Remscheid travel guide
Röntgen's slate-clad Lennep, the Müngsten arch and Germany's first drinking-water dam
Remscheid is a hilly Bergisches Land city known for tool-making, the Röntgen museum in old Lennep and the Müngsten Bridge, Germany's highest railway bridge. Valley walks are best in the warmer months. A day is enough for most, two for walkers. Costs are high, and many passports need no visa.
Remscheid spreads across the hills of the Bergisches Land, a wooded upland with heavy rainfall south of Wuppertal. It is the region's third city after Wuppertal and Solingen. It made its money on tools: forges along the fast streams turned out files, saws and blades for the world, and the German Tool Museum still tells that story in the district of Hasten. Some locals still speak Remscheder Platt, a dialect usually grouped with Limburgish.
Visitors tend to come for three things. Lennep, an old textile town absorbed into Remscheid, keeps lanes of slate-clad merchants' houses and the birthplace of Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, discoverer of X-rays, with a museum devoted to him. On the city's edge, the Müngsten Bridge carries trains 107 metres above the Wupper, the highest railway bridge in Germany. Much of the central district was lost in a July 1943 air raid, so set your expectations by Lennep, not by the rebuilt centre. A day covers the highlights; add a second for walking in the Wupper valley.
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Top things to do in Remscheid
Remscheid's sights are scattered over its hills: old Lennep in the east, the bridge and valley to the south-west and the reservoir off the A1.
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Best time to visit Remscheid
Month by month, so you can pick the weather and the crowds you want.
The Brückenpark Müngsten, the Eschbach reservoir and the Wupper valley trails are at their best, and Lennep's squares put tables out.
The Bergisches Land is one of the rainiest corners of North Rhine-Westphalia, so this is the time for the museums and a long Kaffeetafel indoors.
On sunny weekends the car park and paths at the Brückenpark Müngsten fill by late morning; arrive early or come on the S7 and walk down.
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Getting there
The S7 over the Müngsten Bridge and the RE47 from Düsseldorf
Two airports serve Remscheid: Düsseldorf (DUS) and Cologne/Bonn (CGN). From Düsseldorf, take a train to Düsseldorf Hauptbahnhof and change to the RE47, which climbs via Solingen to Remscheid Hauptbahnhof; allow about 1 hour 15 minutes in all. From Cologne/Bonn, the usual route is by train to Solingen or Wuppertal and then the S7. Long-distance trains do not come up the hill, so ICE travellers change at Wuppertal Hauptbahnhof or Solingen Hauptbahnhof. The S7, nicknamed Der Müngstener, links Wuppertal, Remscheid and Solingen and crosses the Müngsten Bridge on the way, which makes the ride worth taking for its own sake. Of Remscheid's four stations, the two that matter to visitors are the modern Hauptbahnhof, with a park-and-ride garage, and Lennep. Regional bus 260 also reaches Cologne, slowly. By car, the A1 runs along the eastern side of the city, with a rest area beside the Eschbach reservoir.
- Düsseldorf Airport (DUS)
- Train to Düsseldorf Hbf, then RE47 via Solingen to Remscheid Hbf; about 1 hour 15 minutes
- S7 Der Müngstener
- Wuppertal Hbf to Remscheid and on to Solingen, over the Müngsten Bridge
- Remscheid-Lennep station
- S7 and RE47 stop; about 10 minutes on foot to the Röntgen museum
- Sit on the side facing the valley when the S7 runs between Remscheid-Güldenwerth and Solingen-Schaberg; the bridge crossing is over in under a minute.
Where to stay
Lennep slate houses or a room facing Remscheid Hbf
Stay in Lennep for character, among slate-hung houses near the Röntgen museum, or by Remscheid Hauptbahnhof for convenience. Remscheid has only a handful of hotels, so many visitors stay in Wuppertal or Solingen, which have far wider choice, and ride the S7 in, about half an hour away.
- Lennep
- The prettiest base, among slate-hung houses near the Röntgen museum, with its own station; few hotels and very quiet at night
- Remscheid Mitte by the Hauptbahnhof
- Business hotels opposite the station and near the Allee-Center; convenient but the rebuilt centre has little atmosphere
- Wuppertal or Solingen
- Far wider choice of rooms, half an hour away on the S7; the obvious option on a tight budget
Getting around
Bus 655 to Lennep and VRR night buses
Remscheid has two centres, the rebuilt Mitte around the Rathaus and the old town of Lennep about 5 km to the east, and each is easy to walk. Between them and out to the districts, the city utility company runs buses on the VRR tariff, which also covers the S7 and RE47 within the area; tickets come from machines, the driver or the VRR app. Bus 655 runs from the Hauptbahnhof to Lennep station and Lennep Mitte, near the Röntgen museum, and other lines reach Wuppertal and Solingen. At weekends there are night buses. The hills are steep, so cycling is hard work, but walking trails link the city to the Wupper valley and the Brückenpark Müngsten. Drivers can park at the park-and-ride garage at the Hauptbahnhof or at the Allee-Center.
- Bus 655
- Hauptbahnhof to Lennep Mitte, every 20 minutes on weekdays
- S7 for the bridge
- Ride one stop past Güldenwerth to Solingen-Schaberg, the closest station to the Brückenpark
- Wear proper shoes: the paths down into the Wupper valley from Schaberg are steep and muddy after rain.
Know before you go
Remscheid is Röntgen's birthplace, a slate-hung old town and the Müngsten bridge.
Why travelers love it
- Lennep's slate houses, black-hung facades with white window frames and green shutters in the Bergisch style.
- Looking up at the Müngsten arch from the Brückenpark, then crossing the Wupper on the hand-pulled Schwebefähre.
- The Röntgen museum, where the story of the 1895 discovery runs from early X-ray tubes to modern medical scanners.
Good to know
- Pack a rain jacket; the Bergisches Land gets far more rain than the Rhine plain just to the west.
- Do not judge the city by Mitte; the wartime bombing left the central district largely modern, and the character is in Lennep.
Trip fit
BookingMentor editorial ratings out of 5, based on a first-time visitor's experience.
Weather in Remscheid, month by month
Month-by-month climate figures for Remscheid are being researched.
Röntgen's Lennep, the Werkzeugmuseum and the Müngsten arch
Remscheid fills one to two days. Start in Lennep's slate-hung old town and the Deutsches Röntgen-Museum near Röntgen's birthplace, visit the Deutsches Werkzeugmuseum in Hasten, then ride the S7 to Solingen-Schaberg for the Brückenpark under the Müngsten Bridge and its hand-pulled Schwebefähre. Day two suits the Eschbachtalsperre.
Morning. Take the S7 or RE47 to Lennep and spend the first hours in its old lanes. The merchant houses are hung with black slate against the weather, set off by white window frames and green shutters, and the little squares around the Protestant church and the market show what a prosperous Bergisch cloth town looked like. Find the house where Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen was born in 1845, then walk to the Deutsches Röntgen-Museum on Schwelmer Straße. It explains how he found X-rays in Würzburg in 1895 and follows the technology from glass tubes to CT scanners. Two hours is about right.
Midday. Take a short bus ride to Hasten for the Deutsches Werkzeugmuseum, where the city's forging past is shown with hammers, files and working machines. Lunch here or back in Mitte by the sandstone Rathaus of 1906 and the old brick water tower on Hochstraße behind it.
Afternoon. Ride the S7 to Solingen-Schaberg and walk down to the Brückenpark Müngsten, under the 1897 steel arch that carries the railway 107 metres above the Wupper. Cross the river on the Schwebefähre, a small hanging ferry that you pull yourself. Fit walkers can follow the valley on to Schloss Burg on the Solingen side.
Day two. Drive or bus out to the Eschbachtalsperre, completed in 1891 as Germany's first dam built for drinking water, and walk the shore path.
Dröppelminna coffee and the Bergische Kaffeetafel
Remscheid's food event is the Bergische Kaffeetafel, an afternoon spread of waffles with hot cherries, Milchreis, Rosinenstuten and rye bread, with coffee from a Dröppelminna pewter pot, served for two or more at country inns and cafés. Savoury food includes Reibekuchen and Panhas, and Lennep has the most atmospheric restaurants.
The dish to try in Remscheid is not a dish but a whole afternoon: the Bergische Kaffeetafel. It began as a celebration spread in the region's farmhouses and weaving towns and is still served for two or more at country inns and cafes. Expect sweet and savoury together on one table: fresh Waffeln with hot cherries and whipped cream, creamy Milchreis under cinnamon sugar, raisin bread called Rosinenstuten with butter, dark rye with cheese or sausage, quark and honey. Coffee comes from a Dröppelminna, a pewter pot on legs with a little tap, named for the way its spout used to drip. Go hungry and book ahead at weekends.
Savoury Bergisch cooking is plain and filling. Reibekuchen, crisp potato fritters with apple sauce, are a market and fair favourite, and Panhas, a fried slice of buckwheat and sausage meat, turns up at old-style inns in the cold months, often with potatoes and apple. A hearty pea or lentil soup with sausage is a standard lunch.
For a meal out, Lennep's old town has the most atmospheric places, with a few inns in slate-hung buildings. Mitte offers the everyday spread of bakeries, Turkish grills and Italian restaurants around the Allee-Center. In the valley, the restaurant by the bridge at Müngsten is a long-standing stop for walkers.
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How we research our Remscheid travel guide
Bus 655 and the Schwebefähre's hours are confirmed on remscheid.de, together with museum opening times. The S7 and RE47 come from Deutsche Bahn, and the German National Tourist Board supplies background.
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Remscheid answers for a visit to Lennep and Müngsten.
General
The deck runs about 107 metres above the Wupper, making it the highest railway bridge in Germany. It opened in 1897 and still carries the S7.
Yes, in 1845 in Lennep, then a separate town and now part of Remscheid. His birthplace and the Deutsches Röntgen-Museum are both there.
Remscheid-Lennep, about a 10-minute walk away. Bus 655 from the Hauptbahnhof also serves Lennep Mitte, close by.
The small hanging ferry in the Brückenpark is pulled across by its passengers, so you work the rope yourself. It runs in daytime, with shorter winter hours, and stops in bad weather.
A pewter coffee pot on three legs with a small tap at the bottom, used to serve coffee at the Bergische Kaffeetafel.
Finished in 1891, it was the first dam in Germany built to supply drinking water. There is a rest area for it on the A1 and walking paths along the shore.
The city's own dialect, usually grouped with Limburgish, which survives alongside standard German.
At the Deutsches Werkzeugmuseum in the district of Hasten, which shows how local forges made files, saws and other tools.
Yes, trails follow the Wupper valley from the Brückenpark towards Schloss Burg in Solingen. Allow a few hours and expect some climbs.
Remscheid has two centres, the rebuilt Mitte around the Rathaus and the old town of Lennep about 5 km to the east, and each is easy to walk. Between them and out to the districts, the city utility company runs buses on the VRR tariff, which also covers the S7 and RE47 within the area; tickets come from machines, the driver or the VRR app. Bus 655 runs from the Hauptbahnhof to Lennep station and Lennep Mitte, near the Röntgen museum, and other lines reach Wuppertal and Solingen.
Getting there
Yes, regional bus 260 runs about hourly from the Hauptbahnhof via Leverkusen to Cologne Hbf, but the train via Solingen is usually faster.
Two airports serve Remscheid: Düsseldorf (DUS) and Cologne/Bonn (CGN). From Düsseldorf, take a train to Düsseldorf Hauptbahnhof and change to the RE47, which climbs via Solingen to Remscheid Hauptbahnhof; allow about 1 hour 15 minutes in all. From Cologne/Bonn, the usual route is by train to Solingen or Wuppertal and then the S7.
Timing & weather
The best time to visit Remscheid is May to Sep. Dry enough for the Wupper valley paths and the Brückenpark, with outdoor tables in Lennep.
- Walking season: May - September (The Brückenpark Müngsten, the Eschbach reservoir and the Wupper valley trails are at their best, and Lennep's squares put tables out)
- Wet months: October - March (The Bergisches Land is one of the rainiest corners of North Rhine-Westphalia, so this is the time for the museums and a long Kaffeetafel indoors)
Visa & documents
As a Schengen member, Germany shares one set of entry rules with most of the EU. Citizens of the EU and of many other countries, including the US, UK, Canada and Australia, can visit visa-free for up to 90 days in any 180-day period; other nationalities need a Schengen visa. The EU's Entry/Exit System (EES) records non-EU travelers' fingerprints and a photo at the border.
Health & safety
Pickpocketing at large stations, Christmas markets and on big-city public transport is the main risk in a very safe country. Carry ID and validate paper tickets where required. Call 110 for police and 112 for fire or ambulance.
