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Kaiserswerth: A Riverside Half-Day Without Leaving Düsseldorf

A historic riverside quarter reached by a single direct tram line north from the city centre, a recovery half-day that doesn't require a train ticket.

DurationDay trip
TransitU79 light rail, direct from central Düsseldorf, no change required
DepartsDüsseldorf city centre (Heinrich-Heine-Allee or Hauptbahnhof)

After the Düsseldorf Marathon: Kaiserswerth

The Route: Central Düsseldorf → Kaiserswerth → Central Düsseldorf

Logistics: The U79 runs directly north from the city centre to Kaiserswerth with no interchange, making this the lowest-effort excursion on the list.

Marathon Month: April

Duration: Day trip

Central Düsseldorf (Heinrich-Heine-Allee / Hbf)
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      | U79, direct, no change
      v
  Kaiserswerth
      |
      | U79, direct
      v
Central Düsseldorf

The Düsseldorf Marathon starts at Joseph-Beuys-Ufer and its opening kilometres head north along the Rhine towards the Nordpark and Aquazoo before turning back towards the centre. Kaiserswerth sits further north again, past the point where the race itself turns around, which makes it an easy way to see more of the same river without the effort of leaving the city.

April in Kaiserswerth brings no particular seasonal claim worth building a day around, beyond the general advice that the old quarter's cobbled and uneven streets are more comfortable underfoot in dry weather. A wet morning after a long run is a reasonable excuse to push this visit to the afternoon, once the roads have had a chance to dry.

The Old Quarter and Riverside

Kaiserswerth is a historic district within Düsseldorf's own city limits, reached by a single tram ride rather than a train journey, which makes it well suited to a genuinely low-key day. Its old streets sit close to the Rhine, with the ruins of the Kaiserpfalz, an imperial palace dating back centuries, standing in a riverside park where the walking surface is grass and gravel rather than pavement. The ruins themselves are freely viewable from the outside, with no ticket needed to see the site's outline and setting.

The quarter's narrow lanes are lined with older buildings, some housing cafés where a slow coffee and a plate of cake make a reasonable reward for a marathon completed the day before or that same morning. Because the streets here are genuinely cobbled in places, and the palace grounds have uneven grass and gravel underfoot, this is a better outing for a dry day than a wet one: sore legs and slick cobbles are not a good combination.

The Rhine promenade running through Kaiserswerth is flat and paved, offering an easy alternative to the old town's cobbles for anyone who wants river views without the uneven surfaces. Benches along the water make it simple to sit and rest partway through rather than committing to a full loop.

Because the whole excursion runs on the same U79 line with no change, there's no timetable to plan carefully around: trams run at regular intervals back into central Düsseldorf throughout the day, and the return trip takes the same direct route back.