Coal and beer are the defining characteristics of the Ruhr Region.
Even if that’s no longer the case in such a form today, it’s not a lost cause yet.
The beating heart of today’s beer culture is still in Dortmund, even if it’s at a slightly slower rate.

 People still meet each other for a freshly pulled beer because, happily, the brew-pub tradition has not disappeared from the scene.

The Essener Dampf-Bierbrauerei (steam brewery) has offered quaffable beer since 1896, as well as hearty food.
The Webster in Duisburg also awaits beer lovers with different home-brewed varieties.

The region also has an extensive choice of places where you can have cozy moments with frothy milk and cakes, or gossip over a coffee, enjoy tea time or down a cool beer in a popular local pub.

In Bochum, the Café Tucholsky attracts literary types and readings accentuate the artistic ambience.
Bochum’s seafarers and those who want to be gravitate more toward the Freibeuter Bar, where the first Anker beer will ring in a companionable evening.

Bolder cospmopolitan types will seek out the All-you-can-eat breakfast in the French-style ambience of the Transatlantik in Oberhausen.
In contrast a Dortmund cult bar promises a “place in the sun’’ right away.

The creative nomenclature of the individual pubs and bars say something about the special variety – a mixture that makes the city and the areas around them appealing.
The bars are the No. 1 attractions late in the evening.

The lush greenery and bamboo-covered walls of the Sports Bar Bam Boomerang offer a taste of the Australian bush in the heart of Dortmund city center.
Not too far away a vacation feeling of a somewhat different kind can be experienced with cocktails and Latin American music in the Collins Bar.

Night owls can also enjoy themselves to the full and choosing which city to party in is not easy.
The Zeche in Bochum is definitely a well-established presence in the night-life scene.
Its turbine hall that once produced electricity and compressed air today fills up with disco dancers who make sparks fly once more until the early hours.

You can party in a royal fashion in the König club in the CentrO Oberhausen.
Not all cats are gray at night. This is how the Ruhr rocks!