North Rhine-Westphalia

North Rhine-Westphalia (Nordrhein-Westfalen in German, Noordrien-Wesfale in Low Franconian) is a 18 million people state in the western part of Germany by the border with the Netherlands and Belgium. It's surrounded by Lower Saxony, Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate. The population has a mostly Catholic Christian tradition (being one of few German regions with a large groups of Catholics). The official language is German (although some dialects/languages related to German are spoken like Low Franconian or Kölsch) and in touristic places, English is widely spoken. It's divided in two landschaftsverbände (area associations): Rhineland and Westfelen-Lippe. The main city in terms of population is Cologne, but the capital city of NRW is Düsseldorf, with other important cities like Dortmund, Essen or Duisburg.

What can I visit in the North Rhine-Westphalia?

Here you have a list of places in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia that are worth to be seen. Check them out and find out the ones you want to visit:

History

Germanic tribes and Rome around 70 AD
At the time of Julius Caesar, the territories west of the Rhine in this region were occupied by the Eburones, a Germanic tribe who he tried to annihilate. Once part of the Roman Empire, their country was occupied by a Germanic tribe with a different name, the Tungri. On the eastern bank of the Rhine, Caesar reported the existence of the Ubii (they would later migrate near modern Cologne) and the Sugambri (who lived to the north of them near the modern Rhine-Ruhr area), who were under pressure from the Suebi. Julius Caesar conquered the tribes on the left bank of the Rhine and Augustus established numerous fortified posts along it (never succeeding in gaining the right bank). Most of North Rhine-Westphalia west of the Rhine was split out from Belgica and Germania Inferior during imperial times, with some Germanic tribes settling here like the Ubii (around modern Neuss, Cologne and Bonn), the Sunuci or the Cugerni (near modern Xanten). East of the Rhine, Roman historians report that there were other Germanic tribes like the Sugambri, the Bructeri, the Chasuarii or Dulgubnii. Around 1 AD there were numerous incursions through Westphalia (and maybe even Roman settlements) till the Battle of Teutoburg Forest, in which an alliance of Germanic tribes destroyed three Roman legions led by Publius Quinctilius Varus.
Weltgerichtsaltar by Stefan Lochener,
at Wallraf-Richartz Museum in Cologne
As the power of the Roman empire declined, the Franks crossed the Rhine and by the end of the 5th century, Franks had conquered all the left bank lands of North Rhine-Westphalia, with Saxons getting into Westphalia (till the 9th century, when Charlemagne defeated them in the Saxon wars). Charlemagne managed to combine all the territories of modern NRW in an early medieval state. He spent much of his time between Paderborn and Aachen and in the former, Charlemagne met Pope Leon II, considered the birthplace of the Holy Roman Empire. The division of the Carolingian Empire (Treaty of Verdun), the part of the province to the east of the river Lippe were for East Francia, while that to the west remained with the kingdom of Lotharingia. By the time of Otto I, both banks of the Rhine had become part of the Holy Roman Empire and the Rhenish territory was divided between the duchies of Upper Lorraine (on the Mosel) and Lower Lorraine (on the Meuse). In this time Westphalia, originally a district of the Duchy of Saxony, was elevated to the rank of a duchy (1180) by Emperor Barbarossa and many of the main cities, like Dortmund or Soest, were part of the Hanseatic League. As the central power of the Holy Roman Emperor weakened, the Rhineland split up into numerous small independent principalities, prospering greatly and stood in the foremost rank of German culture and progress. Aachen was the place of coronation of the German emperors, and the ecclesiastical principalities of the Rhine bulked largely in German history.
Ratification of the Treaty of Münster
by Gerard ter Borch
Prussia first set foot on the Rhine in 1609 by the occupation of the Duchy of Cleves and, a century later, Upper Guelders and Moers also became Prussian; parts of Westphalia came under Brandenburg-Prussian control during the 17th and 18th centuries, but most of it remained divided duchies and other feudal areas of power. The Peace of Westphalia of 1648 (signed in Münster and Osnabrück) ended the Thirty Years' War and as a result, there is no dominant religion in Westphalia. Roman Catholicism and Lutheranism are on relatively equal footing with Lutheranism strong in the eastern and northern parts and with Münster and, especially, Paderborn are thought of as Catholic. 
Location of the Kingdom of Westphalia
within the Confederation of the Rhine (1808)

At the peace of Basel in 1795 the whole of the left bank of the Rhine was resigned to France and in 1806, all joined the Confederation of the Rhine; after the defeat of the Prussian Army at the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt against the French army leaded by Napoleon, the Treaty of Tilsit (1807) turnt Westphalia as the Kingdom of Westphalia, a French vassal state that lasted till 1813 with Jerome Napoleon as king. After the Congress of Vienna, the Kingdom of Prussia received a large amount of territory in the Westphalian region and created the province of Westphalia in 1815, with capital in Münster, with the northernmost portions of the former kingdom (places like Osnabrück) as part of the states of Hanover and Oldenburg. Prussia also was assigned the whole of the Lower Rhenish districts (included the Grand Duchy of Berg, the ecclesiastical constituencies of Trier and Cologne, the free cities of Aachen and Cologne and almost a hundred small manors and abbeys), keeping all the liberal institutions they had under French rule.
Percentage of vote to NSDAP (Nazi party) on 1933 elections
In 1920, after WW1, the Saar was separated from the Rhine Province and the districts of Eupen and Malmedy (Malmünd in German) were transferred to Belgium (see German-Speaking Community of Belgium). After 1933 Adolf Hitler became German Chancellor despite the fact that in the area of today's North-Rhine Westphalia had below-average NSDAP votes. He violated the demiliratization of the Rhineland from Versailles Treaty by having German armed forces in 1936 and Jews, political opponents, homosexuals and other minority groups were persecuted. Rhine and Ruhr industrial center were of great importance of the armament of the German Reich and therefore, during WW2, they suffered heavy air raids and were taken by the Allies from the Battle of Aachen onwards.
Cologne after air raids (1945)
North Rhine-Westphalia was established by the British military administration in 1946, dividing  Rhine Province into the newly founded states of Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate; NRW's contitution was ratified through a referendum in 1947. Apart from the northern parts of the Rhine Province and Westphalia (both formerly part of Prussia) it included the former Free State of Lippe. Finding a common identity from Lippe, Westphalia and the Rhineland was a great challenge in the country's early years, as well as the reconstruction and the establishment of a democratic state. Then the state had to redesign the economic structure as a result of the decline of the mining industry located in Ruhr area. North Rhine-Westphalia was traditionaly a stronghold by SPD but in 2005, CDU got an unexpected victory and, coalition with FDP, Jürgen Rüttgers became Ministerpräsident. He was succeededd by Hannelore Kraft (in a coalition of SPD-Greens with support of Die Linke) and then defeated in 2017 by Armin Laschet, forming a new coalition of CDU and FDP.

Unforgettable experiences 

This places and experiences are a must if you want to discover and understand the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. This is my top 7:
  1. Hohenzollern Bridge
      and Cologne Dom
    Cologne: largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and 4th largest in whole Germany, Cologne is a top destination. It's widely known for its cathedral, Kölner Dom, one of the largest cathedrals in the world and home of the relics of the Three Kings. But Cologne is much more than that, being able to visit its Roman past as Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium or some of the 12 Romanesque churches that survived WW2 and its museums with sacred art. There are also museums with art from Middle Ages to the 20th century, museums about fragance, the Nazi period or world cultures. Cologne is a great point to set your base to visit North Rhine-Westphalia too.
    Aachen Dom
  2. Düsseldorf: the capital and 2nd largest city in NRW has many things to offer, a part of being one of the most liveable cities in the world. Düsseldorf has an excellent mixture of modern and old buildings, art galleries and churches, cultural and night life. It's very nice to have a walk on its promenade. Düsseldorf is an excellent point to set your base to visit and move within North Rhine-Westphalia too.
  3. Aachen: former capital of the Carolingian Empire, Aachen is considered one of the hearts of European culture, being strongly linked to Charlemagne. Aachen Cathedral is both unique and spectacular, making it a must-see. But its town hall, its didactic museums about the city's history or art galleries, plus the fact of being home of one of the most prestigious universities in Germany and being very close to Belgium and the Netherlands, make Aachen a very nice place to visit. 
    4. Typical landscape at Ruhrgebiet
  4. Ruhrgebiet: a visit to North Rhine-Westphalia without visiting Ruhrgebiet wouldn't be complete because it helps to understand the recent evolution of this former industrial hub. In Essen, among others things to do, the visitor will manage to understand the history and the culture of the region at the UNESCO World Heritage Zollverein Complex. Other interesting museums about mining and other activities are located in places like Duisburg, Oberhausen or Bochum. Visiting Dortmund will allow you to get to know all its football legacy (and German football's one) as well as the history of this important city.
    Bonn Town Hall
  5. Bonn: former capital of West Germany and birthplace of one of the greatest composer of all time, Ludwig van Beethoven, Bonn has more things to do that people usually imagine. Visiting the district Bundesviertel is a great idea to discover how was West Germany during the Cold War but it can also be visited the cathedral, Beethoven's house or interesting museums about many different topics.
  6. Münster: city considered the cultural capital city of Westphalia that has an important university and a very popular place for cycling. Münster has a lot of interesting churches and some nice palaces, with some art galleries with works of very important worldwide artists.
  7. Paderborn: the city of Paderborn is a very good idea to explore Westphalia and Lippe with an important cultural and architectural heritage. Visiting it allows you to get deeper inside German culture.

Planning your holidays

These are some possible routes you may do in North Rhine-Westphalia to visit parts of it or discover it all. North Rhine-Westphalia has many sightseeing points so you can choose your own route depending your time and what you want to visit. Here are some possible tours:

    a) 5 days tour

  This short journey in NRW would be focused on North Rhine and can start in Cologne. Here you could stay a day and a half enjoying this beautiful, historic and religious city with a wonderful World Heritage Cathedral. The other half of the 2nd day is a perfect moment to complete the visit the UNESCO World Heritage palaces of Brühl. For the 3rd day it can be a great choice visiting the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, Düsseldorf, and enjoying its museums and architecture. The following day (4th one) in the morning you can go to Bonn, a surprising city which is, among others, Ludwig van Beethoven's birthplace and in the afternoon Aachen, former capital of the Carolingian Empire and admite its special Dom. The fith and last day can be spent learning and discovering Ruhr region in Essen, Dortmund and its surroundings, enjoying its industrial past and living its daily transformation into an art hub.

   b) 7 days tour

  This journey in NRW would be focused on North Rhine and can start in Cologne. Here you could stay a day and a half enjoying this beautiful, historic and religious city with a wonderful World Heritage Cathedral. The other half of the 2nd day is a perfect moment to complete the visit the UNESCO World Heritage palaces of Brühl. For the 3rd day it can be a great choice visiting the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, Düsseldorf, and enjoying its museums and architecture. The following day (4th one) in the morning you can go to Bonn, a surprising city which is, among others, Ludwig van Beethoven's birthplace and in the afternoon Aachen, former capital of the Carolingian Empire and admite its special Dom. The fith can be spent learning and discovering Ruhr region in Essen, Dortmund and its surroundings, enjoying its industrial past and living its daily transformation into an art hub. The 6th and 7th day would consist in getting deeper on Westphalia, visiting the historic college city of Münster and then the charming traditional city of Paderborn.

   c) 10 days tour

  This journey in NRW would be focused on North Rhine and can start in Cologne. Here you could stay a day and a half enjoying this beautiful, historic and religious city with a wonderful World Heritage Cathedral. The other half of the 2nd day is a perfect moment to complete the visit the UNESCO World Heritage palaces of Brühl. For the 3rd day it can be a great choice visiting the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, Düsseldorf, and enjoying its museums and architecture. The following day (4th one) in the morning you can go from Düsseldorf to Xanten to have a look at his Roman past and then head to Bonn, a surprising city which is, among others, Ludwig van Beethoven's birthplace. Our 5th day would begin in Aachen, former capital of the Carolingian Empire and admite its special Dom and, in the afternoon, enjoy the nature and the small towns at Eifel National Park. The sixth can be spent learning and discovering Ruhr region in Essen, Duisburg and some other nearby cities, with Dortmund and all its football atmosphere and the beautiful Soest for the 7th day. The 8th and 9th day would consist in getting deeper on Westphalia, visiting the historic college city of Münster and then the charming traditional city of Paderborn. The 10th and last day would consist in discovering an out of the radar destination as Detmold, in the heart in the former principality of Lippe.
 

How can I arrive and move within North Rhine-Westphalia?

  NRW is well communicated with neightbouring states and other countries, mainly via Cologne. Cologne and Düsseldorf are connected with most of the important destinations in the rest of Germany and in Europe. The best mean of transport to move in the country is the train (high frequency but a bit expensive) but buses are also a good one because of its price (although usually traffic jams make journeys longer).
  • Train map of North Rhine-Westphalia
    Plane    :     there are many international flights to Cologne and Düsseldorf International Airports (7th and 3rd busiest airports in the country) from many European cities and also from other continents. Most of the flights to Cologne one are from low cost companies. There are other airports like Dortmund Airport and Weeze Airport.
  • Train: Germany's railway system is considered to be among the top all over the world, although it's a bit pricey. The railway system connects Cologne, Düsseldorf, Duisburg and Dortmund with all the important cities and towns in the federal state and with the main cities in neighbouring states. It can be a good idea, in case of wanting to use a lot of trains on a day, taking SchönerTagTicket NRW (up to 5 people). There are also trains to international destinations like Strasbourg, Vienna, Basel, Brussels, Marseille, Paris or Amsterdam.
  • Bus: buses are the cheapest mean of transport in German, but also one of the slowest. There are frequent buses from Cologne and also Düsseldorf to all the main cities and towns of the country and there are also connections among them (although less frequent). The offer of international bus trips in both cities is large, including destinations like Brussels, Amsterdam, Zurich, Milan, Rome or Copenhague.
  • Car: this is almost always the most comfortable way of moving for the lack of timetables to follow. It's required to have a green card (International Insurance Card). Most of the roads in Germany are in good conditions and driving in the country is easy, although there are often traffic jams. 

What can I eat and drink in North Rhine-Westphalia?

 North Rhine-Westphalia is divided into two hisotrical and cultural regions with different culinary traditions.
Reibekuchen
 Rhineland food isn't uniform because it's a region with many differences, but characterized by simple and hearty dishes with importance of ingredients such as various vegetables, potatoes, milk, butter and meat. It's quite influenced by Dutch, Belgian, Westphalian and even French cuisine. Rhenish cuisine has some soups Hühnersuppe (chicken soup), Biersuppe or Weinsuppe (beer and wine soups) or Frikassee (dishes using fricassee technique). North Rhine food has plenty of dishes made of potatoes (like the rest of German food) with dished like has also Reibekuchen (German potato fritters), very traditional from this region; the pancakes Döppelkooche (from the south of North Rhine) and Pillekuchen, traditional from Belgium.
Rhenischer Sauerbrater
Fish and seafood aren't very extended because there's no sea but the most popular dish among this genre are Muscheln rheinische Art (Rhenish-style mussels), Herinsstip (soused herring with pickled cucumbers, apples, herbs and spices) or Heringssalat (a Belgian kind of olivier salad with soused herrings). Meat is also very important in Rhenish cuisine and some of the main dishes are Rhenischer Sauerbrater (one of the most popular German dishes that consists in a roast of heavily marinated meat with raisins), Halbe Hahn (buttered rye roll, halved and topped with Gouda cheese and mustard, typical from Cologne), Himmel und Erde (black pudding, fried onions, and mashed potato with apple sauce), Krütchen (schnitzel baked with a fried egg on a slice of rye bread or toast bread), Rollbraten (triggered piece of meat is rolled into a roast) or Eisbein (German dish of pickled ham hock). The most important varieties of cold meat in North Rhine are Pannas (similar to Dutch Balkenbrij), Flönz (slightly smoked Rhenish blood sausage), dried ham, androlla and botillo (meat-stuffed pork intestine) and there are other typical dishes Kottenbutter (sandwich with slice of buttered brown bread, smoked pork sausage, onion rings and spread with spicy mustard) tradicional from Wupper river area, Fladen (kind of German rijstevlaai) and Düsseldorfer Mostert, from Düsseldorf.
Westphalian Pumpernickel
Westphalian food isn't uniform and it's quite influenced by Lower Saxony, Dutch and Rhenish cuisine. Westphalia has also some very important traditional dishes. Westphalia has an important tradition of making good bread like Westphalian Pumpernickel (heavy, slightly sweet rye bread), Struwen (yeast pancakes), Pickert (made of potatoes) from Lippe or Paderborner Landbrot. Other very popular one are cold meat like Westphalian ham, smoked ham produced from acorn-fed pigs raised in the forests of Westphalia, Möpkenbrot (cooked sausage with cereals), Westfälische sausages like Leberbrot (typical from Münsterland), Schlackwurst (raw sausage) Rinderwurst (beef), Wurstebrot (blood sausage) or Stippgrütze (similar to kaszanka). There are also soups and stews like Blindhuhn (chicken stew with various vegetables, apples as well as bacon), Westfälische Gerstensuppe (barley mucilage soup where barley is cooked in ham broth), Spanisch Fricco (Westphalian stew based on meat, potatoes and onions), Pumpernickelsuppe (soup using Pumpernickel), Schinkenbegräbnis (potato casserole for the utilization of leftovers, mainly bone ham and streaky bacon), Pfefferpotthast (pepper stew) and Töttchen or Knockepott, both from Münsterland. Most of the dishes are based on meat like for example Blutgemüse (pork with pork blood and various vegetables) and there's a popular cheese too, Nieheimer Käse.
Ballebäuschen
In NRW has some reknown desserts (most of them with Belgian influence) like Aachener Printern (type of Lebkuchen from Aachen), Bergische waffeln (waffle), Arme Ritter (French toasts), Brotpudding (bread pudding); other traditional desserts are cakes like Ballebäuschen (round, peach-sized Rhenish cakes that are baked in oil or lard). It's also popular Poschweck (also known as Aachen easter bread), Burger Brezel (typical brezel from  Burg an der Wupper) and Röggelchen (rye pastry in the form of a double roll made from two pieces of dough), Apfel im Schlafrock (Westphalian version of baked apples) or Westphalian Knabbeln.
Alt and Kölsch beers
Talking about drinking, we have to talk about beer (Bier). Almost every city has its own kind of beer, being the most popular ones Kölsch beer from Cologne (palest beer in Germany seved in 0.2 L glasses called Stangen), Alt beer from Düsseldorf, Dortmunder Export (local pale lager beer) from Dortmund and Wesphalian beers. There are other very traditional drinks like Rhenisches Apfelkraut (cider traditional from Rhineland), herbal liqueurs such as Killepitsch from Düsseldorf and Kabänes from Brühl, the egg liqueur Verpoorten from Bonn, Steinhäge (gin flavoured with juniper berries), Kornbrand (kind of grain brandy).

Useful links

 In case you want to look for more information about North Rhine-Westphalia (https://www.nrw-tourism.com/) or its cities, towns and places like Ruhr region (https://www.ruhr-tourismus.de/en.html), here there's a list with some pages to get it:

 
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