Solingen

Solingen is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Solingen is world famous for its century old tradition of making knives and swords and you can still get a high quality blade here, but expect to pay good money for good quality.

Understand
Sitting in the hills between Wuppertal and Düsseldorf at the edge of the Bergisches Land region, this city of 160,000 people (2022) is well known for its history of knife production. It's not quite the most exciting place but it can be a good place to stay if Düsseldorf is too expensive.

By train

 * sees regional and local train services to Wuppertal, Düsseldorf, Cologne and further, in addition to the occasional ICE stopping here. The station is at the edge of Ohligs district, about from the city centre, but well connected with Solingen trolleybuses and regular buses including to Düsseldorf.
 * is a small local stop near the city centre, placed on the winding railway to Remscheid and Wuppertal.

By plane
Düsseldorf, Cologne/Bonn, Dortmund, and Frankfurt are all within close proximity to Solingen.

By trolleybus
Solingen is one of only three remaining cities in Germany to still have buses driven by overhead wires. The other two German cities to retain such systems (as of 2020) are Eberswalde and Esslingen. The network consists of 8 lines, all within Solingen, except for line 683 which runs to Wuppertal-Vohwinkel station. All trolleybuses meet at and are run by the municipal transport bureau under VRR fares.

By bus
Besides the trolleybuses, a few regular buses cross the city on their way to the neighbouring cities. From Solingen Hauptbahnhof, buses run to Haan and Düsseldorf, from Grad-Wilhelm-Platz to Wuppertal, Leverkusen and even express services to Cologne.

By bike
The local geography is not exactly calling for dutch levels of bike traffic, but it's possible, and there are bike routes like the Korkenziehertrasse, an old rail alignment to Wuppertal.

Go next

 * Cologne
 * Düsseldorf
 * Wuppertal
 * Remscheid