2 hours at Dortmund Hbf late on a Saturday evening
 

I have a rather annoying 2 hour wait at Dortmund Hbf before boarding the sleeper to Warsaw. The station website is rather short on content (especially for a non-German speaker) so I wondered if there is anywhere decent for a beer either in the Hbf or very close by. Will be with luggage so not up for a long walk.

Thanks for any guidance. :)

Oh dear, I do feel for you. You could try Hövels Hausbrauerei. It's been a few years since I was, but if all you want is a beer this might suit. Not far to walk from the Hbf. There's a good Italian restaurant in the area but I forget the name.

You should be able to find all kinds of restaurants near the Hbf. I was in Dortmund 3 years ago and remember all kinds of places nearby. How late is late? They might close at 2am.

Perfect. Open until midnight which is when the train leaves. Thanks! ^

Had you given me something more salubrious to work with (Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Munich, Berlin) I could have given you some better ideas (but then you probably wouldn't have come to FT for questions!)

:D You did a great job with the limited material I offered. Having vague memories of the station being quite grim escaping for a decent beer will improve the journey significantly. ^

In Dortmund you need a lot of beer......

+1:D

While there are certainly more depressing cities in Germany, IMO 2h in Dortmund are 2h too many.

No objection! To be fair, Dortmund has a few nice parts and city is not too bad for shopping. But only if you are "used" to this region;)

If the show times fit into your schedule, there is a big Cinestar cinema near the Hauptbahnhof. They probably show one or two films in english.

Also there is a nh Hotel right next to the station and their hotel bar could offer you something different from just a beer, if you don't fancy a local beer hall.

That 2h stay wouldn't be so awful if it was between 2 pm and 4 pm or something but after 10 pm all the shops would be closed and there'd be precious little to do.

As someone who spent his teen years in suburbia and thus spent many a late evening/night on lonely rail platforms spending 20-30 mins waiting for trains (time that felt more like hours), I always found something quite unnerving about the whole atmosphere of rail stations at that time. There's mostly silence but the occasional noise tends to be a tin kicked down a tunnel, a shouting match somewhere in the vicinity, dogs barking.

If Swanhunter is looking for hookers, maybe! ;)

Of all the people hanging around the train station past midnight, the hookers probably are among the more pleasant people. You should have no problem finding drug dealers, drug addicts, pimps and gang members near train stations at night if you want to.

I understand there are some friendly Nigerian chaps who might sell you a Rolex for a good price there.

:o come on guys, this is Germany... No gangs, but lots of police and security. Also Dortmund Hauptbahnhof between 22:00 and 0:00 hours will be everything but quiet... :cool: