Düsseldorf for the weekend

Rated one of the world’s most live-able cities and one of Germany’s most affluent, the capital of North Rhine-Westphalia offers major league modern art, romantic walks along the Rhine, über posh shopping and an old town that calls itself the biggest bar in the world.
Saturday breakfast:
You can follow in the footsteps of Gorbachev and Pavarotti nipping into the Café Heinemann which is celebrating 75 years of serving quality kaffee und kuchen. The Bahnstrasse branch is the perfect place to fill up before an assault on the shops round the corner on Köningsallee. The showroom in the front is filled with cholesterol boosting confections like the almond-liquor-cream filled herrentorte, award winning champagne truffles or the towering black chocolate baumkuchen. Out the back is a classic old café with leather chairs and dark wood tables serving up creamy coffee and a renowned breakfast selection.

Saturday morning:
Köningsallee is Germany’s most exclusive shopping street. Behind the vitrines are shimmering gold dresses, antique broaches encrusted with rubies, and ermine overcoats, a snip at €13,000. The posh stores are mostly arrayed along the eastern side of the street opposite solid ranks of banks and office blocks.
Between them, along the kilometre-long thoroughfare, are two stately rows of horse chestnut trees and a shady canal cut by low arched bridges. This used to be called Kastanienallee after those conker trees until 1848 when a visiting king of Prussia was pelted with horse muck by disgruntled Rhinelanders, causing the local burghers to make things up to the monarch by naming the avenue after him.
Aside from the international designers, D’dorf is proud of being at the forefront of German fashion with the likes of Sabine Schumacher and Peter O. Mahler, not to mention supermodel Claudia Schiffer who started her career here.
Most of the streets leading off the Kö are also lined with chic boutiques and the odd quirky store like Manufactum _ a marvellous place selling a completely eclectic range of goods from lederhosen to garden hoses, tin trains to Trappist ales. The common theme is that everything is hand made by small manufacturers, with a special section linked to goods made by monasteries and convents. (https://www.manufactum.com/).
At the northern end of the Kö the avenue broadens out and is surrounded by department stores, like the Galeria Kaufhof. These may be ubiquitous in Germany, but a good place nevertheless for those who can’t afford a €1,000 blouse, to pick up a more modest souvenir like a clay pot of AB mustard, a red-and-white Fortuna Düsseldorf scarf, or a snow done showcasing the cart wheeling kids who are a symbol of the city, featured in X-shaped statues around the town.
Lunch:
Düsseldorf’s Altstadt is something of a misnomer. The old town was almost entirely rebuilt after the city centre was devastated by allied bombing raids in World War II. Despite that, the tightly packed streets convey something of the aura of the medieval city. It’s mostly pedestrian and filled with cafes, restaurants and beer houses that have earned its moniker as “the biggest bar in the world.
Within this warren are four old brewery pubs where they make the local specialty alt beer on the premises. Schüssel, Uerige, Schumacher and Füchschen all make alt around the old town _ their beer houses are huge, bustling places, but also manage to stay cosy due to the interlocking rooms lined with woodwork stained to the same the copper tones of their ale and decorated with old etchings or fading photos of celebrated former guests. There are several other alt producers scattered elsewhere around the city. Alt is a refreshingly sharp brew. Served in small, narrow glasses, it’s not a strong as most German beers and is designed to be drunk in quality. In fact it’s much like the Kölsch served in Düsseldorf’s great Rhineland rival Cologne (although natives of either city will argue strongly that their brew is the best.)
The beer halls of the Altstadt don’t mess about. Food here is rigorously traditional, but provides great snack opportunities. How about Flönz – a curl of shiny cold blood pudding served with chopped onion and a slice of black bread at the Zum Uerige. http://www.uerige.de/.
The beer made on the premises is considered by many to be the best in town. Other options include thick pea soup, known as ähzezupp; halver hahn, not half a chicken, but rye bread served with a slice of cheese with caraway and onion; brawn; or mettbrötchen, minced pork rolls.
Saturday afternoon:
Take a stroll round the Altstadt: the Berg platz overlooking the Rhine with its Baroque tower, all that remains of the once mighty palace of the Dukes of Berg after a fire in the 1870s; the ivy-clad 18th century Rathaus, with its horseback statue of local hero Jan Wellem of Paletine; the birthplace of poetic great Heinrich Heine; the gothic Catholic church of St. Lambertus and its Protestant counterpart the Berger Kirche.
Then head downriver along the Rheinuferpromenade, a riverside walkway which brought new life to city in the 1990s when the main road which cut the old town off from the Rhine buried in a tunnel. There are rows of café terraces and views of the endless barge traffic.
Keep walking and you come to the Rhine tower, a 234 meter spike offering great views of the city from a viewing platform are revolving restaurant at the top.
Just beyond, is the MediaHarbour a new development on the river port which has become a showcase of new architecture, most notably Frank Gehry’s jumble of leaning towers clad in whitewash, redbrick or shimmering steel. The MediaHarbour is a cool place to hang out, featuring the trendy Lido restaurant serving French food in a glass cube surrounded by water. At the Eigelstein café, there’s even an outpost of Düsseldorf’s great rival, serving Kölsch beer and Cologne cooking.
Saturday night:
Returning for more beer in the old town is always an option. Zum Schiffchen is reputedly the city’s oldest eatery, dating from 1628. Tuck into liver dumplings with sauerkraut and mash, and kidneys served in a creamy Düsseldorf mustard sauce. It serves Frankenheim alt. http://www.brauerei-zum-schiffchen.de/.

At Zum Schüssel there was himmel und erde (heaven and earth, aka: hot black pudding with mashed potato and apple puree spiked with onion) or Stadtschreiberschmaus _ pan fried leberkäse (liver paté) served with fried spuds, baked onions, fried egg and green beans.
http://www.zumschluessel.de/
You are unlikely to pay more than €15 a head at any of these places. To ease all that down, head to the Kabüffke hole in the wall bar for a glass of Killepitsche, a cherished local herb liquor.
Round off the evening at Roncalli’s Apollo a much loved cabaret replete with acrobats, dancing girls, mimes and magicians. It’s been going since the 1890s, but this year is celebrating 10 years in its new venue under the Rheinknie bridge. http://www.apollo-variete.com/.
Sleeping:
Top of the range is the majestic Steigenberger Park hotel at the top end of Kö. Five star luxury, rooms start from around €200, but go much higher. There have some special offers at the moment, giving weekend nights from €98. (http://www.steigenberger.com)
The Stage47 has doubles from €160 (http://www.duesseldorf-hotels.de/) and the Burns Art Hotel from €145. (http://www.hotel-burns.de/) Both are trendy, arty places.
Cheerfully down market, the Hotel Haus Hillesheim has been in the same family for four generations. It has a nice kitsch bar, OK rooms and a reasonably central location at the southern end of the Kö. http://www.hotel-hillesheim.de/. Doubles from €60. They have a handy car park and will throw in a pass for free public transport for the duration of your stay.
Sunday breakfast:
Stay in your hotel and enjoy the typical German spread of hams, sausages, cheese, jams and breads dark and white. Coffee is not normally a highpoint, but these days you can usually ask them to rustle up a decent cappuccino or espresso.
Sunday morning:
Go north to Kaiserswerth, or south to Benrath.
Kaiserswerth is a history-packed suburb on the right bank of the Rhine. Surrounded by meadows and filled with baroque homes and cobbled lanes it feels more like a village than part of a great city. The U-bahn stop on Klemenzplatz a leafy square lined with cafés, like the cake-laden Café Schuster, the Tonhalle or Fuch amKemensplatz which serves Fuchschen alt beer. It’s a short walk to the Markt square with its high gabled houses and luxury boutiques. On a backstreet next to an old windmill, there’s a 19th century nursing home, where Florence Nightingale learned her trade. Overlooking a bend in the Rhine are the ruins of castle the built by crusading Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa to collect taxes on river traffic in the 12th century. There are romantic walks under rows of lime trees and some sunny beer gardens next to the castle or down by the little car ferry over the Rhine.
Benrath is at the opposite extreme of the city. The pink pleasure palace built here in the 18th century and its vast formal gardens were the playground Prince-Elector Karl Theodor, fun-loving patron of Mozart. The roccoco pile is up for World heritage status and contains the museum of European Garden Art. The grounds a filled with fountains, nymphic statues and swans gliding over ornate pools. Wikipedia says it was here that the late Austrian pop star Falco shot the video for his 1980s smash “Rock me Amadeus.” http://www.schloss-benrath.de/.
Sunday Lunch:
Try one of those Kaiserswerth beer gardens, or if you’re feeling flush check out Im Schiffchen, one of Germany’s most famous restaurants, run by French chef Jean-Claude Bourgueil, a holder of two Michelin stars who long ago traded the Loire for the Rhine. A typical dish would be Glanage et Cueillette de Fruits de Friches Ecrevisses, Mousseline de Cuisses de Grenouilles, Infusion d'Herbes, de Pousses d'Ail et Anis Etoilé for €42. Jean-Claude's is a more modest bistro on the premises, which has a take on the old Rhineland favourite himmel und erde, but substituting the blood sausage for goose liver. http://www.im-schiffchen.com/.
In Benrath, try the Schlosscafé, a pastel gatehouse at the entrance to the gardens serving refined light bites.
Sunday afternoon:
Get some culture.
The K20 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen is one of Europe’s great collections of modern art. Picasso, Warhol, Pollack, Kirchner, Ernst, local boy Joseph Beuys and over 100 works of Paul Klee. Its sister museum the K21 features contemporary works from 1980 onwards. http://www.kunstsammlung.de/.
Sitting beside the Rhine, the Kunst Palast has its own permanent collections ranging from the medieval to German expressionists. Up to January it’s pulling in the crowds with its temporary show Bonjour Rusland, bringing French and Russian masterpieces from the great collections of Moscow and St. Petersburg featuring the likes of Monet, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Matisse, Picasso, Kandinsky and Chagall. http://www.museum-kunst-palast.de/.
Sunday evening:
If you’re seeking an antidote to all that sausage and beer, sushi would seem a good choice. Düsseldorf has one of the biggest Japanese communities in Europe. Many of the best Japanese restaurants are concentrated around Immermannstrasse or Klosterstrasse. The most renowned include Benkay in the Nikko Hotel, the Kikaku Ito, Nippon-kan, Yabase or the Naniwa noodle bar.
A more traditional option would be Weinhaus Tante Anna which has been has been serving up top notch Rhineland grub since 1828. Up to December, it’s offering a traditional winter goose menu for €42.50 comprising from foie gras with apple jelly, goose consommé with mushroom crepes, roast goose breast and leg served with red cabbage and pears, Brussels sprouts, potato dumplings and chestnuts glazed in honey. It’s finished off with a mouse of rum and spekulatius (Westphalian ginger biscuits) with marzipan sauce. http://www.tanteanna.de/.
If you can still move, try a concert. Düsseldorf is the home of German rockers Kraftwerk and Die Toten Hosen, schlagermeister Heino as well as hosting the Deutsche Oper am Rhine and a bunch of other classical music venues.
Getting there:
D’dorf is a two hour drive along the autobahn from Brussels, Amsterdam or Frankfurt, five from Paris, six from London and just half-an-hour from Cologne.
Düsseldorf international airport is one of Germany’s largest with direct flights to several European cites, North America and beyond.
The railway station is connected to Germany’s excellent high speed ICE system.
There’s an extensive and efficient regional public transport system running trams, busses and a metro around Düsseldorf and into neighbouring cities.