DusseldorfCard Discount Tourist Card

How the DüsseldorfCard works

The DüsseldorfCard is built around two benefits. First, it works as a public transport pass: for the whole validity period you can ride the city's buses, trams, underground lines and local trains in Düsseldorf and the surrounding area as often as you like, without buying a single ticket. Second, you show it at partner venues for reduced or even zero entry, depending on the offer, at museums, exhibitions, sights, guided city tours and selected shops.

You choose the start time when booking, and the card is activated or collected as explained in your confirmation. If you are asking whether the DüsseldorfCard is worth it, it usually pays off when you plan two or three paid visits and several transport rides a day. The individual card is one price for any age, and the group card is excellent value for families or friends travelling together.

The Old Town, Königsallee and the Rhine promenade

Most visitors start in the Old Town (Altstadt), the historic centre on the banks of the Rhine, reached in minutes by underground or tram from the main railway station. Here narrow lanes lead to the Market Square and its Renaissance town hall, the Castle Tower with its museum of Rhine shipping on Burgplatz, and St Lambertus church with its twisted spire. The Rhine promenade, built over a road tunnel, runs south from here towards the Media Harbour.

A short walk away, the Königsallee, or Kö, is Düsseldorf's grand boulevard, with a tree-lined canal down the middle and elegant shops and arcades along one side. With the card, getting between these areas and your hotel is effortless, and some of the guided city tours that start in the Old Town appear on the partner list, so check the offers in your voucher before you set out.

Düsseldorf museums: Kunstpalast, K20 and the museum mile

Düsseldorf is a city of art, and the DüsseldorfCard is designed with museum lovers in mind. The Kunstpalast at the Ehrenhof covers art from the Middle Ages to today, with a celebrated glass collection, while the K20 on Grabbeplatz and the K21 in a former parliament building show major works of modern and contemporary art. The Aquazoo Löbbecke Museum in Nordpark combines an aquarium with natural history, a favourite with children.

Partner museums and the exact discount change from time to time, so the current list arrives with your voucher; plan an hour and a half to two hours for each large museum. Most Düsseldorf museums are closed on Mondays, so use that day for outdoor sights or a trip along the Rhine, and keep your card handy, as it must be shown at the ticket desk before you pay.

The Media Harbour and the Rhine Tower

Trams and buses take you quickly to the Media Harbour, the former commercial port that has become Düsseldorf's showcase of contemporary architecture. Warehouses and cranes stand beside the curving, leaning towers of the Neuer Zollhof, and the quays are lined with restaurants and design studios. It is one of the most photographed districts of the city, best explored on foot in an hour or two.

At the entrance to the harbour rises the Rhine Tower, 240 metres tall, with an observation deck at 168 metres and views over the river, the Old Town and, on clear days, as far as Cologne Cathedral. Check the partner list in your voucher for current Rhine Tower offers. Next door, the circular state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia completes the riverside skyline.

Benrath Palace and the wider city

In the south of the city, Benrath Palace is a pink Rococo pleasure palace built between 1755 and 1773 for the Elector Palatine, surrounded by a vast park with long avenues, ponds and a formal garden. Inside you find elegant period rooms, a museum of European garden art and a museum of natural history, making it a full half-day outing in spring and summer.

How to get to Benrath Palace is simple with the card: local trains and trams take you there from the centre in about half an hour, with no extra ticket. The card also helps you reach other corners of the city, from Nordpark and its Japanese garden to the riverside Kaiserswerth district. Longer journeys outside the covered area, for example to Cologne, need a separate ticket.