Dortmund, Germany, top 10 things to do (Wimup travel guide)

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Top 10 Things To Do in Dortmund

Country

Germany

Best months

May · Jun · Jul · Dec

Population

603K

Language

German

Budget / day

$95–150

Quick answer

Give the football a day and the coal a day. Signal Iduna Park and the German Football Museum sit at either end of one U-Bahn line, and a stadium tour is the only way onto the Yellow Wall without a match ticket. The other day belongs to the industry that built the city: Zeche Zollern, Kokerei Hansa, and the Dortmunder U in between. Finish at Phoenix See.

Dortmund on Foot

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Dortmund is the ninth-largest city in Germany and it does not trade on charm. It trades on a football club, a coal and steel century that ended inside living memory, and a beer style that carries the city name. Two days covers the stadium, the best of the industrial sites and one lake that explains what the region did next.

The 10 best things to do in Dortmund

Signal Iduna Park

Stadium· Strobelallee 50, 44139 Dortmund

Germany's largest football ground, and the reason most visitors book the flight. Capacity is 81,365, and a quarter of that is the Südtribüne, the standing terrace known as the Yellow Wall. On other days the stadium runs tours that take in the pitch, the dressing rooms and the terrace. Book before you travel: home games sell out and so do the tours.

Time90 min tour

CostTicketed

Best atA Saturday afternoon Bundesliga kick-off

TipThe ground has its own station

Map ↗ Official site

Deutsches Fußballmuseum

Museum· Platz der Deutschen Einheit 1, 44137 Dortmund

The national football museum, directly opposite the Hauptbahnhof and run by the German football association. Around 1,600 objects and a great deal of film: the 1954 final in Bern, 1974 and 1990, the 2014 trophy, and the women's game given a proper floor. The postwar rooms work as social history whether or not you follow a league.

Time2 hr

CostTicketed at the door or online

Best atWeekday mornings

TipIt is a two-minute walk from the station's south exit

Map ↗ Official site

LWL-Museum Zeche Zollern

Industrial heritage· Grubenweg 5, 44388 Dortmund

The colliery that decided what industrial heritage in the Ruhr would look like, rescued from demolition in 1969 in the first successful campaign in Germany to protect an industrial building. The machine hall of 1902 is the reason to come: steel and glass fronted by a colour-glazed Art Nouveau portal no other industrial building in Europe can match.

Time2 to 3 hr

CostTicketed

Best atLate morning

TipTake the S4 from the Hauptbahnhof to Bövinghausen, about twenty minutes out.

Map ↗ Official site

Dortmunder U

Arts centre· Leonie-Reygers-Terrasse 2, 44137 Dortmund

A fermentation and storage cellar built in 1926 for the Dortmunder Union brewery, now the city's centre for art and creativity. The gold-plated nine-metre U went up on the roof in 1968 and is the clearest landmark on the skyline. Inside, the Museum Ostwall holds the city's modern collection, with Expressionism and Fluxus at the core.

Time2 hr

CostMuseum Ostwall is ticketed

Best atLate afternoon

TipThe U stands between the Hauptbahnhof and the Westentor

Map

Westfalenpark and the Florianturm

Park· An der Buschmühle 3, 44139 Dortmund

Parkland laid out for the 1959 horticultural show, immediately south of the Westfalenhallen. The Florianturm was built for the same show, stands 219.3 metres, was Germany's tallest television tower for a decade and carried the world's first revolving restaurant. The lift buys the best overview of the city there is.

TimeHalf a day

CostTicketed

Best atJune

TipThe nearest Stadtbahn stop is Westfalenhallen, a short walk from the northern gate.

Map

Kokerei Hansa

Industrial heritage· Emscherallee 11, 44369 Dortmund

A coking plant left standing after it closed rather than cleared away. The compressor hall, the coal tower and the battery are all in place, and birch and buddleia have taken everything between them, which is the point: this is the industrial Ruhr without a polished museum layer over the top. Guided tours follow coal to coke.

Time2 hr

CostTicketed

Best atA bright winter morning

TipIt sits in Huckarde, north-west of the centre, so allow travel time in both directions.

Map ↗ Official site

PHOENIX See

Lake· Hafenpromenade, 44263 Dortmund

A lake standing where a steelworks used to. The Phoenix-Ost works in Hörde shut in 2001, were dismantled and shipped to China, and the ground they left was flooded from 2010. What replaced them is open water with a promenade of restaurants and the old town of Hörde behind. The clearest answer to what comes after heavy industry.

Time2 hr

CostFree

Best atSunset from the north promenade

TipTrains and the Stadtbahn both reach Dortmund-Hörde

Map ↗ Official site

DASA Arbeitswelt Ausstellung

Museum· Friedrich-Henkel-Weg 1-25, 44149 Dortmund

Germany's national exhibition on the world of work, run by the federal institute for occupational safety. Full-scale machines, a working press, a flight simulator and an aircraft cockpit, arranged so that you operate things rather than read about them. Aimed at families, and one of the few museums where nobody minds the noise.

Time3 hr

CostTicketed

Best atA wet afternoon

TipIt is out west in Dorstfeld, near the university, so it pairs badly with a centre day.

Map ↗ Hours and directions

Botanischer Garten Rombergpark

Garden· Am Rombergpark 49b, 44225 Dortmund

One of the larger botanical gardens in Europe, laid out around the moated grounds of a country estate the city bought in 1927. The planting is organised by geography, so a walk takes you from a North American arboretum through Asian woodland to the glasshouses, and the grounds run into the zoo next door. Free.

Time2 hr

CostFree

Best atMay, for the rhododendrons

TipThe zoo entrance is a few minutes on foot from the south side of the park.

Map ↗ Official site

Hohensyburg

Ruin· Hohensyburgstraße 204, 44265 Dortmund

High ground on the southern edge of the city, where the Lenne runs into the Ruhr, and a different landscape from everything north of it. The castle ruin sits beside the Kaiser Wilhelm monument of 1902 and the Vincke tower of 1857. The reason to climb is the view down over the Hengsteysee and the wooded valleys behind it.

Time2 hr

CostFree

Best atA clear afternoon

TipPair it with the shoreline path along the Hengsteysee directly below.

Map

9 of the 10, mapped

Dortmund · 9 spots

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Dortmund travel FAQ

How many days do you need in Dortmund?+

Two. One for football, which means the stadium tour or a match plus the German Football Museum by the station, and one for the industrial sites, which means Zeche Zollern and Kokerei Hansa with the Dortmunder U in between. A third day buys Phoenix See, the Rombergpark and Hohensyburg, or a train to Essen or Bochum.

Can you go inside Signal Iduna Park without a match ticket?+

Yes. The club runs guided stadium tours on non-matchdays that take in the pitch, the dressing rooms, the players’ tunnel and the Südtribüne itself, and most tickets include the BORUSSEUM club museum. Book ahead through the club: tours around big fixtures sell out with the fixtures.

How do you get from Dortmund Airport to the city?+

The AirportExpress bus runs from the terminal to the Hauptbahnhof, and a separate shuttle runs to Holzwickede station for regional trains into the city. The airport sits east of Dortmund on the boundary with Holzwickede, so a taxi is short. Long-haul arrivals usually land at Düsseldorf instead, about an hour away by train.

Is Dortmund worth visiting if you do not follow football?+

Yes, though the case is industrial rather than picturesque. Zeche Zollern has the finest Art Nouveau industrial architecture in Europe, Kokerei Hansa is a coking plant left where it stood, and the Dortmunder U turned a brewery cellar into the city's modern art museum. What Dortmund does not have is an old town: the centre was bombed flat.

When is the Dortmund Christmas market?+

The Dortmunder Weihnachtsstadt runs from 19 November to 30 December 2026, spread across the centre with the Hansaplatz tree at its middle. It is one of the largest in Germany and draws more than three million people, so weekday afternoons are the civilised time to go.

Football city

Best football experiences in Dortmund

Borussia Dortmund runs through everything here. Five places to see why, matchday or not.

Strobelallee

Signal Iduna Park stadium tour

Guided tour

The only way onto the Südtribüne when there is no game. The route runs through the tunnel, the dressing rooms and the benches, and includes the BORUSSEUM.

Map ↗ Official site

Platz der Deutschen Einheit

Deutsches Fußballmuseum

National museum

The German football association's own museum, opposite the main station: 1,600 objects, the trophies of 1954 and 2014, and a floor for the women's game.

Map ↗ Official site

Signal Iduna Park

BORUSSEUM

Club museum

Borussia Dortmund's own museum, inside the stadium, covering the club from 1909 through the European nights to the terrace culture that produced the Yellow Wall.

Map ↗ Official site

Strobelallee 54

BVB FanWelt

Club store

The flagship shop beside the ground, and where the matchday crowd gathers before kick-off. Worth ten minutes for the scale of it even if you buy nothing.

Map ↗ Official site

Strobelallee

Stadion Rote Erde

Second ground

The old ground next door, home to Borussia Dortmund until the Westfalenstadion opened in 1974 and now used by the reserve side and by athletics.

Map

After the coal

Best industrial heritage in Dortmund

Six places where the mines, the steel and the brewing are still standing.

Bövinghausen

LWL-Museum Zeche Zollern

Colliery museum

The colliery whose rescue in 1969 started industrial listing in Germany, and whose machine hall carries an Art Nouveau portal without equal in Europe.

Map ↗ Official site

Huckarde

Kokerei Hansa

Coking plant

A coking plant kept whole rather than cleared, with the compressor hall, coal tower and battery in place and scrub growing through everything else.

Map ↗ Official site

Borsigplatz

Hoesch-Museum

Steel history

The steel half of the story, in the old gatehouse of the Westfalenhütte. It covers the works, the people who staffed them and the district around the Borsigplatz.

Map ↗ Official site

Steigerstraße, Nordstadt

Brauerei-Museum Dortmund

Brewing history

On the old Hansa brewery site, tracing the century in which Dortmund's breweries shaped German lager. Copper vessels, delivery trucks and a wall of advertising.

Map ↗ Official site

Hochofenstraße, Hörde

Skywalk Phoenix West

Blast furnace

The blast furnace of the Phoenix-West works, left where it stood and fitted with a walkway that climbs through the structure. Floodlit after dark.

Map

Nordstadt

Dortmunder Hafen

Canal port

The largest canal port in Europe, ten docks and eleven kilometres of quay at the head of the Dortmund-Ems canal. One side is being rebuilt as a waterfront quarter.

Map

Collections

Best museums in Dortmund

Six collections, from a brewery cellar full of modern art to a memorial in a Gestapo cell block.

Leonie-Reygers-Terrasse 2

Museum Ostwall im Dortmunder U

Modern art

The city's twentieth and twenty-first century collection, on two floors of the converted brewery tower. Expressionism and Fluxus are the strengths.

Map

Hansastraße 3

Museum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte

Art and city history

Art and cultural history in a 1920s former savings bank, strongest on the medieval city and on regional design, with archaeology in the floors below.

Map

Dorstfeld

DASA Arbeitswelt Ausstellung

World of work

The federal exhibition on work: full-scale machines, a working press and a flight simulator, built to be operated rather than read about.

Map ↗ Hours and directions

Münsterstraße 271

Naturmuseum Dortmund

Natural history

The natural history museum, reopened after a long rebuild, covering the geology of the region, the fossils the coal measures gave up, and live aquaria.

Map

Steinstraße 50

Mahn- und Gedenkstätte Steinwache

Memorial

The former police cells the Gestapo used from 1933, now a memorial and an exhibition on Dortmund under National Socialism. Among the most visited in the state.

Map ↗ Official site

Günter-Samtlebe-Platz 2

Kindermuseum Adlerturm

For children

A reconstruction of one of the towers of the medieval city wall, run as a children's museum about Dortmund in the Middle Ages. The best half hour for under-twelves.

Map

Where to eat

Best restaurants in Dortmund

The serious kitchens are out in the suburbs. Westphalian cooking holds the old market square.

Brackel

Grammons Restaurant

One Michelin star

Dirk Grammon's dining room out in Brackel, bright and modern, holding a Michelin star. The furthest of the serious kitchens and the one worth the taxi.

Map

Syburg

Palmgarden

One Michelin star

A starred kitchen inside the Hohensyburg casino on the southern heights, with the Ruhr valley below the windows. Pairs neatly with an afternoon at the castle ruin.

Map

Kirchhörde

VIDA by Dyllong & De Luca

Michelin listed

Creative international cooking with Asian and Mediterranean leanings, in an upscale room on the Hagener Straße. Listed in the Michelin guide.

Map

Barop

der Lennhof

Michelin listed

A country-house hotel restaurant on the southern edge of the city, cooking German and French with fish and steak at the centre. The easiest of the group to book.

Map

Markt 3, city centre

Zum Alten Markt

Westphalian

Open on the Alter Markt since 1956 and the most reliable place in the centre to eat Pfefferpotthast the way the city means it. Dark wood, big plates, no reinvention.

Map ↗ Official site

Kreuzviertel

Sachte

Modern German

Modern German cooking in the Kreuzviertel, the student and gallery quarter west of the centre. Where Dortmunders eat when they are not entertaining anyone.

Map ↗ Official site

Beer city

Best bars & breweries in Dortmund

The city gave its name to a lager style. Six places to drink it where it is made.

Betenstraße 1, Alter Markt

Wenkers am Markt

Brewhouse

The brewhouse on the old market square, in a house Heinrich Wenker took over in 1729. Long tables, beer from the copper, and the centre's default meeting point.

Map ↗ Official site

Hoher Wall 5-7

HÖVELS Hausbrauerei

House brewery

Brewing rights on the Hövel estate go back to 1518, and the house brewery still works on the same ground. Dark, malty Hövels Original and a terrace in summer.

Map ↗ Official site

Hörde

Bergmann Brauerei

Independent brewery

A revived Dortmund brand, independent of the large groups, brewing in Hörde. Its Stehbierhalle is a standing bar and the unfiltered export is the glass to order.

Map ↗ Official site

Steigerstraße, Nordstadt

Dortmunder Actien Brauerei

Brewery tour

The surviving large brewery, founded in 1868 and still north of the centre. Brauereierlebnis Dortmund runs the tours that get you inside.

Map ↗ Tours

Gneisenaustraße 56, Nordstadt

subrosa

Live music

A small live-music bar in the Nordstadt near the port, with acoustic sets at weekends and readings midweek. The room is the size of a front parlour, which is the appeal.

Map

Kreuzviertel

The Londoner

Pub

A British pub in the Kreuzviertel with a beer garden and a list running past a hundred international beers. The overflow when the brewhouses are full.

Map

Green Ruhr

Best parks & lakes in Dortmund

Half the city is trees and water, and most of it stands on something that used to be industry.

An der Buschmühle 3

Westfalenpark

Park and tower

Laid out for the 1959 Federal Horticultural Show, with the 219.3-metre Florianturm at its centre and rose gardens, water and an open-air stage around it.

Map

Hörde

PHOENIX See

Lake

A lake flooded from 2010 onto the ground of the Phoenix-Ost steelworks, with a restaurant promenade along the north shore and sailing on the water.

Map ↗ Official site

Am Rombergpark 49b

Botanischer Garten Rombergpark

Botanical garden

One of the larger botanical gardens in Europe, planted by geography around the moated grounds of an estate the city bought in 1927. Free, and quiet on weekdays.

Map ↗ Official site

Mergelteichstraße 80

Zoo Dortmund

Zoo

Next door to the Rombergpark and strongest on South American species. Wooded and hilly rather than laid out in rows, which makes it a walk as much as a visit.

Map

Syburg

Hohensyburg

Ridge and ruin

The southern ridge above the meeting of the Lenne and the Ruhr, holding a castle ruin, the Vincke tower of 1857 and the Kaiser Wilhelm monument of 1902.

Map

Nordstadt

Fredenbaumpark

City park

The big park of the northern districts, with old trees, a boating lake and the Big Tipi, a timber events hall built for the 1990s and still standing in the middle of it.

Map

Beyond the city

Best day trips from Dortmund

The Ruhr is one dense rail network. Six places inside an hour of the Hauptbahnhof.

Essen, 30 to 40 min by train

Zollverein, Essen

Unesco site

The coal mine and coking plant listed by Unesco, and the most complete industrial complex in the region. The grounds are free; the Ruhr Museum is not.

Map ↗ Official site

Bochum, 15 to 20 min by train

Deutsches Bergbau-Museum, Bochum

Mining museum

Europe's largest mining museum, with a demonstration mine below the building and a winding tower above it. Two to three hours, and the closest of these trips.

Map ↗ Official site

Duisburg, about 1 hr by train

Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord

Ironworks park

A disused ironworks turned public park: climbing on the ore bunkers, diving in the gasometer, and a light installation after dark. Free, and open around the clock.

Map ↗ Official site

Münster, about 1 hr by train

Münster

Historic city

A different Westphalia entirely: the arcaded Prinzipalmarkt, St Paul’s cathedral, and a student city that moves almost entirely by bicycle.

Map

Hattingen, about 1 hr

Hattingen

Old town and ironworks

A timber-framed old town in the Ruhr valley, and the Henrichshütte ironworks on its edge, kept as a museum with the blast furnace still standing.

Map

Cologne, about 1 hr by ICE

Cologne

Cathedral city

The cathedral is directly outside the station, which makes this the easiest long day out. Roman ruins, the Ludwig collection and Kölsch in small glasses.

Map

What's on

Festivals & annual events in Dortmund (2026)

Time your trip around the city's biggest dates.

August to May

Bundesliga season at Signal Iduna Park

Seventeen home league games a season, plus cup and European nights. Südtribüne tickets are the hardest in Germany to get.

15 May to 13 June 2026

KLANGVOKAL Musikfestival

The city's festival of vocal music, a month across churches and the Konzerthaus. It reaches well beyond the choral repertoire.

25 and 26 July 2026

Juicy Beats

The Westfalenpark is fenced off for two days and given over to electronic and hip-hop stages spread through the gardens.

7 and 8 August 2026

MICRO!FESTIVAL

A small city festival of electronic music and club culture, run across a handful of venues rather than one site.

19 September 2026

DEW21-Museumsnacht

One ticket, one night, and most museums in the city open late with concerts and tours. Shuttles connect the venues.

Late September

Pfefferpotthastfest

The Alter Markt is given over to the dish first recorded here in 1378, cooked in quantity alongside the Westphalian repertoire.

Late September into early October

DORTMUNDER HERBST

A consumer fair across six halls of the Westfalenhallen, with around 700 exhibitors. Unglamorous, and enormously well attended.

19 November to 30 December 2026

Dortmunder Weihnachtsstadt

One of the largest Christmas markets in Germany. The tree on the Hansaplatz is built from 1,700 spruces and stands 45 metres.

Getting around

Dortmund transport & airports

How to arrive and move around the city.

Dortmund Airport (DTM)

The city's own airport, east of the centre, on mostly low-cost European routes. The AirportExpress bus connects it with the Hauptbahnhof; Düsseldorf handles the long-haul.

↗ Airport

Dortmund Hauptbahnhof

Opposite the football museum, and one of the busiest long-distance stops in the country. ICE services reach Cologne, Berlin, Hamburg and Amsterdam without a change.

↗ Deutsche Bahn

Stadtbahn, S-Bahn and buses

DSW21 runs eight Stadtbahn lines across 82 stops, about 20 of them in tunnel under the centre. Tickets are on the VRR tariff, so one fare covers tram, bus and S-Bahn.

↗ DSW21

On foot, by bike and by taxi

The centre sits inside a ring of boulevards on the line of the old walls, and everything within it walks in twenty minutes. Zeche Zollern, DASA and Hohensyburg need transport.

Traditional food

Must-try dishes in Dortmund, Germany

The classics to order before you leave.

Möpkenbrot

Blood, pork and rye baked into a loaf, sliced and fried, eaten hot with boiled potatoes and greens.

Currywurst mit Pommes rot-weiss

Sausage under curried tomato sauce, chips beside it under ketchup and mayonnaise together.

Pfefferpotthast

Dortmund's own dish, first recorded in 1378: beef simmered with onion, bay and a heavy hand of pepper.

Salzkuchen

A flat, salted, caraway-topped roll split and filled with seasoned raw pork mince and raw onion.

Westfälischer Pumpernickel

All-rye bread baked for up to twenty-four hours in a steam-filled oven, which is where the colour comes from.

Panhas

Sausage broth thickened with buckwheat flour, left to set, then sliced and fried until the edges crisp.

Westfälischer Schinken

Ham from pigs raised in the Westphalian oak forests, dry-cured and smoked over beech and juniper.

Dortmunder Export

First brewed by Dortmunder Union in 1873, paler than a Munich helles and softer than a pilsner.

Dortmund fact sheet

Dortmund at a glance

The essentials worth knowing before you go.

Country

Germany

Region

North Rhine-Westphalia, in the Ruhr

Population

603,462 (31 December 2024)

Area

280.71 km²

Elevation

86 m above sea level

Founded

Recorded as Throtmanni in 885

Language

German

Currency

Euro (EUR)

Time zone

Central European Time, UTC+1

Calling code

+49 231

Airports

Dortmund (DTM), on the eastern edge; Düsseldorf (DUS), about an hour by train

Emergency

112

Ideal length

2 days

Getting around

Stadtbahn and S-Bahn, on foot in the centre, regional trains to the rest of the Ruhr

Tourism board

Official site

Interesting facts

Signal Iduna Park is the largest football stadium in Germany, holding 81,365. The Südtribüne is the biggest standing terrace in Europe.
Dortmund gave its name to a beer style. Dortmunder Export was first brewed in 1873 and led the country until pils passed it in 1970.
The port at the head of the Dortmund-Ems canal is the largest canal port in Europe, with ten docks and about eleven kilometres of quay.
Pfefferpotthast was first written down in Dortmund in 1378, which makes it one of the oldest named dishes in Germany.
The Christmas tree on the Hansaplatz is not one tree. It is built each year from more than 1,700 spruces and stands 45 metres.

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