Dortmund

Football museum, stadium tour and the Phoenix-West blast furnace

Two days in Dortmund cover football and industry. Day one starts at the German Football Museum by the Hauptbahnhof, then the Dortmunder U, the old-town churches and the Kreuzviertel pubs; day two brings a Signal Iduna Park stadium tour, the Florianturm in Westfalenpark and the Skywalk on the Phoenix-West blast furnace beside Phoenix-See.

Day one, morning. Cross the square in front of the Hauptbahnhof to the German Football Museum and give it two to three hours; the sections on the 1954 and 2014 World Cups and the small pitch on the lower floor are the highlights. Walk five minutes west to the Dortmunder U for a look at the Museum Ostwall collection and the moving images that run around the U on the roof.

Afternoon. Head into the Wallring along the Westenhellweg. Step into the Petrikirche for the Golden Wonder, a carved Antwerp altar, and the Marienkirche for its medieval altarpieces. Then join the crowd on the Alter Markt, where the Bläserbrunnen fountain sits among café tables.

Evening. Take the U41 or a short taxi ride to the Kreuzviertel for dinner and a round of Export in a corner pub.

Day two, morning. Ride the U45 to Signal Iduna Park for a stadium tour that walks you onto the Südtribüne. Westfalenpark is next door, and the Florianturm gives the best view across the Ruhr skyline.

Afternoon. Go south by U41 to Hörde. Walk the promenade round Phoenix-See, then cross to Phoenix-West for the Skywalk on the old blast furnace and a cold beer at the Bergmann Kiosk beside the Skywalk, open from late afternoon.

Evening. Back in the centre, end at a brewery pub such as Hövels on Hoher Wall.

Borussia Dortmund's Signal Iduna Park holds 81,365 people for Bundesliga games, Germany's largest football stadium, and 24,454 of them stand on the Südtribüne, the terrace known as the Yellow Wall. Match tickets go mostly to members, so a stadium tour on a non-match day is the easier way in for most visitors; the U45 and the S-Bahn to Signal Iduna Park station run there from the centre.

Pfefferpotthast, Salzkuchen rolls and Dortmunder Export

Dortmund's food comes from mining and steel shift work. The classic dish is Pfefferpotthast, beef stewed with onions and black pepper, the summer snack is the Salzkuchen roll with minced pork and onion, and the beer is Dortmunder Export, a pale lager a little stronger than Pils. Hövels brews its own on Hoher Wall.

Dortmund's food was made for shift workers, and it shows. Pfefferpotthast is the classic: chunks of beef stewed slowly with a mountain of onions, bay and plenty of black pepper, thickened with breadcrumbs and served with boiled potatoes and pickled cucumber. In cold months look for Himmel und Äd, slices of black pudding fried and served on mashed potato mixed with stewed apple, and Reibekuchen, crisp potato pancakes with apple sauce. The summer snack is the Salzkuchen, a caraway and salt roll split and filled with minced pork and raw onion. A plate of Pumpernickel with Griebenschmalz, dark rye spread with lard and crackling, is still sold in old pubs.

Currywurst is everywhere, and the stand-up stalls on the Ostenhellweg near the Reinoldikirche are a good place to start.

Drink is the other pillar. Dortmunder Export is a pale, rounded lager, a little stronger than Pils, first brewed to travel. The big breweries merged long ago, but Brinkhoff's No. 1 and the revived Bergmann label carry the tradition, and the Brewery Museum in the old Hansa brewery tells the story. Hövels brews its own beer on the edge of the old town.

Finally, there is the Büdchen or Trinkhalle, the neighbourhood kiosk that sells cold beer, sweets and newspapers late into the evening. In the Kreuzviertel and Nordstadt they double as front-step meeting points.

Zollverein, the Bochum mining museum and Münster by train

The best day trips from Dortmund are Zeche Zollverein in Essen, about half an hour by train, the German Mining Museum in Bochum, ten minutes away, and the Westphalian city of Münster, half an hour north. Hohensyburg castle and the LWL industrial museums lie inside the city, and the Deutschlandticket covers the regional trains.

Dortmund's position on the eastern edge of the Ruhr makes it a good base for short trips, and the Deutschlandticket covers all of the ones below on regional trains.

Zeche Zollverein, Essen. The UNESCO-listed colliery is the Ruhr's showpiece, about half an hour away by regional train to Essen and then a tram. Ride the long orange escalator into the old coal-washing plant for the Ruhr Museum, then walk the coking plant beside it.

Bochum. Ten minutes by train, Bochum has the German Mining Museum with a model mine beneath it and a winding tower you can climb for views. The Bermuda Triangle bar district fills on weekend nights.

Hohensyburg. On a hill above the meeting of the Ruhr and Lenne at the southern edge of the city, the ruins of a medieval castle and the Vincke tower look down over the Hengsteysee reservoir. Combine it with a cycle or walk along the RuhrtalRadweg.

Münster. The Westphalian university city, about half an hour north by Intercity, is the opposite of the Ruhr: a rebuilt arcaded Prinzipalmarkt, the cathedral and thousands of bicycles. Go on a Saturday for the market on the cathedral square.

The LWL industrial museums. Within Dortmund, Zeche Zollern in Bövinghausen and the Kokerei Hansa in Huckarde can fill a full day together; both belong to the regional industrial museum network and are emptier than Zollverein.