How to Move to Dortmund With Ease

Due to the near-complete destruction of the inner city during the war, Dortmund has a wide variety of architecture, with new and old buildings standing side-by-side. The areas outside of the city center were largely spared and still retain their old-world charm. Nearly half of the city’s area is green space, including two large, forested parks, a lake in the southeast, and a network of canals to the north.

Dortmund has twelve boroughs, called Stadtbezirke. The inner city is comprised of three boroughs (“Innenstadt-West”, “Innenstadt-Nord”, and “Innenstadt-Ost”) and nine boroughs cover the southern suburbs: “Eving”, “Scharnhorst”, “Brackel”, “Aplerbeck”, “Hörde”, “Hombruch”, “Lütgendortmund”, “Huckarde”, “Mengede”. Each borough is also assigned a Roman numeral. We recommend taking the first few weeks after your arrival to explore many different parts of the city and see which you like best. The areas in and to the south of the city center are by far the most preferred places to live. There is good public transport in Dortmund, so even living outside the city center will still, in most cases, mean that a commute to work will not exceed 20-30 minutes. Flats in the surrounding areas will also be more affordable.

For those preferring to be in the thick of things, the “Kaiserviertel”, the “Saarlandstraßenviertel” and the “Kreuzviertel” are the most popular and lively. All three areas are in the “Innenstadt”. The “Kaiserviertel” has its own street festival every September and has plenty of interesting, alternative lifestyle shops and cafés. The “Saarlandviertel” is home to the huge “Westfalenpark”, so great for anyone liking outdoor activities. The “Kreuzviertel’s” popularity is reflected in the rent prices, and if you want to be close to everything but not have the expense and the noise, look a bit farther afield.

“Hörde” is another great area for families and jobs, as many companies have opened offices here. It’s very close to the city center and has the bonus of being home to Dortmund’s only lake.

Traditional meals in the region are Pfefferpotthast (a kind of goulash), Himmel und Äd (Heaven and Earth, a black pudding with stewed apples mixed with mashed potatoes), Currywurst, and Pumpernickel mit Griebenschmalz (bread with lard and crispy bits of pork skin). In the summer people like to eat Dortmunder Salzkuchen (Bread buns with caraway, fruit, meat, and onions). A special meal in the winter is Reibekuchen (fried potato pancakes with apple sauce).

Dortmund has a brewing tradition going back over 550 years, and some of the oldest breweries in the region are in the Old Market. Dortmund is known for its pale lager “Dortmunder Export”, which became popular with industrial workers and eventually made the Dortmunder Union into Germany's largest brewery. Beer is often served in small, 200 ml glasses, known as a “Stösschen” — more or less the beer equivalent of an espresso. This tradition started in the 19th century when a clever innkeeper noticed that the people waiting at a nearby level crossing would have just enough time to drink a quick beer. And so the Dortmunder “Stösschen” was born and continues to be enjoyed today.

In Dortmund there are also plenty of restaurants to choose from, offering every type of cuisine from traditional German to Asian fusion. The Michelin guide lists no less than seven recommended restaurants, four of which have a Michelin star. That’s quite a feather in the cap of a relatively small city. And if you don’t find what you’re looking for in Dortmund itself, you’re only a short local train ride away from chic Düsseldorf or exciting Cologne.

One location in particular could convince you to stay in the city: the Phoenix Lake in “Hörde”. It’s a beautiful area with a promenade all around the lake, and it’s a great place to spend a summer afternoon with the kids or a romantic evening for two. There are lots of restaurants and cafés at the lake, many of which have outdoor terraces. It’s a really popular spot on weekends for people of all ages.

Dortmund and the Ruhrgebiet have a lot to offer anyone interested in culture and history. Dortmund has its own symphony orchestra, along with a second concert hall, an opera house, and theater. If contemporary music is more your style then you can check out the Domicil Jazz Club, which also enjoys international renown. There are also three music festivals every year: the Mayday and Syndicate festivals at the “Westfalenhalle Arena”, and the Juicy Beats festival in the “Westfalenpark”. Every spring there is the Klavier Festival Ruhr, with nearly 100 classical and jazz music performances in venues across the Ruhrgebiet.

The Ruhrgebiet has one of the widest variety of museums in Europe, with over fifty locations focusing on everything from industrial heritage to natural history and contemporary art. The “Folkwang Museum” in Essen is world-renowned for excellent exhibitions of modern and contemporary art. Public transport tickets are valid throughout the entire region, making it very easy to take a day trip to a museum or concert in a neighboring town. It takes less than an hour to get to Düsseldorf, Cologne or Münster, all cities with a wealth of cultural events to experience.

Many of Dortmund’s industrial buildings have been converted into museums of industrial heritage, contemporary art exhibition spaces, and venues for performances of all kinds. Two options are the “Zeche Zollern” in Dortmund or most famously at the “Zeche Zollverein” in Essen — designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001.

Other outdoor activities worth a visit are the Christmas market with its massive tree in the city center, or the “Rombergpark”, boasting one of the largest botanical gardens in the world.

Dortmund is also famous for football. The team Borussia Dortmund is one of the most successful in the country. When there’s a home game, it takes over the whole city — if people aren’t watching the match in the stadium, they’ll be in one of the many bars and restaurants showing the game live.