I'm looking for a 'nice' looking town to stay in near Dusseldorf

[stuartmoss]

Just booked flights for May bank holiday weekend to Dusseldorf, but not sure where to stay. It needs to be within a 90 minute train ride from Dusseldorf Airport, and we need to be able to get there after 21:00. A 'pretty' looking mid-sized town would be ideal.

There are lots of fairly 'not pretty' places in the region (some of which we've visited), I'm going with the Mrs and she wants 'nice' / 'pretty', whereas I want some passing freight.

Any suggestions????

We've already done the following:

Dusseldorf
Cologne
Koblenz
Bonn
Konigswinter
Krefeld
Weeze
Kleve
Essen
Dortmund
Duisburg
Bochum
Leverkusen
Wuppertal
Monchengladbach
Aachen

 

[paulcleaver]

Aachen?

http://www.aachen.de/EN/ts/170_sehenswuerdigkeiten/index.html

 

[stuartmoss]

Aachen?

http://www.aachen.de/EN/ts/170_sehenswuerdigkeiten/index.html

Sorry - been there too, forgot to add it to the list!

 

[Groningen]

Arnhem, Nijmegen, Venlo, Roermond, Sittard, Maastricht (Netherlands)

 

[eastwestdivide]

Hattingen on the Ruhr (just beyond Bochum) has an Altstadt, and under an hour from Düsseldorf airport with one change?

 

[stuartmoss]

Arnhem, Nijmegen, Venlo, Roermond, Sittard, Maastricht (Netherlands)

Thanks! Been to most of those places, and am visiting the Limburg area in December...

Sittard does look interesting though...
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Hattingen on the Ruhr (just beyond Bochum) has an Altstadt, and under an hour from Düsseldorf airport with one change?

Looks like an ideal candidate, although freight options are probably limited....

**Edit** Just noticed the railway museum and preserved line near Hattingen at Bochum-Dalhausen.... *GRINS* Looks like we have a winner!

 

[eastwestdivide]

Sorry, don't know what industry's left at Hattingen, as I was last there in the 80s (!), when there was definitely some freight. Back then, the S-bahn service was once an hour with 3 coaches and a class 111 loco, which didn't half shift.

 

[theageofthetra]

The railway museum at Bochum is excellent. Try and coincide your trip with one of the days they run steam excursions from there.

 

[stuartmoss]

The railway museum at Bochum is excellent. Try and coincide your trip with one of the days they run steam excursions from there.

Unfortunately we will not be able to do an excursion, but there is a train from Bochum-Dahlhaus to the museum, so i'm happy enough with that short journey.

 

[47513 Severn]

I would head as far south down the Rheine as your ninety minute journey will allow. Everywhere beyond Koblenz is very pretty and you will see plenty of freight, especially on the 'slow' side of the river.

Maastricht is also very nice but to those suggesting Aachen or Venlo, seriously? Have you been there? Both have that border town seediness in spades and very little that I would consider pretty.

47513

 

[davetheguard]

I would head as far south down the Rheine as your ninety minute journey will allow. Everywhere beyond Koblenz is very pretty and you will see plenty of freight, especially on the 'slow' side of the river.

Maastricht is also very nice but to those suggesting Aachen or Venlo, seriously? Have you been there? Both have that border town seediness in spades and very little that I would consider pretty.

47513

I for one have certainly been to Aachen and very nice it is too!

It's a quite important tourist destination that merits six pages to itself in the Rough Guide to Germany.......

Well worth a long weekend in fact.

 

[duesselmartin]

Hilden is also a nice town with good connections to the airport and a freight route passing.

 

[30907]

Not been there, but Münster is on my to do list. Only gets the Hamburg freight though not the East - West.
Otherwise I'd be tempted to go into the Rhine gorge, just looking at michelin Rhens or St Goar rather than Boppard.
Bad Neuenahr is presumably too far away from the freight?
Brohl would give you the Brohltalbahn, with freight as well IIRC.

 

[47513 Severn]

As most of my trips to Aachen have been to the court or prison (visiting!) I accept my opinion might be swayed somewhat. The Eifel Region nearby is certainly very nice and a trip on the Koln to Trier line is well worth it, especially if trees are your thing.

I'll stand my ground on Venlo though. Never been somewhere I've enjoyed visiting. Think all the worst aspects of Amsterdam combined with an almost Belgian level of grime.

47513

 

[stuartmoss]

In the end I've opted for boring Bochum (done the Koln side too many times), wife not majorly ecstatic, but it's easy access to a number of locations, including Hattingen and I quite fancy going on the steam railway nearby and to the museum. Not bad for a beer there Saturday night too. The Mrs likes going up the TV tower at Westfalen Park in nearby Dortmund too so it's doable. Best of all the Ibis directly overlooks the railway line behind....but we'll keep that one to ourselves so ssshhh

Now....does any freight go through Bochum?

 

[Groningen]

Every town in this world has its + and its -. Maybe we can better say which town not to visit. "We" like trains; so it needs to have a trainstation. Venlo has besides passengertrains a lot of freight despite the Betuweline. Depressing towns in the Netherlands are Heerlen and Kerkrade. From Aachen 1 can visit the highest point in the Netherlands in Vaals. Forget not to visit the Müngstener Bridge at 51.160359,7.13371 across the Wupper between Solingen and Remscheid.