Walking around Dusseldorf

I didn’t know much for Dusseldorf until I went there. It was a business trip but I had 6 evenings to spend around the city and I took full advantage of that time. Roving around the streets and beautiful parks I was happy to learn more about the city.

The river alley

Visiting the Altstadt (the old city) is one of the first things to do that could be done. It is easily accessible by metro, at Heinrich Heine Alee station, unless your hotel is nearby. Walking around its streets you’ll notice the typical German architecture style. You can’t miss “the longest bar in the World”. This is how are called the little crossed streets with their great number of restaurants and cafes. There are not only German restaurants, you can find also Mexican, Italian, Spanish, Indian cuisine and so on and so on and everything is full. It doesn’t matter if it is winter or summer – it is always crowded with people chatting and enjoying the beer and food.

part of "the longest bar"

One of the few calm streets in the old city

Media Harbour is relatively new and trendy neighbourhood in Dusseldorf. While in the old city you can see mainly foreigners here are the local young people, expensive clubs and restaurants and of course the harbour with the lovely boats and yachts.

Interesting symbols of the city are the 3 modern style buildings, projected by a Canadian architect Frank Gehry. They have really distinctive architecture even one of them is made by stainless steel.

The yacht port

The first interesting building

The stainless steel one

And the white one

Dusseldorf is the German fashion capital. As well as in Paris and Milan, every year there is a fashion week and designers from all over the world present their new collections. Maybe this is why Königsallee is one of the most visited streets. This is the street of the shops, boutiques and malls, very close to the Old city.

Konigsalee with the channel

Now Dusseldorf is also popular with the fact that it will be the host for Eurovision (10-14 May 2011). The city will be crowded with artists, singers and people enjoying arts. But anyway it is used to be always crowded because of the International Exhibitions in the local Messe (Fair) that take place all the time. Near the Fair you can visit Nordpark, a lovely park in the north part of the city where is the Aqua zoo. Also there is a wonderful Japanese garden with unique trees and plants. By the way the biggest Japanese Community out of Japan is in Dusseldorf (around 30 000 people). Japanese have carried their culture and traditions and every year they celebrate Japanese day of culture.  

In Nordpark

The Japanese garden

In the Aqua zoo

No matter if you’re in Cologne, Bonn or Dusseldorf you should definitely take a walk along Rheine, a magnificent river. In the late afternoon hours, you can enjoy the sunset. But don’t forget to take your hat, especially if it is not summer time as the wind does not forgive. Unfortunately I could not get on the television tower although I was strongly advised to do so. People say the view is amazing.

The TV tower

Along the river

Sunset behind the bridge