Dusseldorf Rhine Tower Entry Ticket

The Rhine Tower (Rheinturm), Düsseldorf's landmark

The Rhine Tower is a 240-metre concrete telecommunications tower that opened in the early 1980s at the southern edge of Düsseldorf's city centre, where the Old Town meets the Media Harbour. Its slender shaft and disc-shaped head have become the city's most recognisable silhouette, visible from both banks of the Rhine and from the motorways far outside the city.

Look closely at the shaft and you will notice rows of round lights running up its length. They form a giant light clock that shows hours, minutes and seconds in groups of lamps, an art installation added when the tower was built and still one of the most original sights in Düsseldorf after dark. Rhine Tower opening hours run from 10:00 to midnight, while this ticket offers timed entries between 12:00 and 19:00.

The view from the observation platform

A fast lift carries you to the viewing level at 168 metres in well under a minute. Floor-to-ceiling windows wrap around the platform, giving a 360-degree panorama: to the north the Old Town with its church spires and the green Hofgarten, to the east the Königsallee and the city's high-rises, and below you the wide bend of the Rhine with barges gliding past the Media Harbour and the bridges.

On a clear day the view stretches about 40 kilometres south to the twin spires of Cologne Cathedral. Most visitors spend 45 minutes to an hour at the top, enough to walk around the platform twice, read the panorama boards and take photos. The best time to visit the Rhine Tower is late afternoon, when the low sun lights up the river; in winter, an entry at 16:00 or 17:00 brings sunset and the city lights together.

The Media Harbour next to the tower

Right at the foot of the tower lies the Media Harbour, a former commercial port that has become Düsseldorf's showcase of contemporary architecture since the 1990s. From the platform you see its full layout: old warehouses and cranes, the curving, leaning towers of the Neuer Zollhof, glass office blocks and marinas. Down on the ground, the quays are lined with restaurants and design studios.

Combine your Rhine Tower ticket with an hour exploring the harbour on foot before or after your entry time; the Neuer Zollhof buildings are particularly striking in the late afternoon light. Next to the tower stands the circular parliament building of North Rhine-Westphalia, and the riverside lawns in front of it are a favourite place for locals to sit by the water.

How to get to the Rhine Tower from the Old Town

Getting to the Rhine Tower is easy: from the Old Town, walk about 15 minutes south along the Rhine promenade, the riverside walkway built over a road tunnel, with the tower growing larger at every step. Trams and buses stop nearby, and the hop-on hop-off sightseeing bus has a stop at the tower. The entrance is at Stromstraße 20, at the edge of the Media Harbour.

Plan your Düsseldorf day around your chosen entry hour: the Old Town and the Rhine promenade in the morning, the tower around midday or late afternoon, and the Media Harbour afterwards. If you are wondering whether the Rhine Tower is worth visiting, it is the only place where you can see the whole city, the river and the harbour at once, and the timed ticket means you will not waste time in line.