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city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Europe > Central Europe > Germany > North Rhine-Westphalia > Bergisches Land > Solingen

Solingen is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Solingen is world famous for its century old tradition of making knives and swords and you can still get a high quality blade here, but expect to pay good money for good quality.

Clemensgalerie and Clemens-church

Understand

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Sitting in the hills between Wuppertal and Düsseldorf at the edge of the Bergisches Land region, this city of 160,000 people (2022) is well known for its history of knife production. It's not quite the most exciting place but it can be a good place to stay if Düsseldorf is too expensive.

Get in

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By train

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  • 1 Solingen Hauptbahnhof   sees regional and local train services to Wuppertal, Düsseldorf, Cologne and further, in addition to the occasional ICE stopping here. The station is at the edge of Ohligs district, about 5.00 km (3.11 mi) from the city centre, but well connected with Solingen trolleybuses and regular buses including to Düsseldorf.
  • 2 Solingen-Mitte is a small local stop near the city centre, placed on the winding railway to Remscheid and Wuppertal.

By plane

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Düsseldorf, Cologne/Bonn, Dortmund, and Frankfurt are all within close proximity to Solingen.

Get around

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trolleybus network

By trolleybus

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Solingen is one of only three remaining cities in Germany to still have buses driven by overhead wires. The other two German cities to retain such systems (as of 2020) are Eberswalde and Esslingen. The network consists of 8 lines, all within Solingen, except for line 683 which runs to Wuppertal-Vohwinkel station. All trolleybuses meet at 3 Graf-Wilhem-Platz stop and are run by the municipal transport bureau under VRR fares.

By bus

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Besides the trolleybuses, a few regular buses cross the city on their way to the neighbouring cities. From Solingen Hauptbahnhof, buses run to Haan and Düsseldorf, from Grad-Wilhelm-Platz to Wuppertal, Leverkusen and even express services to Cologne.

By bike

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The local geography is not exactly calling for dutch levels of bike traffic, but it's possible, and there are bike routes like the Korkenziehertrasse, an old rail alignment to Wuppertal.

 
Map of Solingen

See

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Castle Burg
  • 1 Müngstener Brücke. With the adjacent Brückenpark: The Müngsten Viaduct between Solingen and Remscheid is the highest railway bridge in Germany, running at 107 metres above ground level. A park located below the bridge contains various playground items, a mini-golf course, a hand-operated overhead ferry and a bistro. Also, there are various hiking trails in the area.     
  • 2 Burg Castle (Schloss Burg), Schloßplatz 2 (Bus 683 to Stop "Burg Brücke" or change to 687, 689 to Stop "Burg Schloss" to skip the walk up. There's also a small gondola to take you up. Limited parking.). Tu-F 10:00-16:00, Sa Sa 10:00-18:00. This 12th century castle was once seat of the Duchy of Berg and was reconstructed starting in the late 19th century. Today it stands as the largest reconstructed castle in the state and hosts a museum, guided tours, gastronomy and large events like medieval games.     (updated May 2024)
  • 3 German Blade Museum (Deutsches Klingenmuseum), Klosterhof 4 (Trolleybus 695 Gerberstr. stop), ☏ +49 0212 258360. Tu-Su 10:00-17:00. Museum about blades and knives, for which Solingen is famous for.   (updated May 2024)

Do

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  • 1 Galileum Solingen, Walter-Horn-Weg 1 (near Hauptbahnhof). Planetarium and Observatory inside an old gas storage tank.   

Buy

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  • 1 Haribo Factory Outlet, Wuppertaler Str. 76. M-Sa 09:00-18:00. Factory outlet of the famous candy brand. Wide selection. (updated Apr 2024)

Eat

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Drink

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Sleep

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Budget

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Mid-range

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Connect

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Go next

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