Altstadt
First-timers and nightlifeThe old town: 260 bars, the brewhouses, the Rhine promenade and most of the noise.
Düsseldorf city guide
Things To Do In Düsseldorf
Altbier in what the city calls the longest bar in the world, one of Europe's largest Japanese communities, Gehry buildings on the old docks, and a rivalry with Cologne that never ends.
6
Hostels in the city
8.7
Average, from 8,066 reviews
260+
Bars and pubs in the old town, claimed as the longest bar in the world
8,000+
Japanese residents, among Europe's largest communities
30 min
To Cologne, and the argument
Wealthy, well dressed, and drinking a different beer to Cologne
Düsseldorf is the capital of North Rhine-Westphalia, made its money on trade and industry, and spends it visibly — the Königsallee is one of the most expensive shopping streets in Germany and the city is noticeably better dressed than its neighbours.
The old town is small and packed with over two hundred and sixty bars and pubs, which is why it markets itself as the longest bar in the world. It serves Altbier: dark copper, top-fermented, and the opposite of Cologne's pale Kölsch in every way the two cities can argue about.
That rivalry is genuine, ancient and mostly enjoyed. Ordering Kölsch in Düsseldorf gets you a reaction, which is the point of doing it.
Immermannstrasse near the station is Little Tokyo — one of the largest Japanese communities in Europe, with the best Japanese food in the country outside a handful of Berlin places.
The MedienHafen, the old docks rebuilt with Gehry buildings, is the architectural set piece. Two days.
Where to stay
A compact centre on the Rhine, with the docks south and the station east.
Hauptbahnhof and Little Tokyo
Value and Japanese foodEast around the station: the cheapest beds, Immermannstrasse and good transport.
MedienHafen and Unterbilk
Architecture and restaurantsSouth: the rebuilt docks, the Gehry buildings and Lorettostrasse's restaurants.
Flingern
Local and creativeEast: street art, independent shops and bars, with no visitors at all.
Orange labels are neighbourhoods, dots are the 4 top-rated hostels. Map © MapTiler © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Things to do
Things to do in Düsseldorf
Drink Altbier in a brewhouse. Uerige, Füchschen, Schumacher and Schlüssel all brew on site in the old town, serve in 250ml glasses, and refill automatically until you put your mat on the glass. Uerige is the one to start with and it is standing room and loud.
Walk the MedienHafen, where the old harbour has been rebuilt with Frank Gehry's three leaning buildings at the centre of it. Free, and the contrast with the old town ten minutes away is the point of the city.
The Rheinturm, about €11, gives the view, and its shaft carries the largest digital clock in the world as a pattern of lights.
The Kunstsammlung NRW, about €12, has a serious twentieth-century collection — Klee, Beuys, Richter — reflecting the art academy that trained most of them here.
Then eat in Little Tokyo. Immermannstrasse has ramen, izakaya and a Japanese supermarket, and the standard is high enough that Japanese visitors eat there.
Free things
Free things to do in Düsseldorf
The Rhine promenade is free and is where the city spends its summer evenings, running from the old town south to the MedienHafen.
The MedienHafen is free to walk, including the Gehry buildings and the harbour basin.
The Altstadt costs nothing to wander, and the Königsallee — the Kö — with its canal and plane trees is free to walk even if nothing on it is affordable.
Flingern's street art is extensive and free, particularly around Kiefernstrasse, where a row of formerly squatted buildings is painted end to end.
The Hofgarten and the Japanese garden in Nordpark are both free, the latter a gift from the Japanese community.
Food and drink
Eating and drinking in Düsseldorf
Altbier is the local beer — dark copper, top-fermented, and served in 250ml glasses for €2.20 to €2.80. As in Cologne, the waiter refills automatically and marks a beer mat; putting the mat on top of your glass is how you stop. The difference from Kölsch is the entire basis of the rivalry and both cities will explain it at length.
Killepitsch is the local herbal liqueur, drunk as a shot and sold from a hatch beside its own bar.
Rheinischer Sauerbraten and Halve Hahn appear here as in Cologne, at €12 to €18 in a brewhouse.
The Japanese food on and around Immermannstrasse is the real eating here: ramen at €12 to €16, izakaya, and a supermarket that draws people from across the region.
Lorettostrasse in Unterbilk has the good modern restaurants.
Nightlife
Going out in Düsseldorf
The Altstadt is the whole proposition — over two hundred and sixty bars and pubs in about half a square kilometre, which is why the city calls it the longest bar in the world.
It is dense, loud and a mix of brewhouses, cocktail bars and places aimed at stag groups. The brewhouses are the good half.
An Altbier is €2.20 to €2.80, cocktails €10 to €14, and club entry €10 to €18.
Flingern and Bilk have the less commercial bars and a younger local crowd.
Karneval in February is taken almost as seriously as in Cologne, with its own parade on Rosenmontag and its own conviction that it does it better.
Düsseldorf also has a real electronic music legacy — Kraftwerk formed here, and the Kunstakademie and the Ratinger Hof scene shaped a lot of what followed.
Getting around
Getting around Düsseldorf
U-Bahn, trams and buses run on one VRR ticket with a day ticket around €7.50. The centre is walkable and the old town is ten minutes from the station.
Validate before boarding — the fine is €60.
The airport is 10 minutes from the centre on the S11 or a regional train for about €3.20, and it is one of Germany's main international hubs.
Cologne is 30 minutes by regional train, and the whole Rhine-Ruhr region — Essen, Dortmund, Duisburg — is within an hour, making this the densest urban area in Germany.
Cycling is flat and easy, with Rhine paths running in both directions.
Costs
What Düsseldorf costs
Expensive to shop in and reasonable to visit. Dorms are €20 to €40, a brewhouse main €12 to €18, and an Altbier €2.20 to €2.80.
A day is €48 to €90.
Like Frankfurt, this is a major trade fair city and the Messe calendar swings bed prices hard. Check it before booking — boot shows and medical fairs can treble prices for a week.
The Rhine promenade, the MedienHafen and Flingern's street art are free.
Karneval week in February is the other price spike, with beds rising sharply and booking out well ahead.
Safety
Staying safe in Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is a safe city and the crime affecting visitors is concentrated in the Altstadt at night.
With over two hundred and sixty bars in a small area and a substantial stag trade, the old town at weekends is crowded and very drunk. Pickpocketing and the occasional inflated bill are the practical risks.
The station area is scruffier late at night without being dangerous.
The Altbier refill system works like Cologne's — small glasses arriving automatically, marks accumulating on the mat — and it is equally easy to lose track of how much you have had.
The Rhine is fast, cold and industrial, and the promenade has open edges directly beside where people drink in summer.
Validate transport tickets — €60. Emergency number is 112.
Day trips from Düsseldorf
A rival city, an industrial heritage site and the Dutch border.
Cologne
The cathedral, Kölsch and the other half of the rivalry. Order the wrong beer for the experience.
Zeche Zollverein, Essen
A UNESCO-listed coal mine and coking plant, the finest industrial architecture in Europe and now a museum complex.
Aachen
Charlemagne's cathedral, the oldest in northern Europe, plus thermal baths and the Belgian border.
Amsterdam
A different country, and closer than Munich.
What's on
What is on while you are there
A carnival, a giant funfair on the Rhine, and a fair calendar that sets the prices.
Staff pick
20 Nov – 30 Dec
Christmas Market Düsseldorf
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16 Sep – 4 Oct
Düsseldorf Festival
Düsseldorf Festival transforms the city into a hub for international dance, theatre, new circus, and music, drawing artists and companies from around the globe.…
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24–25 November
Muse
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18 Apr – 14 Oct
Candlelight: The Best of Mozart and Beethoven
Candlelight: The Best of Mozart and Beethoven is a live music experience held at Palais Wittgenstein in Düsseldorf. The concert features piano performances of…
25 Sep – 7 Oct
Backstreet Boys
Backstreet Boys will be performing multiple shows in Dusseldorf at the Merkur Spiel Arena from late September to early October 2026. These concerts mark…
3 October
I Prevail
I Prevail is a metalcore band from Southfield, Michigan, bringing their intense sound to Dusseldorf. They will perform at the Parkplatz P4 PSD Bank…
13 October
The Strokes
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11 Apr – 7 Oct
Candlelight: Tribute to Phil Collins
Candlelight: Tribute to Phil Collins invites you to enjoy the music of Phil Collins in a unique setting illuminated by thousands of candles. The…
Hostels
Where to stay in Düsseldorf
A modest scene near the station and the old town, with prices swinging on the fair calendar. Live from Hostelworld.
When to go
May to September, avoiding the big trade fairs. February for Karneval.
Jan
Cold and grey. Cheapest outside fair weeks
Feb
Karneval. The city stops and beds rise sharply
Mar
Quiet after Karneval. Good value
Apr
Good. Rhine promenade reopening
May
Excellent. Long evenings on the river
Jun
The best month. Everything outdoors
Jul
Warm and busy. The Rhine fair fills the far bank
Aug
Warm, with locals away
Sep
Superb. Warm and quieter
Oct
Autumn. Fair season restarts and prices move
Nov
Grey and wet. Karneval reopens on 11 November
Dec
Christmas markets across several squares
Bar height is temperature. Colour is how busy it gets:
quiet
busy
peak
Average highs. As in Frankfurt, the trade fair calendar matters more than the weather — a quiet week in June can cost less than Christmas, and a fair week in March can cost more than either.
What your trip will cost
Pick how you travel. Per person per night, in euros.
These assume a normal week. Trade fairs and Karneval both push the bed line well above them.
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- Doing things—
Düsseldorf travel questions
The ones we get asked most.
What is the Cologne rivalry about?
Beer, mostly, and centuries of trade competition. Düsseldorf drinks Altbier — dark copper and top-fermented — and Cologne drinks Kölsch, which is pale. Ordering the wrong one in either city gets a reaction, which is half the fun. They are thirty minutes apart and you should do both.
How do I stop the beer arriving?
Put your beer mat on top of your glass. Altbier comes in 250ml glasses and the waiter replaces your empty automatically, marking the mat each time. It is the system, not over-attentiveness, and the mat on top is the universal stop signal.
Is the Japanese food really that good?
Yes. Düsseldorf has one of the largest Japanese communities in Europe, centred on Immermannstrasse near the station, and the ramen, izakaya and supermarket there draw people from across the region. It is the best Japanese food in Germany.
Why do bed prices jump around so much?
Trade fairs. Düsseldorf is a major Messe city and events like Boot and Medica fill every hotel in the region, tripling prices for a week. Check the fair calendar before booking — shifting dates by a few days can change what you pay dramatically.
What is the MedienHafen?
The old harbour, rebuilt as an architecture district with Frank Gehry's three leaning buildings at its centre. It is free to walk and the contrast with the medieval old town ten minutes north is the clearest expression of what the city is.
Is the Altstadt worth it?
For a night, yes. Over two hundred and sixty bars in about half a square kilometre, which is why it is called the longest bar in the world. Stick to the brewhouses — Uerige, Füchschen, Schumacher, Schlüssel — rather than the places aimed at stag groups.
Is Karneval as big as Cologne's?
Not quite, and Düsseldorf will dispute that. It has its own Rosenmontag parade, its own week of costume and drinking, and a firm view that it does the whole thing with more style. Beds rise sharply either way.
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