In the week of the 18th of December we spend the week in Pennsylvania, USA for business, my last business travel of the year 2018. At that moment, I had no real plans for Christmas celebration. A colleague gave me the idea to spend the Christmas weekend in the city of Düsseldorf, Germany. Düsseldorf is a city in western Germany known for its fashion industry and art scene. It’s divided by the Rhine River, with its Altstadt (Old Town) on the east bank and modern commercial areas to the west. In the Altstadt, St. Lambertus Church and Schlossturm (Castle Tower) both date to the 13th century. Streets such as Königsallee and Schadowstrasse are lined with boutique shops to describe the city in a few sentences.
So after a quick search at Booking.com I booked a 3 day trip in the city, that is also famous for its Christmas markets. If you want to book a hotel with our Booking referral code, you get 10% discount !
Our Hotel Location
The family-friendly Hotel Berial is located in a business area of Duesseldorf. Notable for its location 500 meters away from Hofgarten in Zentrum district of Duesseldorf, the hotel provides access to Rathaus within 15 minutes’ walk. The hotel is within a 5-minute walk from Tonhalle/Ehrenhof underground station. Dusseldorf International (rhein-ruhr) airport can be reached by car. The city center lies within 1 km from the venue.
The property comprises 40 non-smoking rooms equipped with free Wi-Fi, a mini bar, a safe, multi-channel television and a DVD player. They also have private bathrooms with a shower and a hairdryer.
At the small café bar guests can enjoy a selection of coffee and tea. Restaurant Pfeffermuhle serves Croatian and European dishes and lies 5 minutes walk from the property.
An all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet is complimentary, as you can use a guest computer in the lobby. Other amenities include a warm bar, a patio, laundry services and underground parking (surcharge). We booked one single room and one double room. Total price for two rooms for two nights was 295 Euro.
Best Places to Visit in Düsseldorf
Everything’s close together in Düsseldorf. It is the only major German city that still has the word “dorf” (village) in its name. Today Düsseldorf is a cosmopolitan city where Rhinelanders love being outdoors. Normally we always use the HopOn HopOff city tour bus to explore a new city. This modern HopOn HopOff concept allows you to get off at any stop and explore the favorite spots at your own leisure. We used this city tour bus in Florence and Toronto this year. As it was raining hard, we skipped the bus this time. We stayed in the city center close to Altstadt (Old Town).
Christmas Markets
Christmas music, handicrafts and loads of fun for children– the magnificent Christmas world in Düsseldorf is more than just a Christmas market. It comprises seven different themed markets all of which are within walking dis
tance of each other. And there are other attractions too such as the Dome of Lights on Königsallee, the ice rink on Corneliusplatz or the Big Wheel on Burgplatz all decked out in festive lights. Düsseldorf city hall provides a magical backdrop for the handicrafts market on Marktplatz. At the foot of the equestrian statue of Elector Jan Wellem, we discovered a Christmas market village with huts and cabins modelled on the style of the Renaissance brick-built city hall in the heart of Düsseldorf’s Altstadt (Old Town). We walked through the Flinger Straße, the Christmassy link between the Marktplatz and Heinrich-Heine-Platz. This area is where trendy brands sell their young fashion from historical buildings.
At the Heinrich-Heine-Platz, the sandstone façade of the historical Carsch-Haus department store sets the tone for the colour scheme of the “Engelchenmarkt” (“Angel Market”). The music pavilion on Heinrich-Heine-Platz, an art nouveau masterpiece, has inspired the builders of the market huts to adorn them with floral motifs and angel figures in wrought iron. The square is a bright sea of lights. This is reflected in the number of golden angels that bathe the Christmas market in a “heavenly” glow. Under the music pavilion’s roof, we drunk a steaming-hot mulled wine and hot chocolate.
In the inner courtyard of Wilhelm- Marx-Haus, the “Sternchenmarkt” (Little Star Market) is radiant, thanks to the highly impressive lighting design. In this beautiful seasonal setting, we discovered tasty treats, snacks, jewellery, home furnishings and other gift ideas. In the Märchen-Markt on Schadowplatz we encountered a village in the flair reminiscent of Scandinavia. This market has been set up right outside the new Kö-Bogen with its innovative architecture. The stores in the Libeskind Building offer quality products to Christmas shoppers. There’s also a Kö-Bogen-Markt at “Jan-Wellem-Platz/Joachim-Erwin-Platz”.
This Christmas market by the Kö-Bogen is admired for its picturesque view of the Hofgarten, Düsseldorf’s most central city park. In addition to the spectacular Magic Sky canopy – a new place for live music – this is also where the popular children’s activity tent can be found. The programme organised for the young visitors is supplemented by a children’s carousel. This market features traditional wooden huts occupied by traders and caterers. From Feuerzangenbowle (a kind of rum punch) to pretzels and cheese, there is something to suit every taste.
Last but least, we visited the Schadow-Markt on the Schadowstraße. On and around Schadowstraße, we discovered craftworks, snacks and seasonal beverages.
The rain forced us to take an Uber taxi to the hotel and relax in our hotel room for a good night rest.
Rhine and Altstadt
Since 1995 it has been possible to stroll along the Rhine embankment promenade. From the moment the sun is out, it is perfect time for a wander at this promenade on the right bank of the Rhine. The walkway is positioned so that it gets sunshine all day long, and bends from the Parliament down to the harbour. Famous is the Kuhna wall close to the Rheintreppe where you can watch cargo and cruise ships.
The tallest building in Düsseldorf is the Rhine Tower on the east side of the Medienhafen, climbing to 240 metres. You can see it on one of our pictures. This communications tower was unveiled in 1981 and has an observation deck and revolving restaurant at 170 metres. Unsurprisingly, the panoramas are glorious, and merit the €9 entry fee at peak times for adults but during christmas time the tower was closed. When the skies are clear you can easily make out Cologne’s towers far to the south.
Since the tower opened in 1981 its concrete shaft has been decorated with a light sculpture by Horst H. Baumann in the shape of the world’s largest digital clock.
From the promenade we walked towards the Königsallee. During our walk, we discovered the Thai Restaurant Sila Thai. (Website Sila Thai) We had a delicious lunch in this restaurant. First time Thai dining for my wife. She was pleasantly surprised. We can recommend this restaurant ! Here some pictures from the restaurant…
“The Königsallee”, this name is usually contracted to “Kö” by locals, and the street runs for a kilometre north to south, with every premium brand under the sun on the way. For us it was a chance to do some window shopping, soak up the affluent ambience and take some photos of the canal and its elegant bridges.
In this district you can find all the flagship stores of Chanel, Cartier, Tiffany & Co, Burberry, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Hugo Boss and Prada. Christmas Eve we celebrated with a nice dinner and drinks in an Irish pub in Altstadt. Packed into just a few streets Altstadt (Old Town) has 300 brewpubs, bars and nightclubs, to the point where the area is referred to as the “Längste Theke der Welt”, “The longest bar in the world”. Although there’s no way to prove it, each bar is claimed to connect with the one next door. You can also notice this because a lot of bars have a terrace where people either stand, drink and smoke or sit and drink close to a heater.
The brewpubs in the quarter serve traditional Altbier. One of the rituals that you have to do, is to drink a glass of Altbier. This beer has a dark reddish tone and is fermented at a moderate temperature, but then matures at quite a cool one, which gives it a crispness and taste closer to lager than a traditional ale. If you’re interested in sampling the nuanced differences in varieties, there are five microbreweries in the Altstadt, while the city’s tourism board organises guided tours. We didn’t participate in such an event.
Medienhafen
At the southern end of the Rheinuferpromenade are Düsseldorf’s docks, which were built at the end of the 19th century and played a part in the city’s post-war boom. This district is in full development. By the 1970s local industry was on the wane, especially after the closure of the local Mannesmann pipe factory.
Since the 1990s the harbour has been slowly transformed into a contemporary office district for fashion brands and media firms, but also with restaurants, bars and a cinema. Today the 100-year-old warehouses, dock walls and wharfs are transformed in apartment buildings and office buildings. They’re accompanied by projects by David Chipperfield, Joe Coenen, Claude Vasconi, and most memorably Frank Gehry, whose Neuer Zollhof complex was completed in 1999 and dominates the waterfront. We visited Pebbles terrace which gives you an amazing view from another angle on the Rhine river and city waterfront. At the below picture, you can also see the Gehry buildings.
In Düsseldorf there’s a lot more to discover. There is a big art collection in different museums. The North Rhine-Westphalia art collection is divided across two main venues, the K20 and K21. The “K20 am Grabbeplatz” is in a mesmerising building designed by Arne Jacobsen in the mid-1980s and clad with polished black granite.
The galleries are for 20th century art and encompass all of its key movements: Expressionism, Fauvism, Cubism, New Objectivity, Dada, Surrealism, Pop Art and Abstract Expressionism. The volume of great art is unreal. You can find there Paul Klee, Kandinsky, Franz Marc, Ernst-Ludwig Kirchner, Picasso, Braque, Fernand Léger, Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol and many more, so be prepared to spend at least half a day. Unfortunately we didn’t have time for this visit.
Final Words
Visiting Düsseldorf during winter time with the Christmas markets is a relaxing and nice experience. A taxi driver told us that there were 200 buses with Dutch tourists in the city. We noticed during our visit that we heard a lot of Dutch speaking people. A visit in the summer will give you more opportunities to explore the city. You can also take a boat tour or rent a Segway to drive next to the Rhine river and explore the city in an exciting manner. You can all book this at the tourist office. The link is provided below. We enjoyed our short visit during Christmas. Put this city on your cities to visit list as there is a lot more to explore. Take a look at the website.
Website : Tourist Office Düsseldorf
We wish you all a Merry Christmas and enjoy the last days of 2018 ! We hope you learned something from this blog post and keep on following us on Twitter and Facebook. As always we end with a quote. This time a German one. I hope you understand this one.
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