Best Things to Do in Dortmund

Dortmund's attractions fall into four families: football, industrial heritage, art and culture, and open space. Most visitors will not want all four, so choose your two favourites and let the rest go. The list below moves roughly from the station outwards.

1. German Football Museum. It stands directly opposite the Hauptbahnhof and tells the national story, from the 1954 World Cup to today. Check the changing special exhibitions before you go. See our museum guide.
2. Westenhellweg and the shopping core. One of Germany's busiest high streets, mostly useful for high-street shopping and a coffee stop. The shopping guide separates the useful streets from the filler.
3. Reinoldikirche. A Gothic church with a tall, slim tower at the heart of the old town, and the best place to understand what Dortmund looked like before the war. Our guide has the details.
4. Alter Markt. A modest square beside the church, pleasant for a drink and a look at the surrounding buildings. Read about it in our Alter Markt guide.
5. Dortmunder U. A converted brewery tower with a rooftop sign you can see across the city. It houses Museum Ostwall and has a free-to-enter ground area. Our U guide explains the layout.
6. Hoesch Museum. A small, free museum about the steelworks that employed generations of local families, with a human scale the bigger museums lack. Its opening days are narrow, so check first, and read our Hoesch guide.
7. Zeche Zollern. A coal mine built to look like a palace, with a showpiece Jugendstil gateway to its machine hall. This is the strongest industrial site in the city. See the Zollern guide.
8. Signal Iduna Park and BORUSSEUM. The stadium is the largest in Germany and the club museum sits beside it. The stadium guide covers tours and approaches.
9. Westfalenpark and the Florianturm. Gardens, a rose garden and a television tower with a view across the whole Ruhr. Choose a clear afternoon, because the view is the whole point. Our Westfalenpark guide and Florianturm guide cover the details.
10. Rombergpark. A botanical garden and arboretum on the southern side, open to wander at any hour. Quieter than Westfalenpark, and a fine place to walk off a museum morning. More in the Rombergpark guide.
11. PHOENIX West. Preserved blast furnaces standing in an open site. Nothing else in the city shows the old industry so plainly. Pair it with Phoenix des Lumières if you like immersive art.
12. PHOENIX See. An artificial lake with a walking and cycling circuit, restaurants and new housing. Best for a slow late afternoon.
13. Zoo Dortmund. A large zoo on the southern side, sensible for families with a full day to spare. Read the zoo guide before you commit.

What we would skip: do not try to see every museum, and do not walk from the centre to the stadium or to Hörde, because the distances are longer than the map suggests. Skip the large shopping malls unless the weather forces you inside. DASA is excellent for workplace history and for families, but with one hall closed it is an optional extra for a short trip.

For grouping, keep each day to one district. The station, Football Museum, U and old town make a natural central day. Football, Westfalenpark and Rombergpark suit the south-west, while PHOENIX West and See belong together in Hörde. Zollern deserves a separate western trip. Swap in indoor places for rain, and keep football for a day when you are not trying to see anything else. If you are short of time, the best three-stop trip is the Football Museum, Zeche Zollern and PHOENIX See, because it covers sport, industry and the new Dortmund in one sweep. Check every official site for changes before you set out, since several attractions are under works or running reduced programmes this year.