Düsseldorf Airport to Altstadt
About 10 km from DUS; the S11 to Hauptbahnhof then U-Bahn or a fifteen-minute walk, around €3.40 and 20 minutes in total.
Half a square kilometre of streets between the Rhine and the shopping district, holding some three hundred bars and brewhouses — the reason Düsseldorf's old town is called the longest bar in the world.
Every way to get there
Our verdict: for Altstadt, a private transfer is the easiest door-to-door option (from €38).
What it costs for your group
The bus is charged per person, while a taxi or private transfer is one price for the whole car — so the more of you there are, the better door-to-door value looks.
| Group | Private transfer | Best value |
|---|---|---|
| Solo · 1 traveller | €38 | Private transfer |
| Couple · 2 travellers | €38 | Private transfer |
| Family of 4 · 4 travellers | €38 | Private transfer |
Which option should you choose?
| If your priority is… | Our pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest price | Cheapest fare | From €3.4, though slower with a change in the city. |
| Speed & comfort | Private transfer | Door-to-door, fixed price, a driver waiting for you. |
| A group of 3–4 | Transfer or taxi | One flat fare splits cheaper than several bus tickets. |
| A late-night arrival | Transfer or taxi | Both run 24/7 when buses and the tram have stopped. |
By transport mode
Train
Twenty minutes door to district. Heinrich-Heine-Allee puts you at the edge of the bar quarter and a few minutes from the Rhine embankment.
Where to catch it: S11 to Hauptbahnhof, then U70/U74–U79 westbound to Heinrich-Heine-Allee, which is the Altstadt stop. The single VRR ticket covers all three legs within its ninety minutes.
Best for budget travellers near a stationTaxi
Altbier is the local beer: dark, top-fermented, served in small straight glasses that waiters replace without being asked until you put the beermat on top. The house breweries make their own.
Where to catch it: Metered. The Altstadt's inner streets are pedestrian, so drivers set down at the edge — a walk of a few hundred metres at most.
Best for small groups in a hurryPrivate transfer
The Rhine embankment promenade runs along the western edge of the old town and is where the city walks on a summer evening. The MedienHafen with its Gehry buildings is twenty minutes further south.
Where to catch it: Useful on a late arrival; the SkyTrain stops running around 00:45 and takes the S11 connection with it.
Best for families, groups & late arrivalsCar rental
Not worth it for a city stay. Düsseldorf has an environmental zone requiring a sticker, the U-Bahn is dense, and the old town is entirely walkable.
Where to catch it: Underground car parks around the old town; nothing parks inside it.
Best for travellers who want to exploreAltstadt & Düsseldorf in photos
Buying tickets in Düsseldorf
The step that catches people out at Düsseldorf is the SkyTrain — the automated monorail linking the terminals to Düsseldorf Flughafen railway station, running about 03:45–00:45, every 3.5–7 minutes, seven minutes end to end. It is not free. It runs on a VRR public-transport ticket, so buy one in the terminal before boarding — and the same ticket then covers your onward train, meaning you pay once rather than twice. From the station, the S11 reaches Düsseldorf Hauptbahnhof in 12 minutes for about €3.40, three times an hour, valid 90 minutes so an onward U-Bahn leg is included. DB regional and ICE services also call at the same station and reach Hauptbahnhof in about 10 minutes on a pricier ticket. The wider point: this station has direct services across the Rhine-Ruhr — Duisburg 15 minutes, Cologne 22–40, Essen 25, Dortmund about 50 — so for a great many arrivals Düsseldorf is not the destination at all.
Taxi scams & safety in Düsseldorf
Fares here are regulated and disputes are rare — a metered taxi into the centre is around €20, which for three or four people travelling together costs about the same as four train tickets. The genuine risk is the SkyTrain fare: it looks like an airside shuttle, behaves like one, and is legally part of the public transport network, so boarding without a VRR ticket is the most common inspection case at this airport. Buy before you ride. Two further points. Düsseldorf's centre is an environmental zone needing a sticker, and the Altstadt's inner streets are pedestrian, so a car reaches the edge and no further. And Düsseldorf hosts some of the largest trade fairs in the world — drupa, K, boot, Medica — during which hotel rates across the whole region rise several-fold and transfer capacity tightens; if your dates coincide, book rooms before you book flights. Finally, if Cologne is your actual destination, note that CGN is twenty minutes from Cologne while DUS is forty-five: worth comparing while the flights are still open.
Getting from DUS to Altstadt
Düsseldorf's old town is half a square kilometre holding somewhere around three hundred bars and brewhouses, which is why it is called the longest bar in the world. The claim is a marketing line that happens to be defensible: you can walk from one end to the other in ten minutes and pass more places serving beer than in most cities twice the size.
Getting there
SkyTrain and S11 to Hauptbahnhof, then the U-Bahn two stops west to Heinrich-Heine-Allee. Twenty minutes in total and about €3.40 — the single VRR ticket covers all three legs within its ninety minutes. A taxi is €20 to €30.
Altbier, and the ritual
Dark, top-fermented, served in small straight 250ml glasses. Waiters — Köbes — circulate with trays and replace your glass without being asked, marking each one on the beermat. To stop, put the beermat on top of the glass. Not doing so is how people end up with considerably more beer than they intended.
The house breweries
Four of them brew on the premises: Uerige, Füchschen, Schumacher and Schlüssel. Each has its own character and a following that takes the differences seriously. They are within a few minutes of each other and doing all four in an evening is a recognised local activity.
The Cologne rivalry
Düsseldorf drinks Alt; Cologne drinks Kölsch. The two cities are forty-five minutes apart and the rivalry is conducted mostly through beer and football, with a good deal of ceremony. Ordering a Kölsch in a Düsseldorf brewhouse will get you served, and commented on.
The streets themselves
Bolkerstraße is the loudest, Ratinger Straße the older and slightly more restrained, and the Rhine embankment promenade runs along the western edge. Heinrich Heine was born on Bolkerstraße, which the street marks with more enthusiasm than he showed for the city.
What else is in there
The Kunstpalast and the Kunsthalle for art, St Lambertus with its twisted spire — warped, according to the story, by the devil, and according to engineers by unseasoned timber — and the old town hall on the Marktplatz with the equestrian statue of Jan Wellem in front of it.
The Rhine promenade
Built over a buried motorway in the 1990s, which is why the old town suddenly opens onto the river with no traffic between. On a summer evening the steps down to the water fill completely. The MedienHafen with its Gehry buildings is twenty minutes' walk south.
Where cars stop
The inner streets are pedestrian. A taxi sets you down at the edge, which is a few hundred metres from anywhere in the quarter. Underground car parks ring it and nothing parks inside.
Eating rather than drinking
The brewhouses serve substantial Rhenish food — Rheinischer Sauerbraten, blood sausage, Halve Hahn, which is a rye roll with cheese rather than the half chicken the name suggests. It is designed to be eaten with the beer and priced accordingly.
The noise question
Bolkerstraße on a Friday night is loud until very late, and hotels immediately on it are honest about that. A street or two back, or over towards the Kö, the difference is substantial.
Karneval
Düsseldorf's carnival is one of the three great Rhineland ones, peaking on Rose Monday with a parade that draws hundreds of thousands. The old town during that week is not a place for a quiet drink, and accommodation books out well ahead.
Late back to the airport
The SkyTrain stops around 00:45 and takes the S11 connection with it. If your evening runs past midnight and your flight is early, a taxi at €20 to €30 is the answer rather than the train.
The Kö, five minutes east
Königsallee runs parallel to the old town on the far side of the shopping district — a boulevard with a canal and chestnut trees down the middle, banks on one bank and flagship stores on the other. The contrast between the two is the shortest walk in Düsseldorf and the sharpest.
Getting to the fair from here
The U78 and U79 run north from Heinrich-Heine-Allee to the exhibition grounds in about twenty minutes, which is why so many trade-fair visitors stay in the old town rather than out by the Messe. The same VRR ticket system covers it.
