The Ruhrgebiet

Once known for its belching steelworks and filthy coal mines, the Ruhrgebiet – a sprawling post-industrial region of 53 cities and 5.1 million people – has worked hard in recent decades to reboot for a high-tech future.

Rather than eschew their lowbrow heritage, the people of the Ruhrgebiet have embraced it by recasting dormant furnaces, steelworks, coking plants and other vestiges of the Industrial Age in creative ways. For travellers, the Ruhrgebiet delivers a trainload of surprises and unique sights, locations and experiences. You can see cutting-edge art in a huge converted gas tank, free-climb around a blast furnace or hear classical music in a gas power station. You can also feast your eyes on old masters, majestic churches and great architecture ranging from Gothic to Bauhaus to postmodern.

Explore The Ruhrgebiet

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Top attractions

These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout The Ruhrgebiet.

  • Museum

    Ruhr Museum

    The former coal-wash plant at the Unesco-listed Zeche Zollverein provides a suitably atmospheric setting for accessible and engaging exhibits on the…

  • Historic Building

    Zeche Zollverein

    A key site along the Ruhr area's Industrial Heritage Trail, the former Zollverein coal mine was a marvel of efficiency while in operation from 1932 until…

  • Museum

    Museum Folkwang

    A grand dame among Germany’s art repositories, the Museum Folkwang has sparkling digs designed by top British architect David Chipperfield. Galleries…

  • Park

    Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord

    Molten iron used to flow 24/7 from the fiery furnaces of this decommissioned ironworks that is now an urban oasis, performance space and all-ages…

  • Museum

    Deutsches Fussball Museum

    This vast shrine to the nation's passion and obsession is a place of pilgrimage not only for German football fans. Inside a futuristic building next to…

  • Museum

    Museum am Ostwall

    The 4th and 5th floors of the Dortmunder U creative complex are home to the Museum am Ostwall, an art-world star thanks to its far-reaching collection of…

  • Sculpture

    Tetraeder

    The Tetraeder is one of the most striking stops on the Ruhr Valley's Industrial Heritage Trail. The airy 60m-high installation by Wolfgang Christ is a…

  • Cultural Centre

    Dortmunder U

    You can see it from afar – the golden ‘U’ atop the tower once used for beer storage by the now defunct Union Brauerei. Once one of Dortmund’s largest and…

  • Museum

    Eisenbahnmuseum Bochum

    Fans of historical trains have plenty to admire at this vast museum, which displays around 120 steam locomotives (many puffing away), coaches and wagons…

  • Museum

    Red Dot Design Museum

    Part of the Zeche Zollverein colliery-turned-cultural centre, this museum showcases the best in contemporary design in the former stoker's hall,…

  • Museum

    Josef Albers Museum

    Bottrop-born Josef Albers (1888–1976) was a painter of abstract works that combine bold use of colour with geometric forms. A member of the Bauhaus school…

  • Museum

    Lehmbruck Museum

    This museum is famous for its vast collection of modern international sculpture by artists including Archipenko, Giacometti, Kollwitz, Ernst and Chillida…

  • Cathedral

    Dom Essen

    Essen’s medieval Dom is an island of quiet engulfed by the commercialism of pedestrianised Kettwiger Strasse, the main shopping strip. It has a priceless…

  • Church

    Reinoldikirche

    Dating to 1280, the Reinoldi church is named after the city’s patron saint. As the story goes, after Reinold was martyred in Cologne, the carriage…

  • Gallery

    Gasometer Oberhausen

    This barrel-shaped tower – spectacularly lit at night – stored gas to power blast furnaces from the 1920s until 1988. Six years later, the Gasometer…

  • Church

    Marienkirche

    Marienkirche is the oldest of Dortmund’s churches, and its Romanesque origins are still visible in the round-arched nave. The star exhibit here is the…

  • Museum

    Deutsches Bergbau-Museum

    This hugely popular museum will remain closed until 2020 while getting a much needed refurb and completely updated permanent exhibition. It's still worth…

  • Church

    Basilika St Ludgerus

    Werden’s main sight is the solid stone St Ludgerus (1175), a beautiful late-Romanesque church named for the Frisian missionary buried here. It has an…

  • Church

    Petrikirche

    The 14th-century Petrikirche's showstopper is the massive Antwerp altar (1520), featuring 633 individually carved and gilded figurines in scenes depicting…