Dortmund Travel Forum

Hi everyone, my wife and I will be staying in Dortmund for probably about 10 days in late June. I'm from rural Texas, and I enjoy cities but might like to also see some less crowded places in Germany. My question is, if I'm staying in Dortmund, can you suggest some places outside of town to visit that are smaller? Do community trains travel to these outlying places? Any other tips are welcome as well.

Welcome to the largest conurbation in Germany, the Ruhr Area.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruhr_Area

Local public transport in the Ruhr area
http://www.vrr.de

Ruhr Area tourism
http://www.ruhrgebiettouristik.de/index.php?LA=en

Route of Industrial Heritage
http://www.route-industriekultur.de/menue/menue.html&lang=2

I would go to the beautiful region Muensterland around the also stunning and relaxed city of Muenster where everybody seems to move by bicycle. There are lots of nice castles and romantic small towns in Muensterland, very rural and relaxed.

Sissi

Let me rephrase my question just a bit. While my wife and I are in Dortmund, say we want to take a train in the morning to a small picturesque place for the day and be able to return by train to Dortmund that evening, where would you suggest we go?

Hi there,

I understood your question very well LOL

From Dortmund to Münster it is only 30 to 50 minutes by train, depending on the train you use, and from Münster you could visit smaller places by bus.

There are also combined train and bus connections from Dortmund to many water castles, for example Raesfeld and Lembeck (both trips under 2 hours).

I am sure locals can tell you more and give you more detailed information when once you are there.

Sissi

When traveling outside the VRR area but still inside the state North Rhine-Westphalia you can use the SchönerTagTicket NRW (HappyDayTicket NRW). A mini group (2-5 persons) day ticket for EUR 33,00. Covering all regional trains and all other local public transport in this state.
NRW railroad network map
http://www.nahverkehr.nrw.de/media.php?mv_id=-962969640

ideas

Xanten
http://www.xanten.de/en/
Soest
http://www.soest.de/stadtportraet/soest_3minuten/117040100000008221.php
Münster (albeit a city with nearly 300.000 inhabitants)
http://www.muenster.de/stadt/tourismus/en/

Thanks to all of you for your great advice! I hope I can try some of those places out. If you think of anything else, let me know!