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Life in Dortmund

Multifaceted Metropolis in the Ruhr Region

Of the approximately 600,000 inhabitants in Dortmund, over 52,000 young people study at the city’s universities. While Dortmund used to be considered a “commuter city” in the middle of the Ruhr region, it is now becoming increasingly popular, and even students from the surrounding area choose to live in Dortmund.

Aerial view of paths between trees an grass areas in a park © Anneke Wardenbach​/​Stadt Dortmund

With its numerous green areas, Dortmund offers plenty of space for recreation in the middle of the hustle and bustle of the big city. Almost half of the municipal territory consists of green spaces and parks. Two of the largest and most beautiful parks are the Westfalenpark, where the “Juicy Beats” electronic festival takes place every summer, and the Rombergpark with its close-by zoo. A trendy meeting place with a beer garden and boule courts is the Westpark near the Kreuzviertel, a neighbourhood popular with night owls. For treasure hunters there are regular flea markets in the parks. The night flea market in the Kulturort Depot draws large crowds. The former main tramway workshop is just one example of the many converted industrial sites that continue to shape the cityscape. If you go exploring in Dortmund, you will find many interesting industrial monuments. Highly recommended: the Zollern Colliery and the Hansa Coking Plant.

Dortmund is also known for its vibrant cultural scene: the most recent and literally shining example is the Dortmunder U. Once the brewery tower and warehouse of the Dortmund Union brewery, the U tower is now a trendy center for art and creativity. Other highlights for culture aficionados include the opera house, the theater and the concert hall in the heart of the city center. The unique acoustics of the Dortmund Concert Hall not only attracts international stars of the opera scene, but also gives pop concerts a very special atmosphere. Concerts and events on a large scale take place in the Westfalenhallen. International artists and bands from various musical genres regularly perform at the Freizeitzentrum West (FZW) not far from the main train station. The FZW also has a good reputation as a party location. Apropos: You can dance in numerous clubs in the city – or on a boat bar on the water at the Dortmund harbor.

 

A big U on the roof of a building with a row of holographic tiles showing pigeons. © Jürgen Huhn​/​TU Dortmund

If you like something cozy and small, you will feel comfortable in the bar and pub scene in Dortmund. In the Kreuzviertel, for example, you can enjoy live music in the bars and cafes of the trendy district at the annual "Kreuzviertel bei Nacht" event. In the Nordstadt, the cultural location "Recorder" founded by students, the iconic Subrosa or the Sissikingkong as a bar-restaurant cellar club all-rounder are particularly in demand. Every second year, on the "Day of the Drinking Hall", the little shops, kiosks and drinking halls of the Ruhr area are set in scene. When it comes to Budenkultur, the Bergmann Kiosk and Trinkhalle Adler 59 are particularly popular among young people.

Football fans dressed in yellow and black jerseys in a football stadium © Stefanie Kleemann​/​Dortmund-Agentur

And then there’s football: in the “most beautiful stadium in the world” –  the designation the renowned English newspaper “Times” gave the SIGNAL IDUNA PARK in 2009 – every Borussia Dortmund home match becomes an experience with a goose bump guarantee. Football fans and “wanna be” fans will definitely get their money’s worth. Dortmund teams and players have also made a name for themselves in other sports. For example, the world-class rowers of Germany’s  Eight train in the Ruhr metropolis.

If you would rather be active yourself, the city also has a broad spectrum of leisure and recreational sports: In total, there are almost 600 sports clubs, numerous sports halls and swimming pools, a mountain bike arena, three climbing halls, a well-developed cycling path network and several fun sports facilities.

For an overview of the leisure and cultural offerings of the city of Dortmund click here (in German only).

For those interested in culture, the Theater Dortmund has a special offer: students of TU Dortmund University will receive free tickets upon presentation of their valid student ID. MORE INFORMATION (in German only)

 

Cafeteria menus

Location & approach

The campus of TU Dort­mund University is located close to interstate junction Dort­mund West, where the Sauerlandlinie A 45 (Frankfurt-Dort­mund) crosses the Ruhrschnellweg B 1 / A 40. The best interstate exit to take from A 45 is “Dort­mund-Eichlinghofen” (closer to South Campus), and from B 1 / A 40 “Dort­mund-Dorstfeld” (closer to North Campus). Signs for the uni­ver­si­ty are located at both exits. Also, there is a new exit before you pass over the B 1-bridge leading into Dort­mund.

To get from North Campus to South Campus by car, there is the connection via Vogelpothsweg/Baroper Straße. We recommend you leave your car on one of the parking lots at North Campus and use the H-Bahn (suspended monorail system), which conveniently connects the two campuses.

TU Dort­mund University has its own train station (“Dort­mund Uni­ver­si­tät”). From there, suburban trains (S-Bahn) leave for Dort­mund main station (“Dort­mund Hauptbahnhof”) and Düsseldorf main station via the “Düsseldorf Airport Train Station” (take S-Bahn number 1, which leaves every 15 or 30 minutes). The uni­ver­si­ty is easily reached from Bochum, Essen, Mülheim an der Ruhr and Duisburg.

You can also take the bus or subway train from Dort­mund city to the uni­ver­si­ty: From Dort­mund main station, you can take any train bound for the Station “Stadtgarten”, usually lines U41, U45, U 47 and U49. At “Stadtgarten” you switch trains and get on line U42 towards “Hombruch”. Look out for the Station “An der Palmweide”. From the bus stop just across the road, busses bound for TU Dort­mund University leave every ten minutes (445, 447 and 462). Another option is to take the subway routes U41, U45, U47 and U49 from Dort­mund main station to the stop “Dort­mund Kampstraße”. From there, take U43 or U44 to the stop “Dort­mund Wittener Straße”. Switch to bus line 447 and get off at “Dort­mund Uni­ver­si­tät S”.

The H-Bahn is one of the hallmarks of TU Dort­mund University. There are two stations on North Campus. One (“Dort­mund Uni­ver­si­tät S”) is directly located at the suburban train stop, which connects the uni­ver­si­ty directly with the city of Dort­mund and the rest of the Ruhr Area. Also from this station, there are connections to the “Technologiepark” and (via South Campus) Eichlinghofen. The other station is located at the dining hall at North Campus and offers a direct connection to South Campus every five minutes.

The AirportExpress is a fast and convenient means of transport from Dortmund Airport (DTM) to Dortmund Central Station, taking you there in little more than 20 minutes. From Dortmund Central Station, you can continue to the university campus by interurban railway (S-Bahn). A larger range of international flight connections is offered at Düsseldorf Airport (DUS), which is about 60 kilometres away and can be directly reached by S-Bahn from the university station.

The facilities of TU Dortmund University are spread over two campuses, the larger Campus North and the smaller Campus South. Additionally, some areas of the university are located in the adjacent “Technologiepark”.

Site Map of TU Dortmund University (Second Page in English).