Best Düsseldorf Running Routes

Visitors to Düsseldorf will quickly be impressed by its riverside parks, promenade and repurposed harbor. The old town is one of the liveliest in Germany, with streets full of outdoor restaurant- and bar seating, and visitors from around the world enjoying a night out with friends and colleagues. But there are also hidden corners, away from the Rhine River and the old town, where hilly woods and rural fields await for a total getaway from the urban pulse...

Runners along Düsseldorf's riverside

Top Düsseldorf Running Routes
Königsallee/Old Town/Rhine: this route takes you through the heart of town, with its elegant shopping district, the pedestrian lanes in the old town, the riverside promenade. The perfect way to see the most famous sights in town!

Both Sides of the Rhine: this route hugs the water along both sides of the Rhine River, giving you a maritime experience you won't forget.

Rhine Harbor: this great run takes you past the state parliament and TV tower and through the new Media Harbor and through traditional harbor neighborhoods at the south side of town.

Stadtwald: the town woods is green oasis of wooded hills on the east side of town. It's easy to reach with the tram, and takes you through beautiful rolling beech woods and fields.

Gerresheim: this is another great getaway on the east side: taking you out into more rural farmland and woods east of the city.

Düsseldorf Stadtwald Running Route

Click here for route map
Length 8.44 km (5.2 miles), terrain hilly

Düsseldorf Running Routes:
Königsallee/Altstadt/Rhine  
Gerresheim hills  
Both Sides of the Rhine  
Rhine Harbor Route  
Stadtwald forrest run  
See the other running routes here! 

The pictures were taken in early spring, 2012, so you'll have to imagine how much more beautiful the route is in summer!

NOTE: If you like this running area, you can follow any of the 4 official loop trails through the woods. A1 through A4 are well marked, ranging between 2.5- and 10-km. You can get a nice map here: https://www.duesseldorf.de/fileadmin/Amt68/gartenamt/pdf/wald/forstmitte.pdf 

Düsseldorf has a lot of nice running choices: either running various routes along the Rhine River and the old town on the west side, or head for the wooded hills lining the east side of the city. This route goes through the Stadtwald (town forest), made up of the Grafenberger Wald and the larger Aaper Wald, just north of it.

The beautiful old beech-woods are honeycombed by trails, and there are a lot of other interesting things out among them: a deer reserve, the horse-race track, a glider-landing strip, ancient stone-age megalith circles (Frauensteine), etc. Some of the trees are 250 years old. The sand hills here were deposited by the Rhine River ages ago.

Along the A2 trail in Aaper Wald

It's really hilly, so be prepared for a few climbs. This will basically be a north/south loop through the woods. Much of the way will follow parts of the four main trails (A1 to A4).

We'll start out at the south end of the Stadtwald, at the corner of Grafenberger Allee and Ludenberger Straße. There is a tram station here called Burgmühlerstraße, serviced by the 709, 703, and 713 lines. There is a little street calld Bismarkweg leading east from the intersection that takes you right into the woods. After a block, the street ends and the path upwards into the woods begins.

Run up this street, Bismarkweg

The first few hundred meters go uphill. Bismarkweg is paved with grey, packed-clay. Just stay on the grey path. You are following the A4 path at the moment.

Heading up Bismarkweg

Bismarkweg climbs to the left, cresting the hill, gaining about 50 meters altitude in total. When you reach a little hut (more just a rain shelter), turn right on Wanershofer Weg and head straight along the crest of the hill. 

Head up here at the first shelter

You will soon connect into the A3 path and then come to the Trotzhofallee, a wider, gravel way. You'll see a stone marker on the right.

Turn left on Trotzhofallee and follow it until it ends by merging into the street that borders the woods on the east, Rennbahnstraße (race track street). You will see the Rolandsburg Hotel on the right side and the Zum Trotzhof beer-garden on the left.

Rolandsburg hotel and Trotzhof beer-garden

Now follow the street for the next 200 meters until Rennbahnstraße makes a sharp left turn and heads downhill. Don't follow the street to the left, but keep going straight, past the little parking lot for hikers, up the little paved road with the open fields on your right.

We are now in the northern part of the Stadtwald, the Aaper Wald. There are 2 paths that loop through this part, A1 and A2. A1 is the longer loop, but I like A2 better: it snakes along the hilltops, with beautiful, constantly changing views. The A1 trail spends a lot of time going along the bottom of the hills nearer to surrounding streets.

So, basically, you can just follow the trail signs for the A2 for the next 4 km. If you look to the right over your shoulder, you'll see the modern trotting race track behind the Rolandsburg Hotel.

When you get to a little playground with a shelter, turn left and follow Dachsbergweg to the northwest. To the right of the playground, you can see the glider-plane landing strip out on the meadow.

You will come to a cross-path after about 300 meters. Now the A2 turns left to follow the crests, where the A1 turns right to take a longer route. This is the northernmost point of our run. Now we start heading south again.

Turn left here to continue on the A2

So turn left and follow the A2 path as it zig-zags along the hilltops. The forest department has done a nice job of creating little ponds and other ecological habitats up here, and there is a nice view over Düsseldorf at one point. There are a few paths going down to the right, heading down the little valleys. One, the Wilhelm-Suter-Pfad, will take you to the Frauensteine monoliths, if you're interested, but you'll have to head back up again.

Just keep following the A2 until it comes back out at the little parking lot for hikers again, about 2 km later.

Now, re-trace your way back up Rennbahnstraße to the Zum Trotzhof beer-garden. At the front of the building, though, turn right and run downhill down the gravel road, called Rolander Weg. This is the first gravel road that I've seen that's full of Porsches.

We are now following the A4, which we'll follow all the way back to the start.

At the end of Rolander Weg, the A4 path turns left and goes up a sand hill, then downhill again behind a tennis club.

The last stretch on the A4 in Grafenbergerwald

The path is rougher here, back in the Grafenberger Wald. After some winding around the hills, the path starts one, last uphill stretch for 300 meters. It's used as a sledding hill in the winter. Sorry about that. I know it's tough at the end of a run, especially for us flatlanders. I ended up walking more of it than I ran. What the heck, I'm turning 60 this year.

When you get to the top of the hill, you'll find yourself at the first shelter that we saw early in the run. Now, just go straight past it on Bismarkweg, as the path curves back down to the start again.

Hey, where WAS that beer-garden, again?

Düsseldorf Königsallee / Altstadt / Rhine Running Route

The Classic Dusseldorf Route

Click here for route map
Length: 8.3 km (5.2 miles), terrain flat


Düsseldorf Running Routes:
Königsallee/Altstadt/Rhine  
Gerresheim hills  
Both Sides of the Rhine  
Rhine Harbor Route  
Stadtwald forrest run  
See the other running routes here! 
Here's a run that I consider a classic route for Düsseldorf, hitting all the main sights, including a parkside path along the Rhine. This moderately long jogging route will take in the famous, elegant Königsstraße shopping street, parts of the Altstadt (old town), the Hofgarten park, the art-deco Ehrenhof complex, and the Rheinpark, Düsseldorf's most popular jogging area.

Königsallee park

Düsseldorf is Germany's center for art and shopping, and is also home to a sizable Japanese community, who work in the many Japanese companies' European headquarters located here.

The route starts downtown, at Graf-Adolf-Platz. This is the southern end of Königsallee, Germany's most famous shopping paradise. Königsallee ("King's Boulevard", called "Kö" for short) is a tree-lined boulevard running through the heart of town, with a park-bounded canal running up the middle. The east side of the street is bounded by designer shops while the west side has more offices. I'm normally allergic to shopping, but every time I'm in Düsseldorf, I like to experience this street once.

Königsallee shoping scene

Start running along the park on the west side of the street and enjoy the water, with its stone bridges. You can people-watch the shoppers along the shop-side.

At Schadowstraße, turn left, just past the neptune fountain. You are now heading west, or towards the Altstadt and the Rhine River. You will pass some elegant department stores and a bandstand on your left side.

The Neptune fountain

NOTE: In normal times you could just continue running straight from Königsallee as ti curves into the Hofgarten Park, but now the north end of Königsallee is a gigantic, impenetrable construction site, so we'll make a detour here through the Altstadt, which is never a bad move.

When you just enter the old town, turn right to run north on Hunsrückenstraße. The street passes the back side of a couple of art museums on the rigtht side. Keep running straight until the street ends at Ratinger Straße, where a few good pubs are located (Ohme Jupp and Zum Goldenen Einhorn).

Heading up Hunsrückenstraße

Now you turn right and run for a block to Mühlengasse and turn left to continue running north again. The street winds around a couple of big buildings and comes to a busy street, Fritz-Roeber Straße, with a lawn leading to a tunnel on the other side. The tunnel goes under the ramp leading to the Oberkasseler Bridge.

Run through the tunnel, and you'll come out into the Hofgarten Park. Just run straight across the lawn in the middle, then turn left to head west towards the river.

In the Hofgarten

You will come out into an open area in the middle of an ensemble of art-deco buildings, the Ehrenhof, with the domed Tonhalle (concert hall) to the left.

Rhine near the Ehrenhof

Turn right to run northwards through the courtyard, past the fountain. You will pass through the gateway and keep running north along the busy street ahead, Joseph-Beuys-Ufer.

Tonhalle

At the first traffic light, at Robert-Lehr-Ufer, turn left to cross the busy street and then continue northwards into the big park ahead. Stay on the right edge of the park (on the way back, we'll take the left side).

Welcome to the Rheinpark, Düsseldorf's main running drag. You'll find dozens of others running (and biking and in-lining) every path in the park. Enjoy the park life: in good weather the place is full of people picnicking, playing soccer, and just plain hanging out.

Rheinpark: joggers, joggers everywhere

Running along the right edge of the park, you'll see some gigantic classical government buildings along the other side of the street.

The supreme court and regional government

NOTE: This part of the route parallels another Düsseldorf route, Both Sides of the Rhine Route.

Continue runnning north until you run to the end of the park, going under the massive Theodor-Heuss-Brücke.

Turn left just past the bridge to run along the little marina, where you hit the Rhine River. Here you turn left to run back through the park along the riverfront. You have the choice of staying on the gravel park path or running down on the pavement along the riverside.

When you get back to the south end of the park, run down to the pavement along the riverside, because the normal path ends here.

Keep running down along the water, going under the Oberkasseler Bridge again, and keep running along the water's edge until you see the ramp to go up to the pedestrian way on the ledge above you.

This will take you to the Schloßplatz, with its free-standing tower, where you head up Mühlenstraße for a block. At Mertensgasse, turn right to take a backstreet through the old town, heading south. You will go by dozens of little restaurants and pubs. The Altstadt is often called "Germany's longest bar".

Cross the main part of the old town, until coming to Grabenstraße, where you turn left and head east back to Königsallee.

When you reach Königsalle, turn rught to run on the west side of the green area, until you reach the end of the street at Graf-Adolf-Platz again.

Düsseldorf, Rhine Harbor Running Route

Click here for route map 
Length: 9 km (5.6 miles), terrain flat


Düsseldorf Running Routes:
Königsallee/Altstadt/Rhine  
Gerresheim hills  
Both Sides of the Rhine  
Rhine Harbor Route  
Stadtwald forrest run  
See the other running routes here! 
NOTE: This was another drizzly evening. What a wet summer this year.

Like a lot of cities, Düsseldorf has recently re-purposed its old harbor as a place for offices and clubs. The new "MedienHafen" (Media Harbor) has been graced by flamboyant architecture: leaning, asymetrical buildings being climbed by weird water-creatures, mixed-in with modernistic glass offices.

NOTE: see the Destinations Tips page for tips about spending your free time in this great town!
 
Together with a new marina, sleek bridges, a golf course, the new state government quarter (the Nordrhein-Westpfalen state parliament building and other provincial ministries) and then the TV tower, the whole ensemble gives the city's southern waterfront a whole new feel.

The Media Harbor with marina

But only the front part of the harbor, nearest the city, has been refurbished. The back half of the harbor is still in action, as industrial as ever, with container barges and a big power plant.

Together, it all makes an interesting mix and a good waterfront run. So why not give it a try?

We'll start the run near the TV tower, at the foot of the Rheinknie bridge, just south of the Düsseldorf Altstadt (old town). The waterfront promenade from the Altstadt goes right under the bridge towards the round parliament building (Landtag) and TV tower.

Run past Landtag, over the bridge and to the right...

Run past the parliament's atrium with its lit-up fountains and into the park next to the TV tower. Straight ahead, you'll see the path going up to the pedestrian bridge to the right.

Cross the bridge, with a great view of the new Media Harbour to your left. Run atop the dike that surrounds the harbor area, with grasslands and little beaches down along the river to the right.

NOTE: You can also run along the dirt path next to the beaches, if you prefer the more natural surroundings.

Rhine meadows and beaches

The path atop the dike is smooth enough for inline-skaters, and there is normally a steady stream of pedestrians, inliners, bicyclists and joggers heading in both directions.

You will soon come to the public golf course built out in the grass where the river takes a turn to the left. On the left side, you will be running by the industrial harbor, passing the docks and then the big electrical power plant.

Golfers at the driving range

After the golf course, the grass becomes pasture for sheep and goats. I had to stop to watch them as they gathered under a big shade-tree. It was like having a bit of the Serengeti right on the Rhine.

Serengeti on the Rhine

The path heads under a railroad bridge and then on to the car bridge in the distance, the Cardinal Frings Bridge. We'll turn back just before that bridge.

Near the turn-around point, you'll see some red-brick walls protecting some rowing clubs at the village of Hamm, now part of Düsseldorf itself. The path cuts down closer to the water here, and goes over a street ends at the water, an old ferry landing. Just past the landing, the path goes past Hamm's little beach and then rises to the top of the dike.

The jogging trail at Hamm

Right here, where the path hits a street, turn left and take the little marked footpath back along the top of the dike to the ferry landing. Turn right on the street, Fährstraße.

Run the one block to the little chapel on the right side, then turn left and head out on Hammer Dorfstraße. The neighborhood here feels a bit like Holland, with greenhouses out behind every house.

Fährstraße in Hamm: turn left at the chapel

After awhile, you'll come to a white stone church, the St. Blasius Kirche. Turn left just before the church on Opfergasse, and run through the little courtyard behind the church. You will find yourself on a little footpath going out into some fields, with the railway acting as a wall behind them.

The path then turns right and goes by the end-station for the Hamm tram-line. At the station, you'll see a tunnel that goes under the railway. Run through the tunnel, then turn right on the street on the other side, Fringsstraße. This street borders the harbor from the back side.

Turn right here onto Holzstraße

When you get to the corner with the gas-station, follow Holzstraße as it turns right, and just keep following the street all the way back to the Media Harbor.

You'll recognize the Media Harbor when you get there, where the buildings and sidewalks suddenly look modern and up-scale. When you get to the red-and-glass building on the right side, run left into the Media Harbor, to the right side of the black-glass building. If you like architecture, you'll love this next section.

Back in the MedienHafen

You will see several colorful buildings straight ahead, with the quays to the right. You'll go by the new Marriott Hotel, then run by the building covered with the strange frogmen. Take the pedestrian bridge over the quay to the right at the coolly elegant Hyatt Hotel.

The whole neighborhood looks like a modern-art collection, fitting Düsseldorf's reputation as the center of Germany's post-war art scene. But the area lacks the lively venues of some other harbor developments, like Sydney's Darling Harbour. There are just a few restaurants and clubs dotting the landscape, and in the evenings it's pretty empty of people. Too bad!

You'll cross the water, then turn left to run straight back past the most interesting, asymetrical buildings. My favorite is the mirrored, wavy-surfaced building. Just run straight towards the TV tower. At the tower, curve to the left back to the parliament again to reach your starting point at the Rheinknie bridge.

Last part of the run past the TV tower

Düsseldorf, Both Sides of the Rhine Running Route

Click here for route map 
Length: 9.7 km (6 miles), terrain flat except for bridge ramps

Düsseldorf Running Routes:
Königsallee/Altstadt/Rhine  
Gerresheim hills  
Both Sides of the Rhine  
Rhine Harbor Route  
Stadtwald forrest run  
See the other running routes here!
NOTE: This was a drizzly evening, hope you get better weather...

Düsseldorf has always turned its face to the Rhine River. Most of the interesting spots in town are just a stone's throw from the riverfront, and it's a great place to run.


NOTE: see the Destinations Tips page for tips about spending your free time in this great town!

This run does a loop along both sides of the Rhine by way of two bridges. It begins in the Altstadt (old town) and runs north along the Rheinpark to the Theodor-Heuss bridge, crossing over to Unterkassel, then follows the Rheinwiesen southwards (Rhine pastures) back to the Rheinknie (Rhine-Knee) Bridge to bring you back to the south end of the Altstadt.

The route starts right in the heart of the Altstadt, at the old market square in front of the renaissance-style town hall, with the statue of Prince-Elector Jan Wellem on his horse. The side street, Bolkerstraße, is the main Altstadt hangout in the evenings, lined with restaurants and pubs, absolutely bursting with revelers when a trade-show is in town. Jan Wellem used to go drinking at the En de Canon pub around the corner.

Town hall at the old market

To start the run, just stand face-to-face with Jan Wellem and take the side street to the water on the left side of the square, past the fountain with the spitting geese. In just 100 meters you'll be on the riverside promenade at the stone clock tower. This promenade was a brilliant idea in city planning. Until 1995, a busy street ran along the river here, but then it was put underground in a tunnel. The riverfront is back in the hands of the people, now a quiet place to hangout, lined with waterside bars.

The Rhine promenade, looking in direction of run

Turn right and just follow the gravel path north between the two lines of sycamore trees. You'll run past the old palace tower, the only thing left when the palace burned down 150 years ago.

NOTE: You can stay up along the promenade or run down closer to the water's edge, whichever you prefer.

You'll soon go under the Oberkasseler bridge and then pass the round, art-deco Tonhalle concert hall and the Kunstpalast art museum buildings. After all, Düsseldorf is Germany's leading art center.

Clubhouses along the Rhine

You'll also soon pass the classical state government building, with the eagle on top. There are also some barges tied up along the shore here and used as clubhouses for water-sports clubs.

Along the other side of the river you can see the grassy pastures. Düsseldorf's biggest carnival, the Kirmes, is set up on the grass there every July. They were just taking it down when I last ran through there.

On your side of the river, you'll soon come to the Rheinpark. And the bridge that you see coming up ahead is the one to take over to the other side for the return to the Altstadt.

Soccer game at the Rheinpark

At the far end of the park, you will see the spiral ramps to take you up to the bridge sidewalks. You can run across either side, but let's assume you run up the nearest one, with the view back to Düsseldorf.

View back to the city from the Heussbrücke

When you get to the other side, the bridge continues for a long way, over the grasslands into the town of Unterkassel. Take the first ramp down on the left, and it will come out at an old, red, half-timbered house. Run down the little street, Alt Niederkassel, going past various nice old houses in Unterkassel.

Houses in Unterkassel

Turn left at the first chance to turn left to get back to the riverside, Kanalstraße. The street ends at the grassland, and you just keep running straight, taking the little path past the garden parcels. You won't go hungry here. The way is lined with blackberries, rosehips and sallow thorn (sanddorn). My feet forced me to veer to the berries every few meters. I was lucky, the blackberries were the sweetest I've ever tasted!

Path into the Rheinwiese

In the pasture, you can turn right on the paved path up on the dike, or run down closer to the river, on a little dirt path. You can even run along the beaches but after a while you'll probably grow tired of running up and over the many jetties.

Along the shore in the Rheinwiese

Run under Oberkassel bridge again. When you get to the Rheinknie bridge, you'll have to run to the right to get on the ramps going up to the bridge. Only 2 of the 4 ramps have a sidewalk for pedestrians and bicyclists. You'll easily see which ones have the sidewalks.

Joggers on the Rheinknie bridge

The bridge is used by a lot of joggers and cyclists. You will run towards the television tower at the other side.

NOTE: At night, the tower hosts a 24-hour clock made of lights that count the current time, down to the seconds. See if you can figure it out -- it always takes me 10 minutes to see what lamps are counting what!

The TV tower with the state parliament building to the left

When you cross the river, you have to take the pedestrian ramps down to the ground. Once there, you are on the promenade again, just run to the water's edge and run back into the Altstadt with the water on your left side. Once you reach the stone clock tower, turn right and run the 2 blocks back to the market square.

Last bit of the run back to the Altstadt