Michelle43449

My flight home from Italy has a nearly 12 hour layover (land at 10:35pm, take off 9:45am) in Dusseldorf Germany. Is it advisable to leave the airport? What could I see/do at that time of night? I've never been to Germany and just want to get the most out of my vacation. Thanks in advance for the help!

PalenQ

Is it a weekend - how old are you? on weekends the Altstadt in Dusseldorf hops to the wee hours - known especially for its beer halls and pizza joints - but mainly a young crowd at that time and I do not know how late it all goes but the Altstadt is a neat part of town down near the river and actually only a few miles from the airport - take a train from the airport to downtown - will be a ghost town at that time of night - but is a short walk from the Altstadt - get some kind of map from Google first as at that time of night it may be hard to find airport tourist offices open, etc. Where are you sleeping?

Michelle43449

Thank you! I'm in my 30's and will be traveling with my mother (very active, in her 60's.) Our overnight will be on a Saturday night. We haven't scheduled a hotel yet, trying to figure out if we should just stay at the hotel or venture out; any recommendations?

sparkchaser

<i>Is it advisable to leave the airport?</i>

Well, the airport closes at midnight so you'll have to leave.

The impractical sparkchaser says go out drinking with your mom and fly home with a brutal hangover since the only thing open at 11 will be bars, nightclubs, and Döner Imbiss.

The practical sparkchaser says that your plane lands at 10:35 and you probably won't leave the airport until after 11:00. Your plane leaves at 9:45 and it's international so you'll probably want to be 2 hours early, say 7:45. So that means you'll wake up at 6:00? Get a hotel and a good night's rest.

greg

Have already purchased the flights?
If haven't or others in similar situation, do you know you don't always have to take a set itinerary given by the booking site? Most sites let you force combinations of certain flights - sometimes at same price, sometimes little or a lot more.
When I see this kind of hard-to-use layover, I look for a different flght.
Can I make it shorter, not necessarily at the same airport?
Can I make it longer, much longer so I can do something. E.g. arrive 11am and leave 9:45am next morning, etc.

DAX

I'm heading to Düsseldorf myself in a couple of weeks, I would say the it's not worth venturing out in Düsseldorf after 11 pm, it's dead and boring unless you're into drinking in bars. There are plenty of well priced hotels and apartments near the airport. Just check availability at hrs.com or booking.com