Central Europe
Germany
North Rhine-Westphalia

Ruhr

The Ruhr is a region in , . Once the uncontested heart of Germany's economy, the region was formed during the 19th and 20th century by the coal and steel industries and is going through a structural transformation, which makes it one of the most dynamic regions in Europe.
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Photo: Wikimedia, CC BY 2.0 de.
Photo: Carschten, CC BY-SA 3.0 de.

Essential Destinations

Top destinations include Dortmund and Essen.

Photo: DortmunderWestfront, CC BY-SA 3.0.
is a city with a population of about 600,000 in the North Rhine-Westphalia region of Germany. It is in the middle part of the state and is considered to be the administrative, commercial and cultural centre of the Ruhr area, which has some 5.21 million inhabitants.

Photo: Tuxyso, CC BY-SA 3.0.
is a city in in . A highlight of is Zeche Zollverein, a UNESCO World Heritage Site with several museums. It is also famous for its Bauhaus architecture.

Photo: Carschten, CC BY-SA 3.0 de.
is a German city in the western part of the Ruhr area in . It is a metropolitan borough with a population of just under 500,000 in 2019.

Destinations to Discover

Explore places such as Gelsenkirchen and Bochum.

Photo: NatiSythen, Public domain.
is a city in . , like neighbouring cities, is refining its image promoting its industrial culture. Old refineries have been remodelled into event halls and ice skating rinks.

Photo: NatiSythen, Public domain.
is a city in the Ruhr area of the state in . This former mining town of 363,000 people is known for its university, which is one of the largest in Germany.

Photo: Tuxyso, CC BY-SA 3.0.
is a city of 209,000 people in . The city hosts an international short film festival, and its gasometer is an anchor point of the European Route of Industrial Heritage.

Photo: Omi´s Törtchen, CC BY-SA 2.0 de.
is in the Ruhr area. With more than 50% covered by greenery and forest, the city is an attractive place between Düsseldorf and the rest of the Ruhr.

Photo: Reckmann, CC BY-SA 3.0.
is a city of 180,000 inhabitants in in . Once an industrial and important railway hub, it's now a relatively unremarkable city at the far east end of the Ruhr.

Photo: Ennepetaler86, CC BY-SA 3.0.
is a city in the green: 42 percent of its area is covered by woods and forests, and four rivers meet on the city grounds: the rivers Ruhr, Lenne, Volme and Ennepe.

Photo: Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
is a town of 114 000 in the northern Ruhr with a relatively well-preserved, attractive old town.

Photo: FotOpa, CC BY-SA 4.0.
is a city of 156,000 people in the Ruhr area. Part of the city escaped the extensive bombing that destroyed other Rugr cities in World War II, so there are still many historical buildings, especially in the Herne-Mitte district, many of them from the Wilhelminian era.

Photo: Raenmaen, CC BY-SA 3.0.
is a city of 96,000 in the Ruhr area of , in western Germany.

Photo: Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 3.0.
is a city in Ruhr. It is known for its medieval core and abandoned steel mill. It has a population of about 54,000. The city focuses on tourism, with the former steel works becoming a museum and the historic old town drawing in tourists, but not yet being overrun.

Photo: Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 3.0.
is a city in the Region of . It sits on the border of the Ruhr region and Münsterland on a crossroads of four canals, which makes it the biggest canal junction in the world.

Photo: Carsten Plein, CC BY-SA 3.0.
is a city in the North-Rhine-Westphalia Region of Germany. It is approximately 32 km north from the city of .

Ruhr

Latitude of center
51.5175° or 51° 31′ 3″ north
Longitude of center
7.1449° or 7° 8′ 42″ east
Population
5,150,000
Elevation
155 metres (509 feet)
Open­Street­Map ID
node 1754634446
Open­Street­Map feature
tourism=­attraction
Open­Street­Map attribute
wheelchair=­yes
Geo­Names ID
2843198
Wiki­data ID
Q151993
This page is based on OpenStreetMap, GeoNames, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons, and Wikivoyage.
We’d love your help improving our open data sources. Thank you for contributing.

Satellite Map

Discover Ruhr from above in high-definition satellite imagery.
© Stadia Maps, Airbus DS, CNES, PlanetObserver, and Copernicus

In Other Languages

From Afrikaans to Wu Chinese—“Ruhr” goes by many names.
  • Afrikaans: “Ruhrgebied”
  • Arabic: “حوض الرور”
  • Arabic: “منطقة الرور”
  • Armenian: “Ռուր”
  • Azerbaijani: “Rur bölgəsi”
  • Azerbaijani: “Rur regionu”
  • Basque: “Ruhr eremua”
  • Basque: “Ruhr eskualdea”
  • Basque: “Ruhr”
  • Belarusian: “Рурская вобласць”
  • Bengali: “রুর”
  • Breton: “Rannvro ar Ruhr”
  • Breton: “Ruhr”
  • Breton: “Ruhrgebiet”
  • Bulgarian: “Рур”
  • Bulgarian: “Рурска област”
  • Burmese: “ရူးဝါးနယ်”
  • Catalan: “Conca del Ruhr”
  • Catalan: “regió del Ruhr”
  • Catalan: “Regió del Ruhr”
  • Catalan: “Ruhrgebiet”
  • Central Kurdish: “ڕور”
  • Chinese: “魯爾區”
  • Chinese: “魯爾工業區”
  • Chinese: “鲁尔区”
  • Chinese: “鲁尔地区”
  • Croatian: “Ruhr”
  • Czech: “Porúří”
  • Danish: “Ruhr-distriktet”
  • Danish: “Ruhr-området”
  • Danish: “Ruhrdistriktet”
  • Danish: “Ruhrgebiet”
  • Danish: “Ruhrområdet”
  • Dutch: “Roergebied”
  • Dutch: “Ruhrbekken”
  • Dutch: “Ruhrgebied”
  • Dutch: “Ruhrgebiet”
  • Egyptian Arabic: “رور”
  • Egyptian Arabic: “منطقة الراين و الرور”
  • Egyptian Arabic: “منطقة الرور”
  • Esperanto: “Ruhr-regiono”
  • Esperanto: “Ruhrgebiet”
  • Estonian: “Ruhri linnastu”
  • Estonian: “Ruhrimaa”
  • Finnish: “Ruhrin alue”
  • Finnish: “Ruhrin teollisuusalue”
  • French: “bassin de la Rhur”
  • French: “région de la Rhur”
  • French: “Ruhr (région)”
  • French: “Ruhr”
  • French: “Ruhrgebiet”
  • French: “zone de la Ruhr”
  • Galician: “Área do Ruhr”
  • Galician: “Conca do Ruhr”
  • Galician: “Distrito do Ruhr”
  • Galician: “Rexión do Ruhr”
  • Galician: “Ruhr”
  • Galician: “Val do Ruhr”
  • Georgian: “რურის არეალი”
  • Georgian: “რურის რეგიონი”
  • German: “Kohlenpott”
  • German: “Rheinisch-Westfälisches Industriegebiet”
  • German: “Ruhr”
  • German: “Ruhrgebiet”
  • German: “Ruhrland”
  • German: “Ruhrpott”
  • German: “Ruhrregion”
  • Greek: “Κοιλάδα του Ρουρ”
  • Greek: “Περιοχή του Ρουρ”
  • Hebrew: “חבל הרוהר”
  • Hebrew: “רוהר”
  • Hindi: “रूर”
  • Hungarian: “Ruhr-vidék”
  • Icelandic: “Ruhr-svæðið”
  • Icelandic: “Ruhr”
  • Ido: “Regiono di Ruhr”
  • Indonesian: “Ruhr”
  • Interlingua: “Region del Ruhr”
  • Interlingua: “Region Ruhr”
  • Italian: “Area della Ruhr”
  • Italian: “Bacino della Ruhr”
  • Italian: “regione della Ruhr”
  • Italian: “Regione della Ruhr”
  • Italian: “Rühr”
  • Italian: “Valle della Ruhr”
  • Italian: “Zona della Ruhr”
  • Japanese: “ルール地方”
  • Japanese: “ルール工業地帯”
  • Kirghiz: “Рур көмүр бассейни”
  • Kölsch: “Ruhrgebiet”
  • Kölsch: “Ruhrpott”
  • Korean: “루르 지방”
  • Korean: “루르 지역”
  • Korean: “루르”
  • Ladin: “Ruhr”
  • Latin: “Regio Rurana”
  • Latin: “Ruhrgebiet”
  • Latvian: “Rūra”
  • Latvian: “Rūras apgabals”
  • Latvian: “Rūras baseins”
  • Latvian: “Rūras reģions”
  • Lithuanian: “Ruhrgebiet”
  • Lithuanian: “Rūro sritis”
  • Lombard: “Ruhr”
  • Macedonian: “Рур”
  • Malay: “Ruhr”
  • Marathi: “रुहर गेबिट”
  • Marathi: “रुहर परिसर”
  • Marathi: “रुहर”
  • Marathi: “रुह्र”
  • Marathi: “रूर”
  • Mingrelian: “რური”
  • Mingrelian: “რურიშ რეგიონი”
  • Northern Frisian: “Metropoolregiuun Ruhr”
  • Norwegian Bokmål: “Ruhr-området”
  • Norwegian Bokmål: “Ruhrgebiet”
  • Norwegian Bokmål: “Ruhrområdet”
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: “Kohlenpott”
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: “Ruhr-området”
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: “Ruhrdalen”
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: “Ruhrgebiet”
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: “Ruhrområdet”
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: “Ruhrpott”
  • Norwegian: “Ruhrområdet”
  • Panjabi: “ਰੂਆ ਇਲਾਕਾ”
  • Panjabi: “ਰੂਆ”
  • Persian: “رور”
  • Persian: “روهر”
  • Persian: “منطقة رور”
  • Persian: “منطقه رور”
  • Persian: “منطقهٔ رور”
  • Persian: “منطقه روهر”
  • Persian: “ناحیه رور”
  • Polish: “Ruhrgebiet”
  • Polish: “Zagłębie Ruhry”
  • Portuguese: “Região do Ruhr”
  • Portuguese: “Ruhrgebiet”
  • Portuguese: “Vale do Ruhr”
  • Romanian: “Bazinul Ruhr”
  • Romanian: “Bazinul Ruhrului”
  • Romanian: “Regiunea Ruhr”
  • Romanian: “Ruhrgebiet”
  • Russian: “Рур”
  • Russian: “Рурская область”
  • Russian: “Рурский бассейн”
  • Russian: “Рурский регион”
  • Saterfriesisch: “Ruhrgebiet”
  • Scots: “Ruhr”
  • Serbian: “Rurska oblast”
  • Serbian: “Област Рур”
  • Serbian: “Рур”
  • Serbian: “Рурска долина”
  • Serbian: “Рурска област”
  • Serbo-Croatian: “Ruhr”
  • Sicilian: “Zona da Ruhr”
  • Sindhi: “رھر”
  • Slovak: “Porúrie”
  • Slovak: “Ruhrgebiet”
  • Slovenian: “Porurje”
  • Spanish: “Area del Ruhr”
  • Spanish: “Área del Ruhr”
  • Spanish: “Region del Ruhr”
  • Spanish: “Región del Ruhr”
  • Spanish: “Region Ruhr”
  • Spanish: “Región Ruhr”
  • Spanish: “Ruhrgebiet”
  • Spanish: “Valle del Ruhr”
  • Swedish: “Ruhr-ockupationen”
  • Swedish: “Ruhrområdet”
  • Swiss German: “Ruhrgebiet”
  • Tagalog: “Ruhr”
  • Tamil: “ரூர்”
  • Thai: “รัวร์”
  • Tosk Albanian: “Ruhrgebiet”
  • Turkish: “Ruhr bölgesi”
  • Turkish: “Ruhr”
  • Ukrainian: “Рур”
  • Ukrainian: “Рурська долина”
  • Ukrainian: “Рурський басейн”
  • Ukrainian: “Рурський промисловий район”
  • Ukrainian: “Рурський регіон”
  • Upper Sorbian: “Poruhrska”
  • Upper Sorbian: “Ruhrska”
  • Urdu: “رور”
  • Vietnamese: “Ruhr”
  • Vietnamese: “Vùng Ruhr”
  • Welsh: “Ardal y Ruhr”
  • Western Frisian: “Ruhrgebiet”
  • Wu Chinese: “鲁尔区”

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About Mapcarta. Data © OpenStreetMap contributors and available under the Open Database License". Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license, except for photos, directions, and the map. Description text is based on the Wikivoyage page “Ruhr”. Photo: Carschten, CC BY-SA 3.0 de.