Weeze

Weeze is in Lower Rhine. It's a town of 12,000 inhabitants (2021) whose main claim to fame is the airport which is sometimes marketed by associating it with Düsseldorf some 80 km east.

Understand

The town of Weeze is one of handful in Europe that was "put on the map" by low cost airlines serving the local airport. In the case of Weeze the local airport originated as a Royal Air Force base of the British occupying power and was put to civilian use as part of the hoped-for "peace dividend" at the end of the cold war. The main reason Ryanair and others fly to such airports is the lower fees. Ryanair in particular uses the dominant position they have at this airport to extract concessions and they threaten to - and sometimes do - cancel routes or an entire base on short notice if their demands aren't met.

Get in

By plane

• 1 Airport Weeze (NRN  ^IATA). Also known as "Flughafen Niederrhein" (which is what the IATA code refers to), this former British airbase is now a focus city for Ryanair and also served by AirArabia. Airport Linie SW 1 is a regular bus, partly a cab bus, and it runs every 60 minutes, to and from the train station. The cab bus only runs by appointment at least 30 min before departure by calling +49-2841-8822444 daily from 06:30 to 22:30. Search for "Weeze Terminal 1" in the bahn.de search. If you'd like to use a cab, look at the taxi tariffs mentioned in "Get in" and figure that it is about 6 km from the airport to Weeze train station.  

By train

Bahnhof Weeze

• 2 Bahnhof Weeze. The regional express Niers-Express (RE 10) Düsseldorf - Krefeld - Kleve runs M-F during the day every half hour (otherwise hourly) on the line, which is not electrified from Krefeld and single-tracked from Geldern. (arrival, departure). The VRR tariff applies.  

By bus

Due to the airport, more intercity bus lines serve Weeze than comparably sized small towns. The bus routes usually only serve the airport and not downtown, but you can easily hop on an airport shuttle bus to get downtown if that's where you're headed.

By car

• Coming from the Rhineland/Ruhr area: Via the DE|A|57 Direction Nijmegen until exit Uedem|4, then follow the airport symbol.
• Approach from the Netherlands: Via the NL|A|77 to the German border and continue on the DE|A|57 to exit Goch|3, then follow the airport symbol.
• If you are going to the airport, you can input 47652 Weeze, Flughafen-Ring 1 into your GPS program.

Get around

Mandatory travel area for cabs is the entire district of Kleve. In the compulsory travel area, a basic price of €3.90 and per-kilometre rate of €2.10 during the day and €2.20 at night and all day on Sundays and holidays (as of 2019).

See

• 1 Schloss Wissen. Moated castle in neo-Gothic design. (updated Aug 2020)
• 2 Schloss Kalbeck. Castle built in the 1300s. (updated Aug 2020)
• 3 Haus Hertefeld (Hertefeld Castle). Baroque castle ruin and park. (updated Aug 2020)

Do

Events

Two notable music festivals are held on the grounds of the airport every year

• 1 Parookaville.  
• IMPAQT (formerly known as "Q-Base").  

Sleep

• 1 Best Deal Airporthotel Weeze, Flughafenring 17 (900 m (3,000 ft) from the airport terminal), ☏ +49-2837-665577, service@bestdealhotel.de. 24/7. 24/7 check-in and check-out via a machine. No meals served. €65. (updated Jul 2022)
• 2 Hotel Schloß Hertefeld, Hertefeld 2 (5km northeast of Weeze Airport), ☏ +49 2837 2035, anfrage@hertefeld.de. Located in Hertefeld Castle. From €139. (updated Jul 2022)