We will be flying into DUS for a weekend and have found a Mercure Hotel near DUS airport for only 20 Euro per night.
My question is:
Is it easy to get to the city and back from the airport?
Are there passes for the metro/train?
Should we take this low price and deal with the transportation or pay 100 Euro and be in the city?

Thank you so much!

Stick to the Mercure, I say. 20 Euro is such a bargain, and - if I recall correctly - getting from the airport to central station in downtown Dusseldorf took about 15 minutes. There are two S-Bahn commuter trains, one leaving from the terminal, the other one from a newer station nearby. A monorail connects the new station with the terminal (at no extra fare).

As for tickets, check this site:
http://www.vrr.de/en/index.html

Near is relative. The hotel is in Ratingen and actually closer to Essen than to Düsseldorf. To name the next 2 closest cities with over 500.000 inhabitants. 13 km from the airport.

DB timetable
http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en
From: [Station/Stop] DUS
To: [Address] Ratingen, Lintorfer Weg 75

From: [Address] Ratingen, Lintorfer Weg 75
To: D
1 hour by bus. But at least a direct bus.

you need VRR price level B tickets
Single ticket is EUR 4,10. Mini group (2-5 persons) day ticket is EUR 15,90.
These are zone-to-zone tickets. Thus it plays no role if from/to Düsseldorf Airport or to/from the city centre of Düsseldorf (Düsseldorf = 1 zone).

> The hotel is in Ratingen and actually closer to Essen than to Düsseldorf.

Uh-oh, didn't know that. I thought it was a typical airport hotel.

"Ryanair-syndrome"
If Ryanair can call Weeze (75 km west of Düsseldorf) "Düsseldorf-Weeze", Mercure can also call a hotel in Ratingen "Düsseldorf Airport".

In Munich 13 km from the airport would be however not that bad and "airport hotel" quite OK, as the distance to the city is some 40 km.

In this area this is however strange. Ratingen has alredy nearly 100.000 inhabitants. And to Essen (582.000 inhabitants) it's just 10 km, while to Düsseldorf (578.000 inhabitants) centre it's nearly 20 km.

I knew that Ryanair is (still) playing this game, but I had no idea that it was epidemic with hotels joining the game.

I'm not even sure that the thread starter knows that he won't fly into DUS.

As OP is using "DUS" I guess the OP will fly to Düsseldorf International Airport (DUS). Weeze has the airport code NRN.

But I'm pretty sure that there are people flying to "Düsseldorf" and getting a shock when learning that they have landed in the middle of nowhere, close to a town named Weeze.

Hi,
Thanks for all the responses.
I am flying into DUS airport directly from Detroit, and not on Ryanair.
I know the hotel is a little distance from the airport but it has a free airport shuttle.
I did go ahead and book the room for 20 Euro.

If you are actually AT the airport, it is easy. But, for the cost and time near the center is better. I have used Hotel Lindenhof and a single was 55 Euro, and it is across from the Schumacher Brauerei on Ost Strasse. There is another in the Altstadt worth trying, it is the hotel above the Fuchsen Brauerei. Both weel knonw watering holes, and the Alt Bier is great.