Thoughts on this run for a weekend, was looking at leaving Thur (arriving Fri morn) and staying 2 nights.. Sometime this fall... Flights look very reasonable... BUT have never been here before... Got Munich, Frankfurt and Berlin covered, but in your experience is DUS a decent city to stay a quick couple of days?....

And this is going to be a quick budget trip (like to avoid car rental or taxi fares), so I'm assuming like other German airports I can catch the S or U from the airport to the Hauptbahnhof in DUS?

Thanks all for any help, it's much appreciated

Since we have a forum specifically dedicated to Germany, let's move this thread there for better attention/housekeeping.

Thanks,

slippahs
nwa forum co-moderator

Dusseldorf has several attractions of it's own and then you have Cologne 30 minutes and Bonn one hour away by train to complement that.

DUS has two stations, one underneath the terminal for S-Bahn trains and another accessible by "skytrain" where also regional RB/RE and long-distance IC and ICE trains call.

If everything else is equal, I personally would choose Munich instead of any of the other 3 heavily populated, industrial northern cities you mentioned.

No matter whether you pick DUS or MUC though, my advice would be to get there and then get out of town to the countryside. Somewhere. Anywhere but in the big city! Buy a cheap train ticket and head for a much smaller town for a more relaxing and enjoyable experience. Also it will probably be more to your budget-conscious liking!

Dusseldorf Airport (DUS) is an airport esay to access by public transportation and only a short ride by train to Dusseldorf main station.


Sorry, but either Frankfurt or Berlin are "industrial notherin cities" in my eyes. And DUS is close to the former industrial zone called "Ruhrgebiet" but it is not in this zone. Düsseldorf has plenty of sights, interesting museums and the city of Cologne is a short train ride as mosburger mentioned.
If you are staying over the weekend hotel rates are usually low if there is not trade fair in town.
Düsseldorf is a decent city for two days (Düsseldorf Tourismus Homepage.

Btw "heavily populated" is an exaggeration considering the population of the population in the US top cities. DUS has app. 580000 inhabitants.

The countryside is also interesting, but I would not do this without a rental car if you are not used to public transportaion and do not fear to read bus timetables and a conversation with a bus driver for buying a ticket.

The former industrial zone has its own sight and its own webpage. The days of heavy steel producing and mining are long over and this former were transformed to leisure places as well as places for showing art and music performances. It is also worth a visit.

I agree with the last poster. DUS is a fine and easy place. Lots to do for two days, no need to go to Cologne. Save that for your next trip.

Have fun!

You can also stay in hotels near the airport.

If you are looking for a cheap hotel for two nights, have a look at ICHG's famous 2for1 rate. The HI Neuss and Cologne Stadtwald have weekend rates as low as 38 Euro / night.

But the HI Neuss is far away from everything, then better use the HIX D�sseldorf North as it is close to the S-Bahn station "Derendorf".

and I've seen 2-for-1 rates as low as 22.50�/night.

Wow, thanks for the great help guys... I'm pretty loyal to Marriott so I was looking at the Courtyard Seestern for around 80 EU on the weekend, but if I can get a decent place for half the price I'm all game!.... I was looking at a bunch of different cities NWA flies to, but London, Paris etc. all just very expensive for hotel and flight for a simply weekend..... Even though NWA wouldent have direct DTW - DUS flights it seems like it might still be the way to go...

BTW, how is the flight in from AMS - DUS on the Fokker.. Plane doesn't look much bigger than a hang glider

But they actually do!

NWA is cancelling the nonstop DTW-DUS October 1st.

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/080626/20080626006201.html?.v=1

It is small -- I am a big guy and I basically don't fit too well. Luckily it is a short flight.

I am going to miss the NW DTW-DUS service -- I did about 6 legs in the past year and the prices were great -- much cheaper than AMS. In fact, a couple of those trips it would have been better to terminate in AMS but the fare difference was much more than the price of a train ticket (DUS is only a couple hours from AMS via ICE)

If you are a beer drinker, don't miss the Altbier in D-dorf -- especially Uerige.

Oh, and check the schedule at www.messe-duesseldorf.de to make sure there is not a big trade fair when you plan on going. Some are so big they even make it hard to find rooms in Cologne.