climbing bars and a beer garden.

For shopping fans
Perfume, jewelry, clothes, in between the Thier-Galerie shopping center and the smell of bratwurst and crpes: Westenhellweg is the city’s shopping mile. Culture instead of consumption is offered by galleries, theaters and the German Football Museum, as well as the Sankt Reinoldi town church or the Petrikirche with artistic carvings. The pedestrian zone is particularly full on market days, when the Dortmund locals buy regional fruit, vegetables and meat on Hansaplatz.

For those interested in culture
The Dortmunder U is one of the city’s landmarks. The building used to belong to the Union brewery, “the U”, the tall golden letter on the roof, still dates from this time. Inside, Dortmund artists, the hardware media art association and the city’s universities are exhibiting on several floors. Many artists have settled in the vicinity of the U. “This is how a creative quarter emerged,” says Sigrun Spte. An art museum in the classical sense is the Museum Ostwall, which shows exhibitions on modern art.

For friends
Onion towers and Gothic arches are not exactly what you associate with a colliery. But the Zollern colliery has it and is therefore “the beautiful little sister of the Zollverein World Heritage Site”, says Sigrun Spte, which in Essen is more of a smooth building that is mainly impressive due to its size. The Zeche Zollern in Dortmund, on the other hand, is reminiscent of an estate, says Spte. The surroundings also fit in with this: there are brick houses with front gardens around the colliery, and there is an almost rural atmosphere. In the midst of these small buildings rise the ornate onion towers. The area is surrounded by a cast iron fence, you have to pay admission.

Because there is now a museum for industrial culture in and under the huge halls. In three exhibitions, grouped around a green inner courtyard in different buildings, one can experience the importance of this and other mines. The permanent exhibition shows the life of the buddies, for children there are special exhibition signs and a “children’s cellar”, in which you can relive everyday life underground. Sound effects included. Technical devices can be seen in the machine hall. Anyone who needs some refreshment after the exhibitions can return to the restaurant in the colliery’s former stables – also a popular location for weddings.

Further information: By train from Freiburg to Dortmund three to four times a day direct connections, duration about five hours. By car on the A 5 and A 45, depending on the traffic situation, a little longer. Within Dortmund you can get around easily by subway and bike; visit.dortmund.de