Welcome to Essen
Essen, the pulsating metropolis in the heart of the Ruhr region, has been chosen as the venue for the Germany Travel Mart 2023, which scores with its great versatility and surprising insights. Whether art and culture in the top-class museums, theatres or at the UNESCO World Heritage Site Zollverein, hiking or cycling in a rural idyll or shopping and going out in trendy districts - Essen has everything!
Like hardly any other city in Germany, Essen has undergone a strong transformation. The city has enjoyed around 1,160 years of eventful history. This makes Essen older than Berlin, Munich or Dresden. Founded around 850 as a monastery for the daughters of the Saxon nobility, Essen has grown in size thanks to coal, Krupp and steel. Today it is the "European Capital of Culture" (2010), the "European Green Capital" (2017), an attractive trade fair and science location and home to around 580,000 people.
During their stay in Essen, tourism experts, travel buyers and media representatives will experience that Germany's third greenest city is rich in exciting contrasts. Here they will find lush green meadows and fields next to walkable slag heaps, world-class art combined with rough industrial culture, as well as shimmering nightlife and idyllic half-timbered romance.
Changeable, pulsating and cosmopolitan - that is Essen. Be our guest. Essen is looking forward to welcoming you!