Dusseldorf is the capital of North Rhine-Westphalia, a city of about 650,000 on the Rhine, and it is the wealthiest and best-dressed city in the German west. It made its money as the administrative and banking centre for the Ruhr industry next door, and it spends it on the Koenigsallee, a boulevard built along an old moat with plane trees down the middle and the kind of shops that keep a doorman.
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That is one half of the city. The other is the Altstadt, half a square kilometre of pubs between the Rhine and the shopping streets, where the local Altbier is poured from wooden barrels into small straight glasses and the waiter keeps bringing them until you put your coaster on top. It is marketed as "the longest bar in the world", which is a slogan rather than a measurement, but the density is real: something like 260 licensed places in a few blocks.
The rivalry with Cologne, forty kilometres downstream, is genuine and old. Altbier here, Koelsch there, and ordering the wrong one in the wrong city is a joke that never gets tired locally.
Architecturally the city is more interesting than its reputation suggests. Frank Gehry built three leaning buildings in the Medienhafen, the old harbour turned media quarter, and the Rheinturm and the riverside promenade came out of burying the motorway that used to run along the water. Immermannstrasse, near the station, is Little Tokyo: around 8,000 Japanese residents, the largest such community in Germany, and the best Japanese food in the country outside a handful of Berlin places.
What you pack is set by mild wet Rhineland weather, a city that dresses up, and a lot of walking on flat pavement.
The Altstadt, the Rhine and the Medienhafen
Pubs, a promenade, three leaning Gehry buildings and a boulevard.
The Altstadt is compact and best walked without a plan. The Burgplatz with its leaning castle tower, the Marktplatz with the equestrian statue, and the Bolkerstrasse where Heinrich Heine was born are the anchors. The breweries to know are Uerige, Fuechschen, Schumacher and Schluessel, all of which brew on site and serve the beer without a menu prompt. Food is plain and heavy: Rheinischer Sauerbraten, Halve Hahn, blood sausage. Nobody will ask whether you want another beer.
The Rheinuferpromenade runs along the river from the Altstadt and is where the whole city goes in good weather, with steps down to the water and a view across to Oberkassel. The Rheinturm at the south end has an observation deck and the largest decimal clock in the world worked into its shaft.
The Medienhafen beyond it is the one piece of architecture worth going out of your way for: Gehry's Neuer Zollhof, three buildings that lean and bulge in white plaster, red brick and polished steel, finished in 1999 and still startling. The quarter around them is former docks converted to offices and restaurants.
The Koenigsallee, the Koe, is the shopping street and worth walking even if you buy nothing, as is the Hofgarten park at its north end running up to Schloss Jaegerhof. The Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen holds a major twentieth century collection across two buildings including a strong Klee group, and the Kunstpalast is the older municipal collection. The Kaiserswerth ruins, a Barbarossa palace on the river, are twenty minutes north by U-Bahn and a good half day.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
Day Trips and the Rhineland Around
Cologne, the Ruhr, and the lower Rhine.
Cologne is twenty-five minutes by regional train and is the bigger tourist draw, with the cathedral and the Roman museum. Doing both cities from one base is sensible and Dusseldorf is the quieter place to sleep.
Essen, Duisburg and the Ruhr are thirty to forty minutes east, and the Zollverein colliery at Essen is a UNESCO site and the best industrial heritage in Europe: a complete Bauhaus-influenced coal mine preserved as a cultural quarter. Duisburg has the Landschaftspark, a disused steelworks you can climb at night when it is floodlit.
Zons, Kaiserswerth and the lower Rhine villages are closer and quieter. Aachen is an hour and a half southwest, Amsterdam about two and a half hours by train, and Dusseldorf Airport is ten minutes from the centre by S-Bahn, which makes this an easy place to start or end a trip.
Getting around: Dusseldorf is flat and the centre is walkable, with the Altstadt, the Koe and the station in a comfortable triangle. The U-Bahn, trams and S-Bahn together are dense and run late, and a day ticket covers them all. The Medienhafen is a twenty-five minute walk along the river from the Altstadt, which is the pleasant way to do it. Cycling is easy and the riverside paths are flat.
When to Go
May to September, with the Rhine festival in July and Karneval in February if that appeals.
The Rhineland is mild and wet: daytime highs from about 6C in January to 24C in July, rain in every month, grey winters and not much snow. It is one of the warmest corners of Germany and also one of the dampest.
Spring and summer, May to September, is when the promenade and the Altstadt terraces work. The Groesste Kirmes am Rhein in July is one of the largest funfairs in Europe, on the Oberkassel meadows across the river, and it fills the city for ten days.
Autumn turns wet through October and November, which is fine for the museums and the pubs and poor for the river.
Winter is grey and damp at 3 to 7C. The Christmas markets spread across six squares in the centre through Advent and are good ones. The real winter event is Karneval, peaking in the week before Lent with Weiberfastnacht on the Thursday and the Rosenmontag parade: the city shuts down, everyone is in costume, and it is genuinely one of the three biggest Karneval cities in Germany. If you want to see it, book months ahead. If you do not, avoid that week, because the centre is impassable and hotels triple.
Is Dusseldorf Safe for Women Travelers
Dusseldorf is a prosperous, well-policed city with one district that needs ordinary care at night.
The FCDO publishes no advised-against areas anywhere in Germany, and its terrorism wording is the strongest it uses: terrorists are very likely to try to carry out attacks in Germany, with restaurants, MARKETS, shopping centres, places of worship, sporting events and crowded public spaces named as possible targets. That is worth knowing in a country where a Christmas market is often the reason for the trip, and the response is awareness rather than avoidance. On crime the FCDO puts German levels on a par with the UK and names theft and pickpocketing at airports, railway stations and in crowded places, with the specific advice not to leave bags unattended. It also gives one unusually concrete warning: exchange currency only at banks and legitimate bureaux, because counterfeit notes are passed to visitors at street kiosks.
The theft warning maps onto this city specifically. The Altstadt is the busiest drinking district in the Rhineland and pickpocketing there on a Friday or Saturday night is the single most likely thing to happen to a visitor, along with the Hauptbahnhof, the Kirmes and the Christmas markets. A closed bag worn in front of you handles it. Change money at a bank rather than a street kiosk. The terrorism wording names markets among possible targets, relevant in December and during Karneval.
Beyond that this is an easy city. Public transport runs late and is well used, the Koe and the promenade are busy and comfortable in the evening, eating alone is unremarkable in a city with this much business travel, and violent crime against visitors is rare. The station quarter immediately around the Hauptbahnhof is the scruffiest part of the centre, with a visible drug scene on a couple of streets, and it is the one place worth walking through rather than lingering in after dark; it is unremarkable in daylight and the station itself is busy and staffed.
The Altstadt at closing time is loud and heavily drunk rather than dangerous, and the usual practicalities apply: keep your own eye on your drink, and use a taxi or the U-Bahn rather than walking a long way back alone at three in the morning. During Karneval the drinking starts in the morning and groping in crowds is a known problem that German media discuss openly every year, so a costume with pockets and a group to stand with are both reasonable precautions.
German sauna areas are textile-free and mixed, which is better known in advance. Cash is still expected in the Altstadt breweries.
Germany is in the EU, so a UK Global Health Insurance Card or an EU European Health Insurance Card gives you state-provided medically necessary care on the same terms as a resident. That is not the same as free: German healthcare involves patient contributions and the card does not cover repatriation or private treatment, so travel insurance sits on top of it. German hospitals are excellent and English is widely spoken in them, particularly in university cities. An Apotheke, marked with a red A, handles minor problems without an appointment and the duty rota for out-of-hours is posted in the window. Tap water is drinkable everywhere. Dial 112 for an ambulance and 116117 for the non-emergency medical service.
The Dusseldorf Packing List
Base layers, for damp Rhineland air
The weather here is mild and wet rather than cold, which is exactly the condition where fine wool beats cotton: merino at 160gsm keeps insulating when damp and resists odour over several days, which matters in a city where an afternoon of walking runs into an evening in a crowded brewery. Our merino base layers are 100% Australian merino at 17.5 micron with no synthetic blend. A long sleeve merino wool base layer for women works under a jacket in winter and alone in summer.
A hooded waterproof
A packable rain jacket for women. It rains in every month here and the promenade and the Medienhafen have no shelter. A hood matters more than full waterproofing.
A warm mid layer, most of the year
A fleece mid layer from October to April. The river wind along the promenade is the coldest thing in the city and the Christmas markets are outdoors.
Shoes you can walk all day in, and something better for the evening
Walking shoes with grip. The city is flat but the Altstadt is cobbled and wet cobbles plus spilled beer is a genuinely slippery combination. Merino wool socks, which keep working damp. Dusseldorf is the best-dressed city in Germany and you will feel underdressed on the Koe in hiking shoes, so one smarter pair is worth the space here more than in most German cities.
Something smarter than you would otherwise pack
This is the one city in this batch where it matters. The Koenigsallee, the restaurants and the Japanese quarter all run smarter than the German average, and a single decent outfit covers all of it.
A day bag that closes
Whatever bag you bring, it needs a zip and a strap long enough to wear across your body and in front of you. That is the whole answer to the FCDO's named risk here, and it applies in the Altstadt at night, at the Hauptbahnhof, and in the Kirmes, Christmas market and Karneval crowds. An open tote over one shoulder is the thing that gets emptied.
The small things
Cash in euros for the Altstadt breweries, several of which are cash only. A European two-pin adapter. A refillable bottle; tap water is drinkable. And if you are coming for Karneval, a costume, because not having one is conspicuous.
Essential Resources for Women in Dusseldorf
Emergency numbers: 112 for police, ambulance and fire, free from any phone including a locked mobile, with operators who will find an English speaker. It is the single number across the whole European Union.
Non-emergency police: dial 110 for police in Germany and 112 for any emergency. A theft needs an in-person report, the Anzeige, to produce the document an insurer will require. There is a police post in the Altstadt that is staffed at weekends, which is the practical place to report a pickpocketing. English is widely spoken.
Main hospital or clinic: the Universitaetsklinikum Duesseldorf has a full emergency department, and the Florence Nightingale Krankenhaus in Kaiserswerth is the other large one. Dial 112 for an ambulance and 116117 for the non-emergency medical service. An Apotheke, marked with a red A, handles minor problems and posts the duty rota.
Official health authority: the Robert Koch Institute, Germany's public health body. Germany is in the EU, so a UK GHIC or EU EHIC gives you state-provided care on the same terms as a resident, which involves patient contributions rather than being free and does not cover repatriation
US Embassy: the United States Embassy in Berlin. Berlin, with a consulate general in Duesseldorf itself, which is the relevant one for North Rhine-Westphalia
Official tourism authority: the German National Tourist Board. With the Dusseldorf tourist office for the DusseldorfCard, the July Kirmes dates and the Karneval calendar, which is worth checking in either direction depending on whether you want to be here for it
The Altstadt at night: the busiest drinking district in the Rhineland, and the place the FCDO's theft warning actually applies. A closed bag in front of you, your own eye on your drink, and transport rather than a long walk home.
Karneval: the week before Lent shuts the city down, hotels triple and the centre is impassable. Groping in Karneval crowds is a known problem German media discuss openly each year. Decide deliberately whether to be here for it.
The station quarter: a visible drug scene on a couple of streets immediately around the Hauptbahnhof. Unremarkable in daylight, worth walking through rather than lingering in after dark.
US State Department travel advisory: the Germany advisory. Read the current level there directly rather than relying on a figure printed in any guide.
UK FCDO travel advice: gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/germany, and read the safety and security page rather than only the landing page, because that is where the substance sits.
Solo women safety assessment: Dusseldorf is a prosperous, well-policed and easy city to travel alone, with late-running public transport, busy evening streets on the Koenigsallee and the river promenade, and enough business travel that eating alone draws no attention at all. Violent crime against visitors is rare. The FCDO's theft warning maps onto one district in particular: the Altstadt is the densest drinking quarter in the Rhineland and a pickpocketing there on a weekend night is the most likely thing to happen to any visitor, along with the Hauptbahnhof, the July Kirmes and the Christmas markets, and a closed bag worn in front of you is the answer. Change money at a bank rather than a street kiosk, which the FCDO advises specifically. The Altstadt at closing time is loud and heavily drunk rather than dangerous, so the ordinary practicalities apply: keep your own eye on your drink and take the U-Bahn or a taxi rather than a long walk back alone. The streets immediately around the Hauptbahnhof have a visible drug scene and are the one corner to pass through rather than linger in after dark, though they are unremarkable by day. Karneval, the week before Lent, is the exception to all of this: the drinking starts in the morning, the centre is impassable, and groping in the crowds is a problem German media discuss openly every year, so go deliberately and with company or avoid that week. German sauna areas are textile-free and mixed, and cash is still expected in the Altstadt breweries.
Reading On
For the country-level picture, start with the Germany travel guide for women. For why fine wool suits damp air and long days that run from walking into an evening out, read the guide to merino wool base layers for women. Every destination we cover is indexed at the travel packing guide for women, and the base layers are at the Roman Trail collection.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
