North Rhine-Westphalia · Germany
Where to stay in Essen
Essen is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, home to about 574,000 people. This guide covers 4 hotels and 2 aparthotels in Essen, with about 46 rooms between them.
- Places to stay in this guide
- 6
- Best months
- May, June and September
- Nearest airport
- DUS25 km · Düsseldorf Airport
- Currency
- EUReuro
- Time zone
- Europe/Berlin
- Language
- German
About
About Essen
Essen is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of 573,618 makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and Dortmund, as well as the tenth-largest city of Germany.
With almost 582,000 inhabitants (2020), Essen is a service and administrative city, with several large companies headquartered here. Essen is a regional centre of the Ruhr area. Although its history goes back a long way, it was not until the middle of the 19th century that it grew from a small town to a large industrial city, with over 750,000 inhabitants at its heyday. Essen was famous as a classic heavy industry centre; this has changed since the 1970s. Only a few symbols remain from the former mining industry. Steel production is no longer as important as it used to be.
Wikipedia and Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
Things to do
What to see and do in Essen
See
Essen has a wide offer of sights to see and do. You can explore its vast industrial heritage, being home to heavy industry in the past, take part in its cultural life, or just enjoy the vast green spaces that are especially prevalent in the south of the city.
- Zeche Zollverein
- Red Dot Design Museum
- Museum Folkwang
- Villa Hügel
- Kettwig Historical District
- Old Synagogue and Jewish Culture Centre
- Historic city of Werden
- Grugapark
- Aalto Opera House
- St. Ludgerus Basilica
- Essen Minster Cathedral
- Hespertalbahn
Do
- Essen Light Weeks
- Enjoy Essen
- Lake Baldeney
- Spiel
- Aalto-Theater
- Philharmonie Saalbau
- Grugahalle
- Zeche Carl
- Colosseum-Theater
- Galerie Frank Schlag & Cie.
- Galerie Heimeshoff
- Galerie Klaus Kiefer
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
Where to stay
Places to stay in Essen
6 places to stay from the chains this guide covers, each linked to its own website.
| Place to stay | Rooms |
|---|---|
| Essen Kettwiger Straße aparthotel | 27 |
| Essen Kibbelstraße aparthotel | 19 |
| Garner Hotel Essen - Handelshof hotel | |
| Garner Hotel Essen - Messe hotel | |
| Holiday Inn - the niu, Cobbles Essen hotel | |
| Hotel Ambassador Essen hotel |
Schematic: the city centre in orange, each place to stay as a dot, distance rings in kilometres.
When to go
The best time to visit Essen
The most comfortable months for a city stay in Essen are May, June and September. July is the warmest month, with average highs of 23 °C; July is the wettest, with about 92 mm of rain.
Comfortable means average daytime high between 18 °C and 29 °C and under 80 mm of rain in the month. Averages for 1991–2020 over the surrounding area, a grid square about 50 km across, so a coast or a nearby mountain can make the town itself warmer or cooler. Data: CRU TS v4.10, Climatic Research Unit, University of East Anglia (Open Database License).
Getting there
Getting to Essen: airports and arrival
The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Düsseldorf Airport (DUS), about 25 km from the city centre in a straight line; Dortmund Airport (DTM, 42 km) and Weeze (Niederrhein) Airport (NRN, 63 km) are also within reach.
Getting around
Essen has an extensive Stadtbahn (light rail), tram, bus and night bus system. The Light Rail (Stadtbahn, not to be confused with mainline S-Bahn suburban trains) has 3 routes: U11 from the Messe/Grugapark, U17 from Margarethenhöhe, U18 from Mülheim, that merge together south of the central station and cross the city centre underground together, with U18 terminating at Berliner Platz, U11 and U17 passing the University and stopping in Altenessen where U17 terminates and U11 continues into Gelsenkirchen-Horst.
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
DUS · Düsseldorf Airport
DTM · Dortmund Airport
NRN · Weeze (Niederrhein) Airport
Local knowledge
Eating, drinking and staying safe in Essen
Stay safe
Despite having a fairly strong economy compared to other cities in the Ruhr area, Essen has a very high crime rate by German standards. The poor northern suburbs of Essen (especially Altendorf, Altenessen and Karnap) suffer from occasional, potentially armed, robberies at night. Be aware of pickpockets on the Christmas Market and watch your bags in crowded bars and near the train station. Aggravated assaults have also been reported.
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
Good to know
Accessibility, parking and families in Essen
How many places to stay in this guide offer each, in their operators' own words.
of 6 places
of 6 places
Questions
Essen: questions travellers ask
When is the best time to visit Essen?
The most comfortable months for a city stay in Essen are May, June and September. July is the warmest month, with average highs of 23 °C; July is the wettest, with about 92 mm of rain.
Which airport is closest to Essen?
The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Düsseldorf Airport (DUS), about 25 km from the city centre in a straight line; Dortmund Airport (DTM, 42 km) and Weeze (Niederrhein) Airport (NRN, 63 km) are also within reach.
What currency is used in Essen?
euro (EUR).
Nearby
Destinations near Essen
Sources: city facts from Wikidata and Wikipedia; airports from OurAirports; climate from CRU TS v4.10 (University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit), 1991–2020 monthly means, 0.5° grid; places to stay, guest scores and amenities from each operator's own public pages. How this guide is made.