OK, every time I look at a map of Germany I wonder about these cities.

What's the difference between them? Anything?

Like . . . which ones are nice, which aren't so nice, etc?

I know Cologne has the big cathedral, etc. and (I think) is bigger than the others, so let's leave that one out of the discussion even though it's part of the same megalopolis. But the ones I listed in the title just kind-of draw a blank to me. ;)

I know Dusseldorf has those neat Ghery buildings and ppl here show lots of pics of it, but that's the only one I've really seen much of.

Anyone wanna give me a quick overview? Thanks. ;)

All I know of Dortmund is that they desperately need a new central station. The current one is so depressing. But Dortmund has a Mini-Skyline centered around the central station with the RWEGas Tower being the newest and the best one.
In Terms of Football/Soccer the stadium with the biggest capacity in Germany is in Dortmund.

North Rhine-Westphalia (German: Nordrhein-Westfalen, short: NRW) is the largest in population (though only fourth in area) among Germany's 16 federal states. It has about 18 million inhabitants and comprises 34,080 km² (13,158 square miles) in western-northwestern Germany. North Rhine-Westphalia contributes about 22 percent of Germany's gross domestic product; its capital is Düsseldorf.

The state is centred on the sprawling Rhine-Ruhr urbanised region, which contains the cities of Cologne, Düsseldorf, and Bonn, as well as the Ruhr industrial complex. The Ruhr area consists, among others, of the cities of Essen, Dortmund, Duisburg, Bochum and Gelsenkirchen.

For many people North Rhine-Westphalia is synonymous with industrial areas and agglomerating cities. But the largest part of the state is covered with forests and fields. The southern parts of the Teutoburg Forest are located in the northeast. In the southwest, North Rhine-Westphalia shares in a small part of the Eifel, located on the borders with Belgium and Rhineland-Palatinate. The southeast is occupied by the sparsely populated regions of Sauerland and Siegerland. The northwestern areas of the state are part of the Northern European Lowlands.

The most important rivers that run at least partially through North Rhine-Westphalia include: Rhine, Ruhr, Ems, Lippe and Weser. The Pader, which runs through the city of Paderborn, is the shortest river in Germany.

See also List of places in North Rhine-Westphalia.

The state consists of 5 administrative regions (Regierungsbezirke), divided into 31 districts (Kreise) and 23 urban districts (kreisfreie Städte). In total, North Rhine-Westphalia has 396 municipalities (1997), including the urban districts, which are municipalities by themselves.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NRW

The Ruhr Area (German Ruhrgebiet or, colloquially, Ruhrpott) is an urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, consisting of a number of large industrial cities bordered by the rivers Ruhr to the south, Rhine to the west, and Lippe to the north. Southwest it borders the Bergisches Land. The area, with some 5.3 million people, is considered part of the larger Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan area of more than 12 million people.

Going from west to east, the area includes the city boroughs of Duisburg, Oberhausen, Bottrop, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Essen, Gelsenkirchen, Bochum, Herne, Hamm, Hagen, and Dortmund as well as parts of the more "rural" districts Wesel, Recklinghausen, Unna and Ennepe-Ruhr. These districts have grown into a large complex forming an industrial landscape of unique size, inhabited by some 5.3 million people, the fourth largest urban area in Europe after Moscow, Greater London, and Paris . The Ruhr area is often mistakenly perceived as a single city because many maps do not show the boundaries between the individual cities.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/97/Ruhr_area-map.png/800px-Ruhr_area-map.png
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruhrgebiet

Essen
Essen [ˈɛsn̩] is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Located on the Ruhr river, it ranks as the second largest city of the Ruhr area and as the 8th largest city in Germany. Population: 586,205 (as of 30.06.2004).

Despite its size, Essen has less prominence than other cities of comparable size. Essen remained an insignificant agricultural town until the 19th century, although founded as early as about 845. The mining of coal and ore led to the growth of the city and of the entire Ruhr area. The Krupp family comes from Essen; their works established steel production in Essen in 1811. After having undergone major economic changes after World War II, Essen now hosts a high-class college of art, many industrial sights (Zeche Zollverein) and a major collection of art (Folkwang Museum).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essen%2C_Germany

http://www.essen.de/images/PanoramaTop_45717.jpg
http://www.h-schmack.de/img/essen_skyline_schatten.jpg
http://images.google.de/images?q=tbn:3Z4Kk-CWm1QJ:www.karvanek-thierauf.de/images/cinemaxx01.jpg
http://images.google.de/images?q=tbn:gGTQ5FQAyIQJ:home.schule.at/member/Hinterreiter/images/RAGTurm.jpg

Aalto Theater
http://www.mswks.nrw.de/Kultur/themenAngebote/theater/bildAaltoessen.jpg

Philharmonie
http://claimaster.de/uploads/Hoerensagen/essen_philharmonie_aussen.jpg

Old synagouge
http://www.netzwelt.de/images/lexikon/e1ca38dfb196bea6d5fa4b9f6d3a0d40.jpg

Lichtburg Kino
http://www.sylviaballhause.de/Foto/Kino/Lichtburg_Saal.jpg
http://www.essen.de/english/Tourismus_E/Sehenswuerdigkeiten_E/StartSehenswuerdigkeiten_E.asp?highlight=3

Dortmund
Dortmund is a city in Germany, located in the Bundesland of North Rhine-Westphalia, in the Ruhr area. Population: 587,830 (20 June 2005).

The Ruhr river flows south of the city, the small Emscher river flows through the municipal area. Linking Dortmund to the North Sea, the Dortmund-Ems Canal terminates at Dortmund Harbour, the largest German canal port.

Dortmund is the home of the famous football club Borussia Dortmund (BVB 09), whose home ground is the Westfalenstadion. Opened in 1974, it is Germany's largest football stadium with a capacity of 82,932 spectators. Having already hosted some World Cup matches in 1974, Dortmund will be hosting several matches in the 2006 World Cup, including a semi-final.

Dortmund is known as Westphalia's "green metropolis". Nearly half the municipal territory consists of waterways, woodland, agriculture and green spaces with spacious parks such as Westfalenpark and the Romberg park. This after nearly a hundred years of extensive coal mining, coking, and steel milling within the city limits.

The Christmas market (Weihnachtsmarkt) is one of the largest in Germany, and is host to the largest "christmas tree" in the world, formed by stacking hundreds of trees into the shape of a pyramid.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dortmund

http://www.triass.de/Fotos/2005/05-08-10-CityDo/images/prevs/prev3.jpg
Library
http://buchhaus.ib.hu-berlin.de/albums/Dortmund/Dortmund_StuLB_01.sized.jpg

Opera Haus
http://www.brustkrebszentrale.de/bilder/Dortmund-Th.jpg

Westfalenstadion
http://www.luftbildserver.de/Firmen-und_Image_Luftbilder/images/Dortmund_Westfalenstadion_BVB15.jpg

Duisburg
Duisburg is a German city in the western part of the Ruhr Area (Ruhrgebiet) in North Rhine-Westphalia. It is an independent metropolitan borough within Regierungsbezirk Düsseldorf. The harbour of Duisburg is the largest inland port in Europe. There is a university in the city which merged with the University of Essen in 2003 to form the University of Duisburg-Essen.

Today's city is, as is the case with all big cities in Germany, a result of numerous incorporations of surrounding towns and smaller cities. At the beginning of the 20th century the city surpassed the 100,000 limit. Today it is the 12th-largest city in Germany and the fifth city in North Rhine-Westphalia with 506,496 residents (as of 31 December 2003). The city is renowned for its steel industry. There is still one coal mine in operation, but Duisburg has never been a coal-mining location to the same extent as the other places in the Ruhr. All blast furnaces in the Ruhr are now located in Duisburg. 49% of all hot metal and 34.4% of all crude steel in Germany is produced here (status 2000).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duisburg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fd/Duisburg_Innenhafen_Ludwigturm.jpg/800px-Duisburg_Innenhafen_Ludwigturm.jpg
http://www.citydu.de/gif/schwanentor.jpg
http://www.dvv.de/alle/fotogalerie/galerieT/images/city_jpg.jpg
http://www.ruhrtriennale.de/static/common/wfimage/9fd951e8e761126f862703586836612d.jpg

Duesseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Located on the Rhine near Cologne, it is one of the main centres of the densely populated Rhine-Ruhr area.

Düsseldorf is not only widely known as a stronghold of the German advertising and fashion industry. In the last few years the city on the Rhine has become a top telecommunications center in Germany. Today, there are 18 internet providers located in the capital of North-Rhine Westphalia. With two of the four big German providers of mobile frequencies, D2 Vodafone and E-Plus, Düsseldorf is leading the German mobile phone market. This pioneer position is being demonstrated by the presence of the many foreign trading centers in Düsseldorf such as NTT, Ericsson, Nokia or GTS.

Along with the abundant advertising industry, these companies serve as an important motor for the new economy. There are 400 advertising agencies in Düsseldorf, among them three of the big ones in Germany: BBDO Group, Publicis Group and Grey Group. A number of affiliates of foreign agencies have to be mentioned as well, such as Ogilvy & Mather, Dentsu, Hakuhodu, Digital District and DDB. Against this background so many internet agencies in Düsseldorf have their roots in the classical world of advertising.

The city of Düsseldorf plays an important role in the financial world: some 170 national and international financial institutions and about 130 insurance agencies are based here. Furthermore, one of the biggest German stock exchanges is located here. The print media, represented in Düsseldorf by around 200 publishing houses, have adjusted to the requirements of various fields of the economy - online and offline. Important newspapers and journals such as Handelsblatt, Wirtschaftswoche, Deutsches Wirtschaftsblatt, VDI nachrichten or DM are being published in the city on the Rhine. Almost all of these papers are available online on the Internet. Further, Genios, the daughter of publishing group Handelsblatt runs Germany's biggest online economic database from here. Renowned film making companies, such as Germany's biggest cinema enterprise the Riech-Group and TV-channels such as CNN, NBC Giga and QVC have made Düsseldorf a city of moving images.

The "Kö", which stands short for Königsallee (King's Avenue) is the street to go shopping in Düsseldorf. Some of the most reputated jewelry shops, designer labels and galleries have their stores here, such as Cartier, Aigner, Lacoste, Eickhoff, Jil Sander, Benneton, Gucci, Esprit, Laurel, Armani, Chanel, Escada, Hugo Boss, Joop, Kookaï, Prada and many more.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duesseldorf

http://www.marina-duesseldorf.de/images/hafen/hafen.jpg

Koenigsallee
http://www.smart-travel-germany.com/image-files/dusseldorf-koenigsallee_large.jpg
http://www.hotel-hillesheim.de/image/weihmarkt/504.jpg
http://simonandbaker.com/dusseldorf_harbor.jpg
http://www.hg-duesseldorf.bdvb.de/img/my_images/Bilder/koe4.jpg
http://www.insynergie.de/images/kunden/koe_1_500.jpg

Look through these and you should have quite a good overview:
http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=161533
http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=295787
http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=233981&page=1

Wow, thanks guys - especially Kalitos! Great info!

So, what I gather is, Dusseldorf is the nicer, bigger, flashier of the bunch, and the are just kinda average-joe German cities. Correct?

Dusseldorf is the fashion city of Germany, like Paris or Milan.The special thing about Dortmund, Bochum, Essen, Duisburg etc is the distance. As example, it's just 10 miles from Essen to Duisburg.

Yep: If you go from Bonn via Duisburg to Dortmund you will never really exit urban area.

Cooler thread, eben erst entdeckt! :)