Gelsenkirchen
Gelsenkirchen is the 26th-most populous city of Germany and the 12th-most populous in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia with a population of 266,199 as of 2025.
Gelsenkirchen is the 26th-most populous city of Germany and the 12th-most populous in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia with a population of 266,199 as of 2025. On the Emscher River, it lies at the centre of the Ruhr area, the largest urban area of Germany, of which it is the fifth-largest city after Dortmund, Essen, Duisburg and Bochum. The Ruhr is located in the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region, the second-biggest metropolitan region by GDP in the European Union. Gelsenkirchen is the fifth-largest city of Westphalia after Dortmund, Bochum, Bielefeld and Münster, and it is one of the southernmost cities in the Low German dialect area. The city is home to the football club Schalke 04, which is named after Gelsenkirchen-Schalke. The club's current stadium Veltins-Arena, however, is located in Gelsenkirchen-Erle.
Adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Worth seeing in and around Gelsenkirchen
10 places within 25 km that the world writes about, in the order of how widely: the ones a visitor has heard of first, then the ones only a local would name.
- 01Arena AufSchalke
Arena AufSchalke, currently known as Veltins-Arena for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium with a retractable roof and slide-out pitch in Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It opened on 13 August 2001 as the new home ground of FC Schalke 04.
5.3 km · football stadium in Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany · Wikipedia - 02Parkstadion
Parkstadion is a multi-purpose stadium in Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, that is no longer used to host any major events. The stadium was built in 1973 and hosted five matches of the 1974 FIFA World Cup.
5.8 km · stadium in Germany · Wikipedia - 03University of Duisburg-Essen
The University of Duisburg-Essen is a public research university in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. In the 2019 Times Higher Education World University Rankings, the university was awarded 194th place in the world.
8 km · university in Germany · Wikipedia - 04Museum Folkwang
Museum Folkwang is a major collection of 19th- and 20th-century art in Essen, Germany. The museum was established in 1922 by merging the Essener Kunstmuseum, which was founded in 1906, and the private Folkwang Museum of the collector and patron Karl Ernst Osthaus in Hagen, founded in 1902.
9.8 km · museum in Essen, Germany · Wikipedia - 05Essen Minster
Essen Minster, since 1958 also Essen Cathedral, is the seat of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Essen, the "Diocese of the Ruhr", founded in 1958. The church, dedicated to Saints Cosmas and Damian and the Blessed Virgin Mary, stands on the Burgplatz in the centre of the city of Essen, Germany.
8.2 km · cathedral · Wikipedia - 06Golden Madonna of Essen
The Golden Mother of Good Counsel of Essen is the eldest Roman Catholic sculpture of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Child Jesus. The image is a wooden core covered with sheets of thin gold leaf and is part of the treasury of Essen Cathedral in Germany.
8.2 km · sculpture of the Virgin Mary and the infant Jesus in Essen Cathedral, Germany · Wikipedia - 07Essen Abbey
Essen Abbey was a community of secular canonesses for women of high nobility that formed the nucleus of modern-day Essen, Germany. A chapter of male priests were also attached to the abbey, under a dean.
8.2 km · monastery · Wikipedia - 08Aalto Theatre
The Aalto Theatre is a performing arts venue in Essen, Germany, and is home to the city's opera company Aalto-Musiktheater and the ballet company Aalto Ballett. The Essener Philharmoniker serve as the venue's orchestra.
9 km · opera house in Essen, Germany · Wikipedia - 09German Mining Museum
The German Mining Museum in Bochum or DBM is one of the most visited museums in Germany with around 365,700 visitors per year. It is the largest mining museum in the world, and a renowned research establishment for mining history.
8.8 km · museum · Wikipedia - 10Glückauf-Kampfbahn
Glückauf-Kampfbahn is a multi-use stadium in Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
2.4 km · football stadium · Wikipedia
Ranked by the number of language editions of Wikipedia with an article on each, from Wikidata; the sentences are the openings of those articles, CC BY-SA 4.0.
What Wikivoyage says to see
A relatively unvisited city, even within Germany, Gelsenkirchen offers enough to fill your day, especially if you're keen for cultural and industrial sights like football, arts and old heavy industry.
- 01Berge Castle
Adenauerallee 103, Bus 302 (stop: "Berger See").
- 02Glückauf-Kampfbahn
- 03Heilig-Kreuz Kirche
- 04Kunstmuseum Gelsenkirchen
5 (in centre of Buer district, Tram/Bus Station Buer Rathaus).
- 05Rathaus Buer
Build in 1910, this monumental building used to house both the city council of the old City of Buer, as well as the council of Gelsenkirchen until the 1960s after being annexed by it in 1928.
- 06Rungenberg Tip
From Wikivoyage: Gelsenkirchen, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Things to do
- 01Nordsternpark
- 02Schalke 04
They were promoted in 2026 so they now play soccer in Bundesliga, the top tier.
- 03GelsenTrabPark
From Wikivoyage: Gelsenkirchen, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Where to eat
Gelsenkirchen is not known for its excellent high cuisine, but still offers good food. The local cuisine has been influenced by past migrations, including from the Middle East.
- 01Cafe Extrablatt
An American-style cafe which offers coffee drinks as well as meals.
- 02Konditorei Pabst
Arminstr.
- 03Mr.Wasabi
Vietnamese restaurant, inside seating or take-away counter.
- 04Topkapi Kebab Haus
Neumarkt 6.
- 05Jori Alsham
12-16 (take south exit of Hauptbahnhof),.
From Wikivoyage: Gelsenkirchen, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Getting to Gelsenkirchen
- Airports
- Düsseldorf (DUS), 33 km · Dortmund (DTM), 36 km · Weeze (Niederrhein) (NRN), 67 km
- Stations
- Essen Central Station, 8.6 km · Bochum Hbf, 9.6 km · Gelsenkirchen Central Station, 800 m · Herne station, 9.3 km · Wanne-Eickel Central Station, 5.5 km
- Weeze → Gelsenkirchen63 km · quickest by road, 1h 18m · €8–11
- Köln (Cologne) → Gelsenkirchen65 km · quickest by road, 1h 32m · €8–12
- Greven → Gelsenkirchen333 km · quickest by road, 5h 2m · €41–60
- Plan a tripFrom anywhereThe planner compares every way there from wherever you are.
Road and air are today’s quick answer; timetabled trains, buses and ferries load on the results page from the operators’ feeds.
No local-transport research exists yet for Gelsenkirchen
Our researched notes are written from a sourced entry: every shared taxi, boat and village bus with its operator, its rule, its fare and the year we saw it, and what could not be confirmed. Nobody has done that work for Gelsenkirchen. What is above is what we hold from open sources; nothing here pretends to be more.
- Go nextIts lush green setting has long been a popular day trip and short stay destination for the city dwellers of Bonn, Düsseldorf, Cologne and other large cities in the region.
From Wikivoyage: Bochum, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us; that article was last edited 2026-09.
- 01243 km
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If you know how people move in Gelsenkirchen – the stand, the rule, the fare – tell us, and the note gets an entry.
Next door to Gelsenkirchen
Gelsenkirchen is 8 km from Essen, the nearest large city, whose note carries the wider picture.
- Essencity in Ruhr Region, Düsseldorf Government Region, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany8.7 km
- Bochumcity in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany9 km
- Hernetown in Arnsberg Government Region, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany9.4 km
- Wattenscheidurban district of Bochum, Germany4 km
- Essen City Halltownhall of the City of Essen7.9 km
- Altendorfhuman settlement in Germany9.8 km