Arrival by train Cologne main station ICE, © Deutsche Bahn AG, Christian Bedeschinski

Trav­el­ling to North Rhine-West­phalia

Cent­ral loc­a­tion and dense in­fra­struc­ture net­work

Not quite all roads lead to North Rhine-West­phalia – but the re­gion is ex­tremely well con­nec­ted all the same.

This is thanks to its central location at the heart of Europe on the one hand, and to the densest infrastructure network on the continent on the other. Over 400 direct international flights depart from two international airport hubs and a further four airports serving European destinations. From London alone, a flight takes off roughly every hour, landing passengers in Düsseldorf or Cologne an hour or so later.

For those taking the overland route, a dense road and rail network shortens the distance between Britain and North Rhine-Westphalia. Extending for around 2,200 kilometres, the autobahn network provides a direct and fast link between NRW and Europe’s motorway system. North Rhine-Westphalia is equally well placed when it comes to rail connections: with over 6,000 km of tracks, it has the densest railway network in all of Germany. Rail travellers from Britain can make it to Cologne from London in around five hours.

Cent­rally loc­ated in the Heart of Europe


North Rhine-West­phalia is loc­ated at the heart of Europe. The re­gion’s great con­nec­tion by flights to the six in­ter­na­tion­al air­ports is re­flec­ted in our in­ter­act­ive map. The two but­tons at the up­per left dir­ectly show flight and train con­nec­tions to im­port­ant European met­ro­pol­ises. Just click the re­spect­ive city. No mat­ter where you’re go­ing – NRW is al­ways along the way!

Ar­riv­ing by plane

North Rhine-West­phalia has four smal­ler air­ports be­sides the big ones in Düs­sel­dorf and Co­logne, that con­nect the re­gion with all the main cit­ies in Ger­many as well as ma­jor in­ter­na­tion­al cit­ies such as Lon­don.

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Ar­riv­ing by train

More than 30 IC, EC and ICE rail­way sta­tions along with a well-co­ordin­ated loc­al pub­lic trans­port net­work all en­sure a com­fort­able jour­ney. Rail trav­el­lers from Bri­tain can make it from Lon­don to Co­logne in five hours: firstly with the Eurostar to Brus­sels, and then on­wards with the ICE to Co­logne.

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Ar­riv­ing by car

All of the state’s main cit­ies have ex­cel­lent links to NRW’s auto­bahns, which ex­tend for a total of 2,200 kilo­metres

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Images and videos

Your NRW - Vis­it North Rhine-West­phalia: Ger­many at its best!

Chain carousel at the Anna fair in Düren, © Tourismus NRW e.V.
Liebesschlösser an der Kölner Hohenzollernbrücke, © Dieter Jacobi / KölnTourismus GmbH
Den Sommer an einem Brunnen in Bonn genießen, © Sondermann
Die Abendsonne am Burgplatz in Düsseldorf genießen, © Düsseldorf Marketing & Tourismus GmbH

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Drachenburg Castle, © Tourismus NRW e.V.

Re­gions in NRW

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Sicht auf den Dortmunder Flughafen , © Frank Peterschröder, Flughafen Dortmund GmbH

Travel in­form­a­tion

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Tagen im Grünen: mit dem Laptop draußen in der Natur arbeiten, © Dominik Ketz, Tourismus NRW e.V.

North Rhine West­phalia - Facts & Fig­ures

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