Eating Out in Essen
Essen offers restaurants and cafés at all prices, as well as weekly outdoor markets in every neighbourhood. Bakeries sell classic German breads and cakes, while some traditional restaurants have an attached Biergarten perfect for enjoying a sunny drink.<br>
A reliable mix of well-known chains and local establishments, like the vegetarian- and vegan-friendly Zodiac and Sattgrün, dot the city centre. For more upscale dining, explore the restaurants and cafes of outlying neighborhoods like the Südviertel or Rüttenscheid, where eclectic establishments cater to diners on their way to a show at the Grugahalle or Philharmonic.
The Fünfmädelhaus, literally the “Five Girls House,” makes for a perfect pit stop after a visit to the Zeche Zollverein. In addition to traditional German fare and beer, it also serves black “coal bread” with every meal, in honour of the Zollverein’s past as a coal-mining complex.
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Himmel und Erde: This classic North Rhine–Westphalian dish, which translates as “Heaven and Earth”, consists of mashed potatoes and apple purée served with blood sausage.
Eier in Senfsoße: Often served with potatoes, but also alone as a quick pick-me-up, these hard-boiled eggs with piquant mustard sauce fill you up quickly – and clear out your sinuses.
Schnippelbohnensuppe: This hearty stew is made with smoked speck and green beans and topped with sour cream.
Reibekuchen: Literally “grated cakes”, these potato pancakes are a German classic, often served in the Ruhr Valley with root vegetables mixed into the potato and apple sauce on top.
Shopping in Essen
Essen’s city centre features pedestrian shopping streets opening up to large plazas. The centre is bookended by the modern shopping complexes Einkaufszentrum Limbecker Platz in the west and the Rathaus Galerie in the east, next to city hall. Budget clothing brands like Primark and Peek & Cloppenburg surround the central square Kennedyplatz.
Running south from the Stadtgarden, Rüttenscheider Strasse is home to charming boutiques and concept shops selling everything from textiles to kitchenware to local art. VIOLAS’ is a colourful shop for fine foods and ingredients, while Wohngemeinschaft is a forum for local designers.
Just west, the Holsterhausen neighbourhood offers hipster wares like vinyl, vintage and antique furniture in charmingly ramshackle spaces. The in-house shops at Essen’s many design museums, like the Ruhr Museum and the Museum Folkwang, are great places to find design books, jewellery and unique homewares.
Concept shops in Essen
Tiipula: This cute little shop showcases prints, photographs and paintings by two local designers.
Dear Goods: This distinctly German brand of eco- and animal-friendly clothing and products already has shops in Berlin and Munich, but this shop is the first in Essen.
3-Zimmerküchebad: Based on a local blog of the same name, this shop offers loads of adorable homewares with a Scandinavian vibe.
Culture & Nightlife in Essen
Essen’s multitude of theatres, opera houses and museums garnered the city its 2010 title of Europe’s Cultural Capital. Aside from the Philharmonic, Esseners can enjoy music at Grugahalle, theater at the Colosseum Theater and opera and ballet at the Aalto Theater.
Visitors can delve into Essen’s industrial past at the massive Zeche Zollverein complex, a former coal-mining plant, and the nearby Ruhr Museum, with exhibitions on the entire region in a former coal washing plant. Landscape Park Duisberg-Nord is built on the site of an old ironworks outside the nearby city of Duisberg.
To delve even more deeply into the culture of the Ruhr Valley, explore the Route of Industrial Heritage, which connects Essen’s industrial sites to those of neighbouring cities like Oberhausen, Gelsenkirchen and Dortmund.
Design museums and cultural centres in Essen
Museum Folkwang: Known for its 19th- and 20th-century art, this museum’s German Poster Collection, spanning the 1880s, Weimar Germany, the GDR era and post 1989, is a real treasure.
Red Dot Design Museum: Set in the former boiler house of the Zeche Zollverein, this museum explores culture, innovation and civilisation through the design of everyday objects used around the world.
Unperfekthaus: In a modern high-rise, this arts and culture centre encourages creative collaboration with a co-working space, a hotel, a restaurant, and the Unperfektakademie, a think tank for creatives.
Visiting Essen with a Family
Surrounded by the streams, trails and valleys of the Ruhr, and within a half hour’s train ride of several other popular cities, Essen is a great base for a family vacation. Its parks, gardens and lakes make for leisurely day trips, and many of its central cafés, restaurants and even beer gardens are family-friendly.
If you’re making a visit to the Zeche Zollverein, Essen’s coal mining complex, make sure to take the children for a ride in the sky with the Sonnenrad, a gigantic Ferris wheel with views over the complex and the city beyond.
Half an hour’s drive south, the city of Wuppertal has an enormous zoo with nearly 500 species including lions, elephants, apes and penguins. In Essen’s southwest, Grugapark offers a smaller zoo with flamingos, parrots and ponies, plus the OKtoRail, an exhibition of model trains wending their way through miniature versions of Essen’s buildings.
Child-friendly destinations in and around Essen
Baldeneysee: Take a ferry ride across this artificial lake and look out for grand homes like the Schloss Baldeney and the Villa Hügel, the one-time residence of the Krupps, Essen’s industrial royalty.
Landscape Park Duisberg-Nord: Children can clamber across meadows and gardens in this park north of Duisberg, created from the former Thyssen ironworks. Climb to the top of Blast Furnace 5 for a great lookout, follow disused train tracks, or take your children to Ingenhammshof, a small working farm.
Neanderthal Museum: This museum was built in the valley where the first Neanderthal man was discovered (the word “Neandertal” means “Neander Valley”). Its engaging exhibits include an exploration of the valley, the story of human evolution, and an interactive Stone Age workshop for children.
