---
title: "Top 10 Things To Do in Dortmund, Germany | Wimup"
description: "Ten things worth your time in Dortmund, Germany: the Yellow Wall at Signal Iduna Park, Zeche Zollern, the Dortmunder U and Phoenix See."
url: https://wimup.com/city/dortmund
type: City guide
updated: 2026-11-02
publisher: Wimup (https://wimup.com)
---

# Top 10 Things To Do in Dortmund

Dortmund, Germany · Europe · By Wimup Editorial, 16 min read

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.

## 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.

## Quick facts

- **Best months:** May · Jun · Jul · Dec
- **Ideal length:** 2 days
- **Budget per day:** $95–150
- **Language:** German
- **Getting around:** Stadtbahn and S-Bahn, on foot in the centre, regional trains to the rest of the Ruhr
- **Tourism board:** [Official site](https://www.dortmund-tourismus.de/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

## The 10 best things to do in Dortmund

### 1. 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.

- **Time:** 90 min tour, half a day on a matchday
- **Cost:** Ticketed. Tours and match tickets both sell out ahead
- **Best at:** A Saturday afternoon Bundesliga kick-off
- **Tip:** The ground has its own station, Dortmund Signal-Iduna-Park, on the line out of the Hauptbahnhof.

Links: [Official site](https://www.bvb.de/de/en/signal-iduna-park.html?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 2. 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.

- **Time:** 2 hr
- **Cost:** Ticketed at the door or online
- **Best at:** Weekday mornings, ahead of the school groups
- **Tip:** It is a two-minute walk from the station's south exit, so it fits either end of a train day.

Links: [Official site](https://www.fussballmuseum.de/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 3. 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.

- **Time:** 2 to 3 hr
- **Cost:** Ticketed
- **Best at:** Late morning, when the hall glass is at its brightest
- **Tip:** Take the S4 from the Hauptbahnhof to Bövinghausen, about twenty minutes out.

Links: [Official site](https://zeche-zollern.lwl.org/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 4. 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.

- **Time:** 2 hr
- **Cost:** Museum Ostwall is ticketed
- **Best at:** Late afternoon, for the view west
- **Tip:** The U stands between the Hauptbahnhof and the Westentor, roughly ten minutes on foot from either.

### 5. 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.

- **Time:** Half a day
- **Cost:** Ticketed, with the tower lift charged separately
- **Best at:** June, when the rose garden is out
- **Tip:** The nearest Stadtbahn stop is Westfalenhallen, a short walk from the northern gate.

### 6. 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.

- **Time:** 2 hr
- **Cost:** Ticketed, with guided tours charged separately
- **Best at:** A bright winter morning, when the structure reads clearly
- **Tip:** It sits in Huckarde, north-west of the centre, so allow travel time in both directions.

Links: [Official site](https://www.industriedenkmal-stiftung.de/denkmale/kokerei-hansa?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 7. 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.

- **Time:** 2 hr
- **Cost:** Free
- **Best at:** Sunset from the north promenade
- **Tip:** Trains and the Stadtbahn both reach Dortmund-Hörde; the water is a short walk south of the station.

Links: [Official site](https://www.phoenix-see.de/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 8. 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.

- **Time:** 3 hr
- **Cost:** Ticketed
- **Best at:** A wet afternoon
- **Tip:** It is out west in Dorstfeld, near the university, so it pairs badly with a centre day.

Links: [Hours and directions](https://www.dasa-dortmund.de/en/visitor-information/anfahrt-und-oeffnungszeiten?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 9. 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.

- **Time:** 2 hr
- **Cost:** Free
- **Best at:** May, for the rhododendrons
- **Tip:** The zoo entrance is a few minutes on foot from the south side of the park.

Links: [Official site](https://www.dortmund.de/dortmund-erleben/freizeit-und-kultur/botanischer-garten-rombergpark/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 10. 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.

- **Time:** 2 hr
- **Cost:** Free
- **Best at:** A clear afternoon, for the valley
- **Tip:** Pair it with the shoreline path along the Hengsteysee directly below.

## Best football experiences in Dortmund

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

1. **Signal Iduna Park stadium tour** (Guided tour · Strobelallee): 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. [Official site](https://www.bvb.de/de/en/signal-iduna-park.html?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
2. **Deutsches Fußballmuseum** (National museum · Platz der Deutschen Einheit): 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. [Official site](https://www.fussballmuseum.de/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
3. **BORUSSEUM** (Club museum · Signal Iduna Park): 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. [Official site](https://www.bvb.de/de/en/signal-iduna-park/borusseum.html?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
4. **BVB FanWelt** (Club store · Strobelallee 54): 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. [Official site](https://www.bvb.de/de/de/signal-iduna-park/fanwelt.html?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
5. **Stadion Rote Erde** (Second ground · Strobelallee): 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.

## Best industrial heritage in Dortmund

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

1. **LWL-Museum Zeche Zollern** (Colliery museum · Bövinghausen): The colliery whose rescue in 1969 started industrial listing in Germany, and whose machine hall carries an Art Nouveau portal without equal in Europe. [Official site](https://zeche-zollern.lwl.org/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
2. **Kokerei Hansa** (Coking plant · Huckarde): A coking plant kept whole rather than cleared, with the compressor hall, coal tower and battery in place and scrub growing through everything else. [Official site](https://www.industriedenkmal-stiftung.de/denkmale/kokerei-hansa?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
3. **Hoesch-Museum** (Steel history · Borsigplatz): 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. [Official site](https://dortmunder-museen.de/hoesch-museum/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
4. **Brauerei-Museum Dortmund** (Brewing history · Steigerstraße, Nordstadt): 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. [Official site](https://www.brauereierlebnis-dortmund.de/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
5. **Skywalk Phoenix West** (Blast furnace · Hochofenstraße, Hörde): 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.
6. **Dortmunder Hafen** (Canal port · Nordstadt): 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.

## Best museums in Dortmund

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

1. **Museum Ostwall im Dortmunder U** (Modern art · Leonie-Reygers-Terrasse 2): The city's twentieth and twenty-first century collection, on two floors of the converted brewery tower. Expressionism and Fluxus are the strengths.
2. **Museum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte** (Art and city history · Hansastraße 3): 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.
3. **DASA Arbeitswelt Ausstellung** (World of work · Dorstfeld): The federal exhibition on work: full-scale machines, a working press and a flight simulator, built to be operated rather than read about. [Hours and directions](https://www.dasa-dortmund.de/en/visitor-information/anfahrt-und-oeffnungszeiten?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
4. **Naturmuseum Dortmund** (Natural history · Münsterstraße 271): 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.
5. **Mahn- und Gedenkstätte Steinwache** (Memorial · Steinstraße 50): 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. [Official site](https://dortmunder-museen.de/mahn-und-gedenkstaette-steinwache/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
6. **Kindermuseum Adlerturm** (For children · Günter-Samtlebe-Platz 2): 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.

## Best restaurants in Dortmund

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

1. **Grammons Restaurant** (One Michelin star · Brackel): 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.
2. **Palmgarden** (One Michelin star · Syburg): 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.
3. **VIDA by Dyllong & De Luca** (Michelin listed · Kirchhörde): Creative international cooking with Asian and Mediterranean leanings, in an upscale room on the Hagener Straße. Listed in the Michelin guide.
4. **der Lennhof** (Michelin listed · Barop): 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.
5. **Zum Alten Markt** (Westphalian · Markt 3, city centre): 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. [Official site](https://www.altermarkt-dortmund.de/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
6. **Sachte** (Modern German · Kreuzviertel): Modern German cooking in the Kreuzviertel, the student and gallery quarter west of the centre. Where Dortmunders eat when they are not entertaining anyone. [Official site](https://sachte-restaurant.de/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

## Best bars & breweries in Dortmund

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

1. **Wenkers am Markt** (Brewhouse · Betenstraße 1, Alter Markt): 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. [Official site](https://wenkers.de/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
2. **HÖVELS Hausbrauerei** (House brewery · Hoher Wall 5-7): 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. [Official site](https://www.hoevels-hausbrauerei.de/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
3. **Bergmann Brauerei** (Independent brewery · Hörde): 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. [Official site](https://www.die-bergmann-brauerei.de/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
4. **Dortmunder Actien Brauerei** (Brewery tour · Steigerstraße, Nordstadt): The surviving large brewery, founded in 1868 and still north of the centre. Brauereierlebnis Dortmund runs the tours that get you inside. [Tours](https://www.brauereierlebnis-dortmund.de/fuehrungen/index.jsp?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
5. **subrosa** (Live music · Gneisenaustraße 56, Nordstadt): 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.
6. **The Londoner** (Pub · Kreuzviertel): 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.

## Best parks & lakes in Dortmund

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

1. **Westfalenpark** (Park and tower · An der Buschmühle 3): 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.
2. **PHOENIX See** (Lake · Hörde): 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. [Official site](https://www.phoenix-see.de/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
3. **Botanischer Garten Rombergpark** (Botanical garden · Am Rombergpark 49b): 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. [Official site](https://www.dortmund.de/dortmund-erleben/freizeit-und-kultur/botanischer-garten-rombergpark/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
4. **Zoo Dortmund** (Zoo · Mergelteichstraße 80): 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.
5. **Hohensyburg** (Ridge and ruin · Syburg): 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.
6. **Fredenbaumpark** (City park · Nordstadt): 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.

## Best day trips from Dortmund

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

1. **Zollverein, Essen** (Unesco site · Essen, 30 to 40 min by train): 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. [Official site](https://www.zollverein.de/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
2. **Deutsches Bergbau-Museum, Bochum** (Mining museum · Bochum, 15 to 20 min by train): 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. [Official site](https://www.bergbaumuseum.de/en/visitors?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
3. **Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord** (Ironworks park · Duisburg, about 1 hr by train): 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. [Official site](https://www.landschaftspark.de/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
4. **Münster** (Historic city · Münster, about 1 hr by train): A different Westphalia entirely: the arcaded Prinzipalmarkt, St Paul’s cathedral, and a student city that moves almost entirely by bicycle.
5. **Hattingen** (Old town and ironworks · Hattingen, about 1 hr): 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.
6. **Cologne** (Cathedral city · Cologne, about 1 hr by ICE): 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.

## Festivals & annual events in Dortmund (2026)

- **Bundesliga season at Signal Iduna Park** (August to May): Seventeen home league games a season, plus cup and European nights. Südtribüne tickets are the hardest in Germany to get.
- **KLANGVOKAL Musikfestival** (15 May to 13 June 2026): The city's festival of vocal music, a month across churches and the Konzerthaus. It reaches well beyond the choral repertoire.
- **Juicy Beats** (25 and 26 July 2026): The Westfalenpark is fenced off for two days and given over to electronic and hip-hop stages spread through the gardens.
- **MICRO!FESTIVAL** (7 and 8 August 2026): A small city festival of electronic music and club culture, run across a handful of venues rather than one site.
- **DEW21-Museumsnacht** (19 September 2026): One ticket, one night, and most museums in the city open late with concerts and tours. Shuttles connect the venues.
- **Pfefferpotthastfest** (Late September): The Alter Markt is given over to the dish first recorded here in 1378, cooked in quantity alongside the Westphalian repertoire.
- **DORTMUNDER HERBST** (Late September into early October): A consumer fair across six halls of the Westfalenhallen, with around 700 exhibitors. Unglamorous, and enormously well attended.
- **Dortmunder Weihnachtsstadt** (19 November to 30 December 2026): One of the largest Christmas markets in Germany. The tree on the Hansaplatz is built from 1,700 spruces and stands 45 metres.

## Must-try dishes in Dortmund, Germany

- **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.
- **Möpkenbrot**: Blood, pork and rye baked into a loaf, sliced and fried, eaten hot with boiled potatoes and greens.
- **Westfälischer Schinken**: Ham from pigs raised in the Westphalian oak forests, dry-cured and smoked over beech and juniper.
- **Currywurst mit Pommes rot-weiss**: Sausage under curried tomato sauce, chips beside it under ketchup and mayonnaise together.
- **Dortmunder Export**: First brewed by Dortmunder Union in 1873, paler than a Munich helles and softer than a pilsner.

## Dortmund transport & airports

- **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](https://www.dortmund-airport.com/en/passengers-and-visitors?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- **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](https://www.bahn.de/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- **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](https://www.bus-und-bahn.de/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- **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.

## Dortmund at a glance

- **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

## 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.

## 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.

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- [Nijmegen](https://wimup.com/city/nijmegen.md): Netherlands · 10 picks
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- [All of Europe →](https://wimup.com/europe): 158 cities

Part of the [Germany guide](https://wimup.com/country/germany.md) · [Europe](https://wimup.com/europe.md)

## Sources

- [Dortmund tourism board](https://www.dortmund-tourismus.de/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Signal Iduna Park (official site)](https://www.bvb.de/de/en/signal-iduna-park.html?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Deutsches Fußballmuseum (official site)](https://www.fussballmuseum.de/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [LWL-Museum Zeche Zollern (official site)](https://zeche-zollern.lwl.org/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Kokerei Hansa (official site)](https://www.industriedenkmal-stiftung.de/denkmale/kokerei-hansa?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [PHOENIX See (official site)](https://www.phoenix-see.de/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [DASA Arbeitswelt Ausstellung: Hours and directions](https://www.dasa-dortmund.de/en/visitor-information/anfahrt-und-oeffnungszeiten?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Botanischer Garten Rombergpark (official site)](https://www.dortmund.de/dortmund-erleben/freizeit-und-kultur/botanischer-garten-rombergpark/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [BORUSSEUM (official site)](https://www.bvb.de/de/en/signal-iduna-park/borusseum.html?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [BVB FanWelt (official site)](https://www.bvb.de/de/de/signal-iduna-park/fanwelt.html?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Hoesch-Museum (official site)](https://dortmunder-museen.de/hoesch-museum/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Brauerei-Museum Dortmund (official site)](https://www.brauereierlebnis-dortmund.de/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Mahn- und Gedenkstätte Steinwache (official site)](https://dortmunder-museen.de/mahn-und-gedenkstaette-steinwache/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Zum Alten Markt (official site)](https://www.altermarkt-dortmund.de/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Sachte (official site)](https://sachte-restaurant.de/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Wenkers am Markt (official site)](https://wenkers.de/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [HÖVELS Hausbrauerei (official site)](https://www.hoevels-hausbrauerei.de/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Bergmann Brauerei (official site)](https://www.die-bergmann-brauerei.de/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Dortmunder Actien Brauerei: Tours](https://www.brauereierlebnis-dortmund.de/fuehrungen/index.jsp?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Zollverein, Essen (official site)](https://www.zollverein.de/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Deutsches Bergbau-Museum, Bochum (official site)](https://www.bergbaumuseum.de/en/visitors?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord (official site)](https://www.landschaftspark.de/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Dortmund Airport (DTM): Airport](https://www.dortmund-airport.com/en/passengers-and-visitors?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Dortmund Hauptbahnhof: Deutsche Bahn](https://www.bahn.de/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Stadtbahn, S-Bahn and buses: DSW21](https://www.bus-und-bahn.de/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- Rankings are Wimup editorial picks. Prices, durations and budgets are editorial estimates, not live quotes; check the official site before you go.