Dortmund, Germany

Dortmund – 8th Largest City in Germany

Dortmund, a city in Germany is located in the Bundesland of North Rhine- Westphalia having a population of around 575,944 – 2013, making it the 8th largest city in Germany. It is considered to be the largest city with regards to area and population in the Ruhr Area which is an urban area with 5.1 million inhabitants (2011), the largest urban group in Germany.

 Moreover, it is also a part of the larger Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan area of over 12 million inhabitants. The Ruhr River flows south of the city while the small river Emscher flows through the municipal area. The Dortmund-Ems Canal terminates in the Dortmund Port, the largest European canal port which links Dortmund to the North Sea.

Dortmund is also known as Westphalia’s `green metropolis and nearly half of the municipal territory comprises of woodland, waterways, agriculture as well as green space together with huge parks like Westfalenpark and Rombergpark.

 Being the largest city in the Ruhrgebiet, it has built its prosperity on steel, coal and beer. Presently the mines are shut down, the steel mines quiet with more Zeitgeist compatible high tech industries taking their place while the breweries are quite strong churning our large quantities of appealing beer and ale, most of which is exported.

Part of Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr – VRR

The biggest city in the Ruhr Valley also has a wide range of possibilities in the sporting and cultural sector combined with a high quality of life. Football – soccer is a major passion in Dortmund. Borussia Dortmund, the city’s Bundesliga – Germany’s first league team, has been the national champion – eight times inclusive of the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons.

Dortmund has perceived several changes in recent years where the former steel city developed into a modern as well as cosmopolitan metropolis, gaining fame all across Europe as an innovative destination for technological expansion. Traveller visiting for business purpose to Dortmund would find everything they require for successful and effective work.

 In the midst of the heaviest European motorway networks together with several airports, with hourly ICE, IC and EC trains, along with exceptional public transport, it is at the centre of fast connection. Dortmund is part of Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr – VRR, which is a collaboration of the regional transportation companies providing easy access for public transport in the entire Ruhr District in S-Bahn, regional trains, buses and subways. It central station, Dortmund Hauptbahnhof, is the connection of the national railroad system with the city subway system as well as the regional train system.

Historically – An Industrial Area

One can obtain transport with ease in the centre or any suburb through subway and bus. Moreover it is also easy to go to the neighbouring cities such as Bochum, Dusseldorf, Essen, Munster, Koln – Cologne, Wuppertal together with the rest of Northrhine-Westphalia and Germany through various regional or national train lines.

 Historically, Dortmund has been an industrial area which various companies headquartered there comprising of Signal Iduna, Thyssenkrupp Uhde Gmbh and Wilo. It is a home to various medium sized information technology companies most of which are linked to the local university TechnologieZentrumDortmund program.

Dortmund, a city of various cultural history tone are set by churches in the city centre where the towers characterise the skyline of Dortmund while the Reinoldikirche and the Marienkirche are considered to be gems of medieval architecture.

The city centre still holds the outline of the medieval city. A ring road marks the former city wall and the Western-Ostenhellweg, part of a medieval salt trading route continues to be the major pedestrian street dividing the city centre.