Ruhr Travel Guide — Things to Do, Food & Hotels
urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
About Ruhr
If one were to count the Ruhr Area as a single "metro area" (which most residents would scoff at, given the strong identities of individual cities) it would be bigger thanBerlinand its surrounding suburbs and thus the biggest "metro area" in Germany by population and among the top ten in the European Union, depending on which boundaries are drawn for this and other agglomerations. The Ruhr area used to be mostly rural until the 19th century, when the region's rich coal deposits were suddenly in great demand. Steam engines needed coal but also enabled better mining; railroads expanded the export market for coal and were also coal-fired, but above all the demand for steel rose above anything ever seen before and companies like Krupp built an empire on coal and steel. Enormous immigration in
Ruhr Travel Guide Sections
Our comprehensive guide covers 12 sections including: