MartyMcFly

I am looking for some advice. Next month I will be visiting a friend in Essen. This will be my first time on mainland Europe (went to London about 8 years ago). I will only be there for 7 days because that was all I could take off of work. I am 26 years old so night time I will be doing a lot of partying but during the day I want to be able to do some of the touristy things within the regions. For 2 days I will also take a trip to Amsterdam. I am not really a "Museum & Art" type of person but more of a "History/Castles/Cathedral" type of person. So I was wondering if anyone can answer some questions:

1). How many hours will it take by train to get to Amsterdam Centraal from Essen Hbf?

2). Is there anything to do in the surrounding area? Dusseldorf? Dortmund? Any good beer gardens?

3). I would like to get the small town feel, are there any such places within the area? Any nice castles to visit? I heard that Rheinland-Pfalz was a good area to check out and it isn't very far from the metro area.

Any advice at all would be helpful

Woyzeck

1) Play around on bahn.de for train travel. The train ride is around 2.5 hrs with 1 change (Duisburg).

2) Yes, Essen is in the heart of the Ruhr area, a densely populated and industrialized region. There's plenty to do for a few days. Why not let your friend in Essen show you around and make some suggestions? There are (multiple) major universities in all of these cities, so there will be plenty of nightlife and activities geared toward 20-somethings. You might enjoy a day trip to Cologne and Bonn if you are a "History/Castles/Cathedral" person. Cologne is less than an hour away from Essen by train and has one of the largest and most famous Gothic cathedrals in the world, as well as numerous churches and cathedrals dating back to Roman times. There are tons of beer halls, pubs, and night clubs in Cologne. Bonn is the former capital (of West Germany) and has a more provincial feel, but is interesting for modern German history buffs. It is a short train ride south of Cologne.

3) The Middle Rhine region would be worth checking out for small towns and for castles. The Rhine is lined with dozens and dozens of castles. This region would be about 2 - 3 hrs south, by train. There are tons of threads here about the middle Rhine area and all of the castles.

madamtrashheap

Your friend in Essen may already have this planned, but if not, look into a visit to Cloppenburg, specifically for the Museumsdorf Cloppenburg which is a collection of the old houses and buildings which were all gathered together in an open-air museum (as such) to showcase life "am land" 9on the land, rural farm life) and the history of the region from 16th Century to present day. Some of the buildings were damaged/destroyed in WWII but have all been restored. Don't worry, it's not a tradition museum so you'll likely enjoy this one - you don't even have to go inside any of the buildings if you don't want to! Cloppenburg is just north of Essen, so easy as a day or half-day trip.

As recommended above, a visit to Cologne (Köln) is well worth it, as well as considering a day trip to either Bremen (Bremen Town Musicians of Brother Grimm fame and pretty reconstructed old town - Schnoor) or Münster (great University town, good vibe and pretty).

quokka

You might enjoy a bit of Essen itself, which is an interesting city - surely more interesting than Düsseldorf. The history of Essen dates back to the 10th century, and what's left is a) the cathedral in the heart of the city and b) the abbey and the church of St Lucius in the suburb of Essen-Werden. And how about the industrial heritage sites which are quite impressive, with Zollverein being the flagship.
The whole Ruhr district is full of water castles, although it takes a bit of a search to find them.
Here are my two cents about Essen: http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/f86bd/fd22/

MartyMcFly

Thank you all for the replies. My friend has just moved to the area from the USA so he is unfamiliar with the area as well. I will certainly have to research Cloppenburg as madamtrashheap suggested.