This was published 6 years ago
Essen, Germany travel guide and things to do: The three-minute guide
Gyrocopter on display at Red Dot Design Museum.Credit: Iain Masterton / Alamy Stock Photo
WHY
Essen is far from the chintzy Germany of lederhosen and clanking beer steins, but all the more interesting for that. The de facto hub of the Ruhrgebeit conurbation's trump card is industrial heritage, and it is a card that it plays arguably better than anywhere else on earth. The transition from coal to culture is ground-breakingly impressive.
VISIT
The illuminated gangway to Ruhr Museum, Zollverein.Credit: Alamy
"Beautiful colliery" is not a well-known phrase, and for a good reason. But the Zollverein complex – once the largest coal processing facility in the world – somehow manages to look astonishingly elegant. The new cultural centrepiece is the massive Ruhr Museum, inside the former coal washery. Around the huge redundant machinery, this takes in the geology and political chicanery that led to the Ruhr becoming a coal and steel powerhouse, plus the big social changes that have taken place since the mines have closed. See ruhrmuseum.de
EAT
Leave the the city centre for food – the best joints are in or around Ruttenscheider Strasse to the south. Die Schote is towards the showy rather than formally stuffy end of Michelin-starred dining, and there's a strong emphasis on the vegetables. Therefore, it makes sense to plump for the four-course vegetarian tasting menu at €78. See restaurante-schote.de
The city of Essen, Germany.Credit: Alamy
LOOK
The rest of the Zollverein complex is packed with oddities, and a day can be spent nosing around the artists' workshops and performance spaces. There's also an open air sculpture park on the old spill tip, while the former coking plant plays host to a swimming pool, ice rink and big wheel. See zollverein.de
MUST
The Red Dot Design Museum is a marvel in architectural terms alone. Sir Norman Foster has left the old hulking boilerhouse machinery in place, and built around it. But what's on display tends to leave people hankering for a shopping spree. It's a collection of some of the sexiest design from around the world, whether that's garden pruners, silicone wound dressings, air purifiers or household gadgetry. See red-dot-design-museum.de
SLEEP
The Art Hotel Korschen is mercifully different in a city stacked with bland business hotels. Entry is through a restaurant lined with paintings, while umbrellas and welcome drinks are dished out for free. Rooms are individually themed – one is all about Harley Davidsons, another is everything Spain, while the first floor rooms are devoted to the Beatles and have guitars mounted on the walls. Doubles cost from €70. See arthotelessen.de
TIP
Essen should be treated as a base for the Ruhr region, which has dozens of unusual industrial heritage sites. These include Duisburg's Landschafts Park, where a power plant has been turned into an enormous playground with scuba diving tanks and rock climbing walls, and the Gasometer in Oberhausen. Once a 117-metre-tall gas cylinder, it now houses 360-degree, mega-scale art installations. See landschaftspark.de, gasometer.de
More information: See essen.de
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