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Gelsenkirchen
City in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

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.

Plan a trip to Gelsenkirchen→From Weeze

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.

Get in

Getting to Gelsenkirchen

The Ruhr area, especially Gelsenkirchen, offers a wonderful public transportation system. Whether using the train, bus, streetcar/trolley, or car, it is easy to plan your transportation to and from all your activities in and around Gelsenkirchen. Nearest airports are located within 100 km from the city. Dusseldorf International Airport, approx. 40 km (25 mi)) away.

  1. 01
    Gelsenkirchen Central
See

Worth seeing

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.

  1. 01
    Berge Castle

    Adenauerallee 103, Bus 302 (stop: "Berger See").

  2. 02
    Glückauf-Kampfbahn
  3. 03
    Heilig-Kreuz Kirche
  4. 04
    Kunstmuseum Gelsenkirchen

    5 (in centre of Buer district, Tram/Bus Station Buer Rathaus).

  5. 05
    Rathaus 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.

  6. 06
    Rungenberg Tip
Do

Things to do

  1. 01
    Nordsternpark
  2. 02
    Schalke 04

    They were promoted in 2026 so they now play soccer in Bundesliga, the top tier.

  3. 03
    GelsenTrabPark
Eat

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.

  1. 01
    Cafe Extrablatt

    An American-style cafe which offers coffee drinks as well as meals.

  2. 02
    Konditorei Pabst

    Arminstr.

  3. 03
    Mr.Wasabi

    Vietnamese restaurant, inside seating or take-away counter.

  4. 04
    Topkapi Kebab Haus

    Neumarkt 6.

  5. 05
    Jori Alsham

    12-16 (take south exit of Hauptbahnhof),.

How locals move

Getting around Gelsenkirchen the local way

  • 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. Last edited 2026-09.

Text adapted from Wikipedia and Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photograph: Michielverbeek (see Commons), Wikimedia Commons.