Düsseldorf Hbf (Düsseldorf / Dusseldorf)

The two dominant features of Düsseldorf Hbf, the city's main train station are:
(1) its huge entrance hall, and
(2) the wide passage way that leads from the entrance hall to the gleis/platforms/tracks that the trains depart from.

If you use the main entrance to Düsseldorf Hbf on Konrad-Adenauer-Platz, this main passage way will be directly ahead of you under the main departure board, or if you arrive by U-Bhan you will ascend* into this main passage way.

*There are also multiple sets of escalators and lifts that connect the U-Bahn station, which is located directly beneath Düsseldorf Hbf, to this central passage way in the station.

There are flights of stairs and escalators that connect the central passage way to the gleis/platforms/tracks.
You don’t have to use the stairs when departing or arriving by train.
If you have entered the passage way from the main passage way, the escalators leading up to the gleis/platforms will be on the right.

When arriving by train, you don’t have to follow the crowds that you will be using the stairs, you may have to walk passed the stairs to access the escalators.

There are also lifts on each gleis/platform at Düsseldorf Hbf that give access to/from the trains, but these lifts don’t connect the gleis/platforms to the main passage way.
If you need to use the lifts to access your train, then you will find them in a secondary passage way, parallel to the main passage way, so the lifts are out of sight from the main passage way.
There is a connecting passage way in the middle of the station that gives access to the secondary passage way that houses the lifts (and left luggage lockers)

When arriving by train, if you want/need to use the lift to descend from the gleis/platform into the station, you may need to walk passed the stairs/escalators to find it.

What can be confusing for first time visitors are the names used for Düsseldorf’s public transport network.
At Düsseldorf Hbf you will see signs pointing to the U-Bahn, but Düsseldorf doesn’t have underground metro trains, instead its U-Bahn is part of its tram* network.

A distinction is made (seems to be made, we’re still a tad confused) between the trams lines that have underground stops in the city centre – including that at Düsseldorf Hbf, and those that don’t.
These lines with underground stops begin with a U, but this network of U lines is also known as the Düsseldorf Stadtbahn.

The tram lines that don’t have underground stops form the city’s Straßenbahn network., so aren't part of the U-Bahn.

But isn’t as complicated as it seems, Düsseldorf ‘s public transport system is all operated by Rheinbahn, and tickets are interchangeable between any of the trams (U-Bhan or not) and the city’s buses.
So use its route planner to work out which lines to take and don’t be concerned about whether you will be taking the U-Bahn, Stadtbahn, Straßenbahn etc

*The U-bahn lines can be classified as a light rail network, but the trains look like trams (but we’ll stop there).

Düsseldorf Airport is served by two railway stations:

• Düsseldorf Flughafen Terminal, which lives up to its name with a location directly beneath the airport terminal
• Düsseldorf Flughafen bf, note the subtle name difference, which is located on the closest main railway route by the airport.
  It is therefore linked to the airport terminal by the groovy Sky Train monorail, which has no charge.
  The monorail services departs every 5 to 7 minutes between 03:45 and 00:45 and the journey time is seven minutes; so allow a minimum of around 15-20 minutes to transfer to/from the trains.

Taking the local S-Bahn trains

The only trains which use the Düsseldorf Flughafen Terminal station are local S-Bahn trains on route/line S11.
They depart every 20 mins during the day on Monday to Friday and every 30mins at evenings and on weekends.
They link the airport with multiple stops in the city including the main railway station, Düsseldorf Hbf.
The journey time between the airport and Dusseldorf Hbf is only 12 minutes and the transfer to/from the airport can be looked up on the local journey planner.
The first train of the day on the every 20mins schedule departs Dusseldorf Hbf at aroud 05:00, but there are some earlier services.
The final train of the day departs the airport at around 01:20; typically all of the trains will be heading to Bergisch Gladbach and will also be calling in Neuss and Köln - see below.

Taking trains to/from Düsseldorf Flughafen bf

Most of the trains which call at the station are either:

• local S-Bahn trains on route/line S1, which two or three times per hour link the airport with multiple station calls in Bochum, Dortmund, Essen and Solingen
• Regio trains

The Regio trains provide these typically available links with Düsseldorf Airport:

• Aachen* = 1 x train per hour
• Bielefeld* = 1 x train per hour
• Bochum = 3 x trains per hour
• Dortmund = 3 x trains per hour
• Essen = 4 x trains per hour
• Gelsenkirchen = 1 x train per hour
• Hamm = 3 x trains per hour
• Kassel-Wilhelmshoe* = 1 x train per hour
• Köln / Cologne = 2 x trains per hour
• Munster (West) = 1 x train per hour
• Osnabruck* = 1 x train per hour
  *= the final trains of the day on these routes typically depart before 23:00.

The ICE trains which link Düsseldorf with Bielefeld, Hanover and Berlin call at the station hourly.
However, the majority of the other ICE trains which travel to/from more distant cities, including: Amsterdam, Frankfurt (Main), Hamburg, Karlsruhe, Munich, Nuremberg and Stuttgart only arrive at and depart from Dusseldorf Hbf.
The quickest connections in and out these trains is by taking the S-Bahn trains to/from the Düsseldorf Flughafen Terminal station.